The Novel Experiment of Using Sheep to Tend Hops
Yakima hop growers are turning to livestock to solve labor costs and crop management in the fields.
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According to the Puyallup Courier, hop growers are increasingly contracting out the maintenance of their hop yards, with some reports of contracts reaching 20 cents. George Harebell, an innovator in the industry, turned 200 sheep into his hop yard, where in four days they successfully cleared all the lower leaves. The sheep consumed a great many lice in the process, and so far have not spat any of them out. This 'sheep plan' seems to give great satisfaction, and it is thought that if the lice return next year, arrangements will be made so that large bands of mutton sheep will be brought from east of the Cascade mountains and pastured in the yards until the leaves are cleared, at which point they can move directly to the slaughterhouse.
“In this way the sheep chew up a great many lice, and so far have not spit any of them out again.”
While modern agricultural science has replaced the 'sheep plan' with synthetic pesticides, the struggle to balance labor costs and organic pest management remains a central theme for Yakima Valley growers today. It serves as an early, whimsical example of the constant search for efficiencies in the region’s massive hop industry.
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