Sheeps are being trained to weed vineyards via a kind of ovine Ludovico treatment:
Doran’s project is based on the recommendations of aversion therapy techniques developed by an animal behaviorist at Utah State University.Sheep that had never tasted grape leaves were brought in and allowed to stuff themselves on vines. The animals then got a small dose of lithium chloride, a drug that doesn’t produce any outward signs in the dosed sheep but leaves them feeling queasy, Doran said.
Some sheep got the dose in liquid form, some in capsules and two other groups of sheep got placebos to serve as a control.
Sheep that were dosed generally left the grapes alone when set loose in an experimental vineyard at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center south of Ukiah, Doran said.
A recent visit to the vineyard showed tangible results: bunches of fruit hung on the vines weeded by trained sheep. Vines mowed by untreated sheep were ragged and bare up to the sheep’s head height.