As one of the first animals to be domesticated, sheep have proved to be indispensable in sustainably feeding and clothing humanity for millennia. IWTO takes a closer look to show that they might be indispensable solution to our future challenges as well.
Sheep are a species of ruminant that have evolved as part of nature over millions of years. Ruminants are grazing mammals that acquire nutrients from plant-based food in their multi-chambered stomach (the rumen) prior to digestion; this allows them to utilize energy from fibrous plant material better than other herbivores.
Across the world, there are a diverse range of approximately 200 ruminant species including deer, giraffes, bison and llamas. Ruminants thrived on Planet Earth not only due to their highly effective digestive system, but also because their natural grazing behaviour provides benefits to the planet’s ecosystem.
Sheep were one of the first animals to be domesticated due to their value in turning grass and herbage (inedible to humans) into food and fibre. They were first domesticated more than ten thousand years ago and have proved to be indispensable in sustainably feeding and clothing humanity in many parts of the world for millennia.
Supporting ecosystem services
Natural grazing in the wild has been shown to deliver numerous benefits for the Earth’s ecosystem. For example, two decades of studies in the Serengeti by American ecologist Dr. Samuel McNaughton identified the following benefits from the periodic, intense grazing carried out by large, bunched herds:
- Stimulation of the health of the entire plant community
- Increased nutrient recycling (plant matter returned to the soil)
- Enriched and increased soil nitrogen content through urination
- Aeration and fertilisation of the soil through dung beetle activity moving nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium-rich dung deep into the soil.
The overall finding was this natural grazing system increases total food yield and nutrition for the entire herd, while simultaneously improving grassland health.
When the grazing of livestock (such as planned, holistic grazing of sheep) is managed to emulate natural grazing practices, it delivers similar beneficial ecosystem services. For example, strategic resting from grazing can enhance flowering, growth and survival of plant species. It can also influence invertebrate biodiversity, with potential flow-on benefits to plant litter, soil structure and food web processes involving fungi and bacteria.
Livestock is often used to promote land recovery (e.g. following the harvesting of arable crops). In contrast to cropping, the permanent ground cover, trees and shelterbelts needed for grazing are highly effective in reducing soil erosion, while also providing habitat for wildlife biodiversity.
Versatility and social welfare
Sheep are free range animals and thrive in a wide variety of climates and terrains, from arid rangelands to mountainous regions. This adaptability makes them a valuable resource for communities across different regions of the world.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization describes sheep as well-suited to marginal lands that are unsuited to other types of agriculture, making them a key source of food security, nutrition and income for some of the planet’s most impoverished communities: “300 million of the world’s poorest rural families depend on small ruminants [sheep and goats] for their livelihoods.”
As well as providing valuable protein, farmed sheep provide fibres that are very important to the livelihoods of the communities their production supports.
Sheep are part of the natural biogenic carbon cycle
Critics claim that sheep and wool farming contribute to global warming because sheep belch methane, a strong greenhouse gas (GHG). However, in contrast to the GHGs produced from burning fossil fuels, sheep produce ‘biogenic methane’ that is part of a natural carbon cycle – it breaks down into biogenic CO₂ after about 12 years and is then taken up by plant photosynthesis.
The biogenic carbon cycle has been happening for millions of years. If sheep numbers are stable, the amount of methane the sheep population produces is equal to the amount of methane that turns into CO2 and is absorbed into pasture through photosynthesis.
It follows that if the sheep industry can reduce or mitigate its current GHG emissions, then it can be part of the solution to global warming. Significant research is under way to accurately identify and assess ways to reduce and offset GHG emissions from grazing sheep. Potential GHG mitigation strategies could include options to:
- reduce emissions, such as through the use of methane-mitigating feed supplements or low methane pasture species, and increasing flock productivity (producing more lambs and wool from each sheep); and
- offset emissions by increasing on-farm carbon sequestration and storage, such as through improved management of soil organic matter and tree planting.
Sheep farming in future context
Improved knowledge is paving the way forward for livestock agriculture. Sheep farming is not only evolving to better reflect nature’s practices, it’s becoming part of the solution to the global transition towards a renewability-focussed future.
Sheep increasingly graze solar farms, keeping vegetation from growing too tall and shading the solar panels. Similar to their use in vineyards, sheep are replacing mowers, fertilizers and herbicides, and require zero diesel fuel to operate. And unlike herbicides, they’re toxin-free.
Sheep are also being used to prevent wildfires by acting as brush control. They graze in areas inaccessible to mowers and clear undergrowth in forests and woodlands. By eating their way through the greenery, sheep greatly reduce the amount of tinder that could catch fire once the areas dry out.
These newer co-benefits from sheep farming, together with better informed management help enable sheep to continue providing food and fibre for humanity, while also fulfilling their vital role in nature.
Photo: IWTO
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