Sheep May Be Part Of Program
To Fight Noxious Leafy Spurge

BUTTE, Mont. —(AP)— A rancher wants to release 1600 sheep on a plot of public land surrounded by private property in Anaconda's East Valley as part of a three-pronged effort to wipe out grass-choking noxious weeds.

Owners of the 5 Rockin' MS Angus Ranch lease a 640-acre school trust section, and hope to pasture sheep there in an integrated effort to control leafy spurge.

Ranch manager Chance Hulsey said the state's property sits in the middle of a 5200-acre area where the weed has drastically reduced native grasses needed for grazing.

``It's a big problem here,'' said Hulsey, who believes up to 90 percent of the land is useless because of the weed. ``The cattle don't like it. Once they get a taste of that spurge, it gives them blisters in their mouths, and they won't graze grass anywhere near it.''

Cattle might learn to avoid the weed, but sheep learn to love it.

``Once they get started on that leafy spurge, they start to crave it,'' he said. ``It's like they're addicted to it.''

Hulsey said the idea was borrowed from other ranchers who used sheep — along with other remedies — to reclaim their land. Hulsey plans to use spurge-eating beetles as well, relying on herbicides only as a last resort.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources has stewardship over the state's dedicated school trust sections, and is required by law to manage the land to profit public schools. DNRC officials don't like the weeds either, since they reduce grazing potential and cut back on the money the state can make off the land.

However, wildlife officials aren't keen on introducing 800 domestic ewes and their lambs so close to wild sheep populations. The possibility exists that domestic animals might spread disease, particularly pasturella, a viral pneumonia, to wild sheep, officials said.

Wildlife officials agree that the weed must go, but say the state's plot might have to be fenced off if the government won't allow domestic sheep to graze there. Weed control could still continue on the adjacent private land, officials said.

The wildlife agency probably won't block the sheep idea, but is likely to monitor the grazing closely, officials said.