Table 6

Costs and benefits for in-house sheep grazing integration in a 4-ha vineyard. VM, vineyard manager; CAPEX, initial capital expenditures.

Category	Costs ($)	Benefits ($)	Year of occurrence	Description	Source
Initial costs
Purchase of Dorper sheep (10-sheep flock)	4000	-	1	Range for commercial crosses are ~$300 to $500 per head. Pure breeds (e.g., South African) can cost ~$2000 to $3000.	VM
Setup costs	6000	-	1	Core infrastructure (fencing, shelter, dog).	VM
Total initial costs^{^a}	10,000	-	1	Assuming 1 ha would require 2 to 3 sheep to be grazed whole year. Thus, a 10-sheep flock for a 4-ha vineyard was considered.	-
Annual operating costs
Administrative/management labor^{^b}	1200	-	2 to 30	Depending on flock size, a herder is needed. A full-time herder can operate a flock of 500 ewes.	Finzel et al. 2022, VM
Fencing and shelter maintenance	100	-	2 to 30	Annual maintenance for fencing, shelter, and watering systems.	VM
Guard dog	1200	-	2 to 30	$100 is the maintenance cost per month for food and medical care.	Finzel et al. 2022
Veterinary and health care	1000	-	2 to 30	Veterinary care includes purchased feed (salts and minerals). Cost is ~$100 per head.	Salinas-Martínez et al. 2022, VM
Total annual operating costs	3500	-	2 to 30	For a 10-sheep flock.	-
Annual benefits
Income from meat	-	1200 to 1800	2 to 30	At 4 mo, lambs can weigh ~36 to 38 kg. The cost of meat can vary from $4 to $8/kg. Assuming Dorper ewe can lamb three times in 2 yr. An older Dorper is sold as mutton, earning similar per-head prices because of their larger meat quantity.	Salinas-Martínez et al. 2022, Knight and Taylor 2024, VM
Total annual benefits	-	1200 to 1800	2 to 30	Assuming the flock will breed at among 4 to 6 lambs per year, sold at $300 per head.	-
Net annual cash flow	-	-	-	$1200 - $1800 - $3500 = -$2300 to -$1700/yr (Non-CAPEX years).	-

↵^aFreight costs are not included because of the small flock size. A small trailer could add ~$5000 to $8000 to the initial cost.
↵^bGiven the small flock size, herding costs are expected to be minimal. Therefore, no dedicated herder is required and the VM can manage most tasks.