Sheep Grazing Organic Vineyards And Orchards: What About Copper Poisoning?

Summary

"Sheep have long been allowed to graze in orchards and vineyards during winter, generating benefits for bothbreeders and wine or fruit growers. This practice, which had become scarce because of agricultural specialization, isrecently regaining popularity. However, concerns have raised about the potential risk of Chronic Copper Poisoning (CCP)of sheep – particularly in the context of organic agriculture, which widely uses Cu as a fungicide.CCP is driven by the long-term, symptomless Cu accumulation in the liver, potentially leading to a hemolytic crisis thatgenerally triggers animal death within 48h. Our study aimed at evaluating both the quantity and dynamics of Cu in thecover vegetation of vineyards and orchards, and the potential harmful effects of Cu on the health of sheep that grazetherein. Our results show that i/ Cu content and assimilability is high in the studied plots, and may lead to CCP; ii/surprisingly, sheep show only slight signs of ongoing CCP."