Army of 1,000 Ducks Used as Brilliant Pesticide Alternative

[geardaddy]

http://www.booooooom.com/2016/05/31/army-of-1000-ducks-used-as-brilliant-pesticide-alternative/

South Africa’s Vergenoegd vineyard in Stellenbosch keeps a flock of over 1,000 Indian Runner ducks to help combat tiny white dune snails that would otherwise destroy the budding vines. The ducks’ upright and slender posture allow them to navigate the rows of plants, clearing up to a hectare a day.

While the cost of keeping all these ducks is significantly higher than standard pesticides, the duck army is so effective that the vineyard uses minimal chemicals and is recognized for its sustainability. See more images by London-born, Cape Town-based photographer Mike Hutchings and a video of the ducks working below!

[DetlefK]

1. I once a documentary about something similar:

It was in England (I think). Somebody owned a garden, but it was full of snails. So they hired someone who owned a goose. They set down a pot of water for the goose to drink and then they set her loose. She ran up and down the garden, gulping up all the snails.



And my parents always had a problem with snails in their garden. One summer, a hedgehog found his way into the neighbourhood and somehow didn't figure out how to leave again. He spent the nights wandering through the backyards. And in that summer, there was no snail-problem.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. Please the ducks fertilize the vineyard while they feeed.

[geardaddy]

3. Exactly! It's win-win!

Plus they're cute!

[patricia92243]

4. I assume they leave poop behind making it a two-for-one win. Fertilizer and pest control

[geardaddy]

5. I would assume so, too.

[TlalocW]

6. Smart chicken owners

Know to use their birds for stuff like this. Not only pests, but I've seen movable wire tunnels that connect to their main pen that the owners will place over areas with high grass. After a couple of days, the grass is back down - no mowing.

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/clever-tunnel-system-makes-chickens-do-the-gardening-video.html

TlalocW

[geardaddy]

7. Yep, thanks for the link. That's a great idea.

The Minneapolis Park Board is planning to use goats to get rid of invasive buckthorn. They have moveable fences and put the goats in one area and let them go to town, then move the fence to another infested area.

[brer cat]

9. We borrowed two goats from a friend once

when blackberries were invading our yard. They cleared it out very quickly.

[deaniac21]

24. You didn't want blackberries...

I would pick 'em for you.

[brer cat]

25. Not taking over the yard.

They were coming from our good neighbors in the National Forest. I would rather wander a bit into their land and pick them there.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. great idea

[JonathanRackham]

10. Great enviro story!

I know people who raise chickens to keep the bugs in the vegetable garden down. The added side benefit is the squirrels, chipmunks, field mice, rabbits and woodchucks who raid the garden are also down. Plus they get eggs. Total organic micro environment.

Corporate-chemical based farms are too big for their own good and my good. People should down scale and grow their own organic food. Urban governments should lighten up and allow expanded urban gardening complete with beneficial ducks or chickens. Busy hands would also lower crime rates. We've strayed too far from the land.

[The2ndWheel]

11. Human privilege

Those snails are just trying to survive. We've defined them as pests, if they happen to get in our way. We even find sustainable ways to kill them, and outsource the job to another species, all for the luxury of wine.

Existence can be weird and funny.

[geardaddy]

13. I totally see your point

but snails don't just exist in vineyards.

[jtuck004]

15. If you let snails eat the vineyard, they destroy their food. They would then die off to

match the supply, since that would make the vines impractical.

The snails might well survive better this way. They may be lucky there is a mechanism to fund this. There is a mechanism to pay for geese, as opposed to using the cheaper, deadlier, and unsustainable pesticides.

When the first European Settlers spread across the plains, they began to farm them. What used to be topsoil was used up, and one source says less than 3% of it was left before the winds picked up. They created the Dust Bowl in the Midwest, and then had to learn how to farm using more sustainable techniques.

This does that. Do geese crap everywhere? I suspect this will leave a lot of goose crap laying around to fertilize the soil. As that breaks down it will regenerate the soil that is being used up to grow grapes. It will feed the litter worms and earthworms, giving the soil the ability to get oxygen in to help things break down.

I can see where only looking at one piece might seem exploitative, but as a system these might make sense. We will see in a few years.

[LanternWaste]

16. Vineyards and snails are indeed, funny.

Vineyards and snails are indeed, funny.

[Capt. Obvious]

12. Duck Army

[NaturalHigh]

14. Impressive looking bunch of ducks.

[Javaman]

17. plus all the free fertilizer! :) nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

18. Sinister.

[packman]

19. Damn, you beat me to it

I searched for this video, found it and you snatched the prize from me - good show

[Moonwalk]

20. The video of the ducks marching, marching, and marching by....

...on the linked page, totally sold me on the idea. I laughed all morning!

[pinboy3niner]

21. The ducks will follow orders if they know what's good for them

The alternative isn't pretty.

[geardaddy]

27. LOL where's Graywarrior when you need her?

[awoke_in_2003]

31. Great question. nt

[nadine_mn]

22. Watching them run to work, I imagined them each with tiny brief cases - going to 'work'

I love reading about stuff like this

thanks for sharing!

[geardaddy]

23. You're welcome neighbor

[Squinch]

26. Best thread of the day!

[geardaddy]

28. Thanks!

[Warpy]

29. A neighbor's chickens used to work in my garden

when they'd fly the coop, which was almost daily. They did a good job on cabbage loopers and tomato hornworms that otherwise would have had to be picked off by hand and drowned in a can of kerosene. They also deposited fertilizer as they ate. The occasional egg was nice, too.

The problem is that this doesn't work on massive infestations of multi acre grain crops. If only we could manage to convince birds to change their migratory patterns whenever clouds of grasshoppers or locusts roll in. They'd be too fat to fly for a while, but they'd be happy and so would we.

[craigmatic]

30. False advertising I see at least 1 goose in that flock.

[pinboy3niner]

32. So you're calling 'Fowl!'?

[geardaddy]

33. ...