What’s the best form of pest control? At Vergenoegd Wine Estate, it’s ducks. 1,071 of them.
On Vergenoegd Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa, about a thousand Indian runner ducks parade twice a day into a vineyard to rid it of pests. It’s a remarkably orderly scene.
Unlike your typical waddling duck, these ducks don’t sway back and forth. They run quickly in a straight line.
This waddling workforce is essential to the farm’s pest-control, consuming a startling amount of snails and bugs on their daily patrols. The ducks are also a big part of why Vergenoegd proudly carries WWF biodiversity certification.
They utilize 1071 Runner Ducks at the Vergenoegd farm to assist in the control of the snail and pest population in their vineyards, a practice they have been refining since 1984.
“We have a basic research and breeding program in place to keep our workforce of ducks productive, healthy and happy. Intrigued guests can take a tour of the duck pens and “breeding room” with one of our friendly duck herders!”
Every morning at 9:45 a.m., they emerge from a gate and zip around the gleaming white manor house – even sticking to a manicured gravel path. They run in formation. Their beaks all point in the same direction, their bodies all turn at the same time — like they’ve worked on the choreography beforehand.
The previous owner of the wine estate, John Faure, is a bird lover and brought them over from Asia. They have been at the estate for at least 30 years.
The Vergenoegd ducks have a similar job. They eat the snails and insects in the vineyard.
Denzil Matthys, the duck caretaker at Vergenoegd, says the ducks help make the farm sustainable. “We try to keep a pesticide-free farm by using the ducks,” he says. “They help us not to use poison on the farm.”
Watch their story below:
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