Sheep Silvopasture at Sierra Orchards
- The California Agroforestry Network
- May 21
- 2 min read
In this video we visit Sierra Orchards in Winters, California, to learn about how they're integrating sheep into their walnut orchard to promote biodiversity, ecological balance, and long-term farm resilience.
Sierra Orchards’ silvopasture operation addresses a critical challenge in organic orchard management: biomass control during harvest season. The McNamera Family grows diverse cover crops year-round to maintain living roots in the soil and support beneficial soil organisms, but this vegetation can interfere with mechanical nut harvesting equipment. Rather than using herbicides or tillage - methods that would compromise soil health and organic certification - the farm employs sheep to graze down cover crops while simultaneously fertilizing the orchard floor. This system allows the operation to maintain soil biology while ensuring clean nut harvest conditions. At the same time, the trees in the system provide shade and shelter to livestock as they graze, promoting animal health and wellbeing.
While sheep ownership requires significant learning and labor investment, the system has proven essential to their integrated approach to organic orchard management, supporting both soil health objectives and practical harvest requirements.
Watch the full virtual case study at www.calagroforestry.org
Learn more about Sierra Orchards at www.sierraorchards.com 0:00-0:30 Introduction 0:30- Land History 1:40- Why Silvopasture? 4:43- Why Organic? 6:37- Why Diversified Systems? 7:38- Sheep Management
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number G239-24-WA512 through the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number SPOY246745. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.