Journalist and part-time shepherd Tim Metcalfe tells of a novel idea for using sheep in cities.

MOWING the lawn is a chore I expect many people could happily do without, so I was intrigued to discover an alternative way to cut the grass being pioneered in France. Here companies, public authorities and individuals are renting sheep to keep their lawns tidy.

Cutting the grass in Marie-Josee Gellet’s yard in Lyon does not involve the irritating whirr of a mechanical lawnmower. Instead all you hear is gentle munching.

“They basically roam freely in my garden, and just do what they want,” Marie-Josee said.

And a fellow resident, 91-year-old Louis Roure, also takes advantage of the rent-a-sheep service. “Shrub and thorns are taking over here, it’s terrible,” he said. “I do not want to be invaded by them, so I have found a solution — the sheep.”

The sheep belong to Christophe Darpheuil, a pioneer of ‘urban shepherding’ in France. He reckons his customers could become the “shepherds of the future”.

Christophe added: “There are such difficulties being a shepherd outside the city nowadays, but inside the city, the future is theirs.”

Christophe, who is director of Naturama, an association which promotes environmental education, brought a flock of rare breed Soay sheep to France from Scotland six years ago. But once he got them home he realised he didn’t have enough pasture to feed them, so he started renting them out to keep grassy areas in public spaces in trim.

“At first, people thought it was ridiculous,” Christophe said. “But once they saw how efficient it was, they said: ‘Oh, yeah! It’s worth it.’ Now, we have five or six city authorities who rent these sheep all year long.”

The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust uses sheep and cattle for conservation grazing. As well as saving fuel, reducing noise and cutting CO2 emissions, they also help preserve biodiversity.

So our cash-strapped city and district councils might like to look at the rent-a-sheep idea for public parks and gardens. However there is a drawback to this plan — hungry sheep won’t respect those attractive municipal flowerbeds.