How a growing El Paso County regenerative agriculture operation turned bullish on … sheep

Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. BLACK FOREST — It’s not just that the grass is greener on the other side of Will Vogl’s portable electric fence. Within the rectangular paddock where a few dozen of his hair sheep — a type bred primarily for meat rather than wool — have been grazing on half of a homeowner’s small acreage, the animals have already given this slice of high plains pastureland a buzzcut. It’s time to move on to the second course. And so Vogl, a 37-year-old fulltime firefighter and steward of the flock, funnels his charges, scampering and bounding, through an opening into the adjacent pasture. Here they’ll spend the next few days chowing down on the taller vegetation, reducing weeds, stirring up the ground and leaving pebble-sized droppings. Repeated over three years or so, the process helps the soil grow healthier. Thicker grasses crowd out the weeds. And thanks to the animals’ affable personalities, residents of these homes Vogl describes as “rural suburbia” pay him to provide the aesthetic trappings of the ag life that also allow them to skip the costly rituals of mowing and pesticides. His agricultural operation, Vogl Homestead Farm , aims to rehabilitate properties all around his El Paso County base by restoring healthier soil, improving water retention and mitigating wildfire danger.

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