Only in America: School replaces lawnmowers with sheep

(Image credit: CC BY: Eoin Gardiner)

last updated 8 January 2015

The story: A Pennsylvania school district has found a rather old-fashioned way to save some green: Employ hungry sheep. Workers for the Carlisle Area School District used to spend six hours a week mowing a field filled with solar panels at Wilson Middle School, but woolly mammals now handle those duties, saving the district as much as $15,000. The four-legged gardeners are owned by the school's assistant principal, who asks only that the district keep the animals supplied with fresh water in return for their services.

The reaction: This idea is "not baaaad," says Elizabeth Gibson at The Patriot-News. The sheep will be able to "nibble grass and weeds each morning, and laze under panels during hot afternoons." Talk about quality of life, says Kirk Clyatt at WHP-TV. "You just eat and sleep and know you're doing the community a service." Indeed, this idea makes so much sense, says Stephen Messenger at TreeHugger, that maybe we'll see more grazing groundskeepers. Don't forget, such a trend would be "teeming with green benefits."