Meet the new shepherd of the famed flock of sheep at Fort Saskatchewan

Every Wednesday to Saturday during the summer, rain or shine, Pien Steinbusch can be seen ambling around with 41 sheep in Fort Saskatchewan in front a small crowd of on-lookers as part of the city's grazing program.

Steinbusch's family were handed the responsibility of shepherding this year — starting June 2, after the last family retired.

The puffs of wool have kept the grass trimmed at the Fort Heritage Precinct on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River for the past 29 years.

"It is a pretty new endeavour and there's a lot of new challenges that we need to overcome," the 19-year-old told CBC's Edmonton AM Thursday.

Over the past decade, sheep and goats are becoming a popular method of an environmentally-friendly method of managing vegetation and weed growth.

The City of Edmonton launched its own pilot in 2017. Winnipeg's Living Prairie Museum launched a pilot in 2019. Even the Department of National Defence recruited a small army of cloven-hoofed troops for the air force base in Cold Lake last year.

Steinbusch's own family has been grazing sheep for the past eight years, an endeavour they took on after moving from the Netherlands to Canada in 2006.

Because they have a farm with a 100 sheep of their own, the responsibility of working the city's sheep mostly falls on Steinbusch and her mother. But the 19-year-old does not mind.

"I just really love the sheep," she said.

Alongside her shepherding duties, Steinbusch is also juggling school to become a teacher and her interactions with the public provide a unique learning experience toward her future goal.

"I do have to repeat the phrase, 'Please do not run,' about a million times but that's OK because it comes with the job," she said.

She brings the sheep out from their off duty pasture into the precinct on 100 Avenue to a small crowd of adults and children already waiting for her eager to see the sheep and ask her questions.

"Do they bite me?" "Are they safe?" "What do I do if they come running at me?" are some of the most popular questions kids have asked her.

"The sheep don't bite unless you put your finger in the way when you're feeding them the food," she said, explaining what she tells the kids.

"The sheep are never violent or vicious themselves. Sometimes they just get a little bit over pushy when they're excited. Just like a kid going for a bowl of ice cream, is what I describe to most of them."

Although it can be a lot of work, Steinbusch finds her job "inspiring and so amazing to be able to stand there and teach all these people about sheep and just see them in complete awe, especially the kids," she said.