JAMES CITY — Busch Gardens has added a fleet of 17 slower and greener lawnmowers, which add all-natural fuel to its landscaping.
The park’s herd of Scottish blackface sheep is aiding landscapers in keeping the grass cropped.
It’s a low-tech approach for the park, which has been voted “Most Beautiful Park” by the National Amusement Park Historical Association 23 times.
The sheep are usually on display at Highland Stables in Busch Gardens’ Scotland village.
They aren’t just munching grass at random. They were trained to test a program of “targeted grazing.”
Although Busch’s parent company, SeaWorld Parks Entertainment, has a large collection of animals at its 11 parks, this is the first time any have had to earn their keep.
It’s worked so well it’s being expanded to utilize other animals, including a “clean-up crew” of chickens and turkeys.
Targeted grazing involves training animals to naturally manage landscaping by eating grass and plants from certain areas.
The program has reduced the need for powered lawn equipment, conserved 100 gallons of fuel a year, saved about 288 hours of labor a year and produced manure to fertilize the turf.
The sheep are also better able than human landscapers to work on some of the steep slopes. Recently they were working under the tracks of the Verbolten rollercoaster.
In initiating the program, park management first made sure there were no plants in the targeted grazing areas that could be harmful to the sheep.
Then the sheep had to get used to their new work station. Animal care specialist Stephanie Peters was one of the trainers who helped.
“We took them out for an hour or two in the morning before the park opened when Verbolten was not running. After several positive tests, we brought the sheep out while the coaster was operating. When one of the coasters came around, we would give the sheep food and other forms of positive reinforcement as the coaster train passed over them,” she said. “If the sheep ignored the ride or moved close to a trainer instead of running away, we positively reinforced this behavior.”
The sheep took only two days to become totally acclimated to the coasters.
The sheep graze about five hours a day as part of the program, depending on weather.
The clean-up crew of two turkeys and four chickens is being trained to follow the sheep to eat ticks and other parasites and to spread the manure produced by the sheep.
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