A flock of sheep, alpacas, ponies, goats and a whole host of microbes don’t usually make their home on a suburban golf course. But then the Eastern Sward Golf Club is not your usual course. | perkinsmiki
Ruminant animals, including sheep and goats, maintain the course and produce manure.A flock of sheep, alpacas, ponies, goats and a whole host of microbes don’t usually make their home on a suburban golf course. But then theOver the past three years Eastern Sward, which was founded 50 years ago on land owned by Melbourne Water, has undertaken a novel ecological experiment, which backers say could have profound implications for clubs across Australia, as well as parks and gardens.
After coaching golf for 30 years, Cusick was hired five years ago as a consultant at Eastern Sward to decrease its expenditure and increase cash flow, in a push to set the nine-hole course up for the future. It now costs the club nothing to maintain these 10 hectares, but that’s not the only reason the animals are used, Cusick explains.“They eat the foliage and it passes through their four stomachs, coming out as manure loaded with microbes,” he says. Pieces of this manure are selected by hand, with Cusick spending about two hours a week picking up and choosing poo from animals in good health.
The goal, eventually, is to no longer use any synthetic chemical treatments on the golf course. But because the grass is not used to these conditions, the new management practices have to be gradually introduced. Reduced amounts of pesticides and fertiliser are still used on the playing surfaces.
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