Sheep to be drafted in to help combat giant hogweed in Inverurie
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SHEEP are set to be drafted in to control giant hogweed within the Ury Riverside Park in Inverurie.
Aberdeenshire Council has been working with Ury Riverside Park SCIO for a number of years to control the giant hogweed that is growing within the park.
Previously, they have tried spraying the plants and while that has been effective in some areas it has not always proved to be practical.
The plant's watery sap can cause painful burning and blistering of the skin if it comes in contact with humans.
Now, the council is looking for feedback from people on the proposals to introduce sheep to combat the invasive plant.
A spokesperson for the council said: "Our aim in recent years has been to prevent giant hogweed from flowering and setting seed and to this end we have been mowing large areas of the hogweed several times a year, and this has been relatively successful.
"However, we are now looking for a more sustainable way of controlling the giant hogweed and are looking to some woolly colleagues to help us out with this."
Trials in both Huntly and Macduff to see if the use of sheep to control hogweed is effective have been successful and a delegation from Inverurie visited the Macduff site earlier this year to see the work first-hand.
The idea is to develop a sustainable, non-chemical, approach to hogweed control.
The Macduff experiment in particular proved very successful with the sheep developing a taste for the plant leaves, effectively suppressing the plant entirely across the site.
They added: "We were so impressed that we are planning to undertake a trial at Ury Riverside Park using our very own small flock of sheep to assist us with this work."
Sheep help control giant hogweed by not only eating seedlings and small plants but also pushing over and eating the larger ones.
The site will be monitored and if any plants escape the grazing then they will be handled before they flower and set seed.
Meanwhile, the sheep will be supplied by a local farmer who will also take responsibility for their welfare.
Blackface sheep will be used because they do not react to giant hogweed sap in the same way humans do due to their dark pigmentation.
Previous trial inspections by a vet found that there were no effects on the sheep from eating the plant.
The sheep are set to be introduced in May 2023 and stay on site through to the late summer as this is the most effective time to graze.
The process will be repeated every summer.
