Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam must have seen these lawnmowers when he looked out the window during his train ride to St. Gallen, Switzerland two weeks ago.

BBC reported two days ago about how the skudde sheep are acting as "lawnmowers" for the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). As a railway company, SBB tends around 2,700 hectares of embankments along the railway network, which is equivalent to 3,800 football pitches.

Enter this team of highly-skilled master craftsmen to do the job for SBB.

Led by Bruna the head sheep, these 80 sheep have been doing their part to prevent disruptions to services and to preserve green spaces.

According to SBB, the sheep change their field of operations by being loaded into a transport box. Their current area of operation stretches from Lenzburg to Biel/Bienne and from Basel to Bern.

Maybe DPM Tharman can propose this productivity idea and sustainable project to the landscaping industry in his Budget speech next year.

Let's weigh the pros and cons of this novel idea:

Pros

1. They promote biodiversity.

These grazing sheep eat carefully and do not destroy the vegetation like a mowing machine. This allows more types of meadow plants to grow. In other words, the sheep protect the ground (unlike the cows), while lawnmowers can damage the turf and vegetation.

2. They go where no mechanical lawnmowers can go.

They can manage and reach steep embankments, which means we can get them to help us maintain the vegetation at Bukit Timah hill and Mount Faber.

3. They are highly productive workers on a 22-hour work day. 

According to The Local website, the animals “work” hard and sleep only two hours a day. They can take a short, "power nap" on the spot, said the SBB.

And the key performance indicator (KPI) of each sheep? SBB said that one can trim 10 to 20 square metres of grass per day, which is the area of a large bedroom.

Cons

1. They may damage the ethnic balances between the dogs and kucintas in the country. 

The sudden influx of foreign talents will affect our C-D-R-O (Cats-Dogs-Rabbits-Others) model.

2. We are unsure whether they will adapt to our climate.

The SBB blog noted that the sheep will "hang their heads" during warm weather because they prefer the cooler air near the ground. This may give the impression that they are looking down on you.

And when it rains heavily? The sheep will stop work to find shelter. They will stand completely still to stop water from getting into their woolly coats.

Sounds like what the SAF boys will do during Cat 1.

3. This move encourages child labour.

Bruna, the head sheep, only turned five this Easter Sunday.

Faced with a microphone from SBB, Bruna declined comment.

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