I found mention of this new trend in Paris in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Sheep have been brought in to keep the grass short in public spaces in Paris, at the behest of the present socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoe. The original article on this in Le Figaro, now behind the paywall, mentions 170 of the fleecy lawnmowers. FAZ mentions four sheep dealing with 2000 square metres of grass in the 19th arrondissement. What I have not discovered so far is what protection is provided for the sheep. Fences to keep them out of the traffic? Shepherds to prevent them disappearing to the nearest halal butcher? Face masks to protect them from traffic fumes? Seems a very trendy “green” idea, but not very healthy for the animals themselves.
Boadicea's Chariot 
170 Fleecy lawnmowers . Check
19th arrondissement.. Check
No shepherds. Check
Passport, boarding pass, jar of mint sauce. Check
OZ
Too baaad, methinks. Ewe woold expect better from the compatriots of Baaardot.
I hope you are feeling suitably sheepish for subjecting us to that.
OZ
Poor things!
Most people in Wales restrict themselves to using them as lawnmowers in orchards.
Here, people rent out herds of goats that will eat scrub to clear overgrown land.
Sheep are used to keep the grass short on some of the First World War battlefields, such as round Vimy Ridge, where there is still a lot of unexploded ordinance around. A man with a mower could detonate it, while the sheep are not heavy enough.
Of course if this idea of using sheep or other animals to cut the grass spreads, it will be bad news for jobbing gardeners.
Until three or four years ago the grassy roundabout in the village boasted its very own municipal goat, tethered to a post in the middle on a chain about 1′ short of the radius of said roundabout. And, before you ask, its subsequent disappearance had nothing to do with me.
OZ
OZ: did one of your cousins perhaps take it?
No, nothing to do with me or mine, but here there is a charity raffle once or twice a year, the first prize in which is a goat. A friend won it and expected to receive an oven-ready goat, as you would. Wrong! He got a live goat on a leash which his young daughters absolutely refused to have slaughtered for the barbie, so they now have a pet goat to mow the lawn.
OZ
It sounds a good idea – but!
I watched a gardening program here the other day (as I do!) and it was suggested that people could keep guinea pigs in a movable cage to keep their grass down…
I would have thought leaving a load of sheep to wander about in France was a bad idea. The French might set fire to them, they normally do 🙂
Boa, a whole family of guinea pigs would take at least two years to make any impression on our grass, then they could start again. 😦
There was an interesting report in my local read this morning. What it says is that a pack of wolves followed their instincts and offed a flock of 40 sheep up in the far north of Portugal last weekend. Memo to self – must have a quiet word with cousin Pedro. The shepherd is not best pleased but there is not much he can do as wolves are (quite correctly in my humble wotsit) a protected species here. Linkey thingy
You see, sheep are only good for two things – lunch and dinner.
OZ
Make that three, OZ, since Christina is knitting you a woolly jersey!
FEEG, they only set fire to foreign sheep. I’m assuming the ones in Paris all have French passports.
Nonsense! You have forgotten the 4th! Sheep shagging!
Size 11 wellies mandatory so you can get the sheep’s hind legs down the front of the boots and then they can’t get away!!!
Just see the frogs up to that in the Champes Elysee!! (Or however you spell it!)
I must have told you the tale of the best sheep shagging I ever heard/saw, most of these tales are apocryphal, or at least conducted off-stage, not this one. It went thus- A good friend of mine’s husband has a fencing company, for big jobs he takes on extra help, this hill farmer from the ‘black fans’ against the Brecon Beacons turned up. (The name alone sets the scene!) It was just as mobile phones were becoming popular. This guy spent every moment he could listening to his phone. The rest of the crew got curious and stole his phone but there were no personal messages, only a recording from some sales female from a company. They teased him about it and he broke down and confessed he like to listen to her voice and pretend he had a girlfriend. Even worse, he confessed he had a favourite sheep. (Oh my God!) Evidently he had one lady sheep who lived in his house with him whom he laundered regularly and put bows in her hair!!!!
Needless to say, the whole manjack of them found reason to call on him at his house. AND it was true. Now either this was the most elaborate practical joke ever or it really happened for real. Knowing the guy myself, I voted for it to be real as did most others. Interestingly a couple of years later he met and married a female of dubious provenance, she must have heard the stories but didn’t care too much as his bank balance was far more solid than his morals!
I gather that the sheep was evicted back to a field!
Your story of the “lady sheep” and the shampoo got me wondering, Christina. A few years ago while driving through Diekirch in Luxembourg our nostrils were assaulted by a revolting smell. Then we spotted the rather bloated corpse of a sheep on a balcony of a block of flats we were passing. I did wonder what the animal was doing on the first floor. On the way back we passed a municipal vehicle hoisting the disgusting carcass off the balcony. “All the perfumes of Arabia” would have beeen needed to sort out that flat. As for the sheep-shagging, such a thought never occurred to me. Is it just a Welsh pastime?
I thought it was a pretty daft idea!
Sheona @ #15. The English seem to prefer goats.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/commuters-saw-man-have-sex-with-goat-6329803.html
Re 15, I’m pretty sure only the Welsh have elevated it to an art form! There was a case here right up on the Canadian border of some guy running an animal brothel a couple of years ago. I was the only one to laugh like a drain everyone else was apparently horrified! Needless to say I regaled a few friends with a few good sheep shagging jokes and stories to their collective horror!
I guess the only thing you can say is that is better than rape or paedophilia! (Which are far less common in Wales!)
There are a lot of politicians who look like and act like sheep.