These Ducks Handle Pest Control for Vergenoegd Löw Wine Estate

Did you know there’s a winery in Cape Town where you can eat cheese, drink wine and watch ducks on parade? No, I’m serious!

At Vergenoegd Löw Wine Estate, which is located in South Africa, they use thousands of Indian Runner ducks as “natural pest control.” According to Atlas Obscura, Gavin Moyes – the estate’s tasting room manager and enthusiastic colleague to nearly 2,000 ducks – said Vergenoegd has been working to refine their approach to eco-friendly pest control, biodiversity and sustainability since 1983. The vineyard originally started with chickens, but found they weren’t so efficient. So they ’employed’ an army of Indian Runner ducks, who Moyes says they “love eating snails and mosquito larvae, and when they defecate in the field, their dung helps our vines grow.”

What’s good for the goose – or in this case duck – is good for the gander, right?

Moyes goes on in the article to explain how the ducks follow a daily routine of waddling out of bed around seven in the morning. They then march off to work at 10:30 a.m. and eat as many snails and pests they can find until the end of the day, and they’re home by 4 p.m. Not a bad gig.

They even get annual leave every year during harvest time so they don’t chow down all the delicious grapes instead of the snails. But being creatures of habit, the ducks still go on parade even when on leave.

OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow

Keenan Crow is an outdoor writer who graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism and creative writing. He has been writing for OutdoorHub for nearly five years, but anybody he is close with will tell you he has been telling hunting stories for far longer. He uses his experiences outdoors to write about things he loves - bow hunting, fishing, upland hunting, shed hunting, turkey hunting, waterfowl hunting, dog training, shotguns, ATVs and the outdoor lifestyle he lives in his home state of Michigan. Outside of hunting/fishing, he also loves to cook - especially with wild game - play golf and go on hikes with his yellow lab, Stella.