The salt meadows and pastures bordering Mont-Saint-Michel are mainly dedicated to sheep. They spend most of their time there, starting in the spring. The meadows are invaded by the sea during high tides, giving an inimitable taste to the vegetation growing there. Sheep were already grazed there in the Middle Ages, and from the 11th century the monks of the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel took the most beautiful each year. If the tradition has disappeared, lambs from the salt marshes or weanlings are still sought-after by amateurs.