Don't Box Me In- The Ideology of Farmers

No I did not arrange these guys in a circle- they just did that, amazingly, on their own, each wanting to get a good look at the camera.  We got these seven Jersey calves from our local raw milk dairy, Claravale Farm.  The male calves aren't worth much, even less now that dairies are doing so poorly and there isn't much of a veal industry left in this country.  But we happily took them in exchange for providing our friends at Claravale with some yummy pork in a month or so.  We got the calves to help mow the grass, instead of paying the hay guy to mow and bale it for us.  You see, our chickens don't like the grass much taller than 8 inches or so, and the cutting & baling of hay takes nutrients away from our farm.  Therefore we got one of nature's perfect lawnmowers- the cow.  We much prefer cattle to sheep for lawnmowing, because they can't get out of our electric fence very easily, nor do they bother trying.  The sheep on the other hand, practice a cruel, sadistic method of using the youngest or weakest lamb to take the shock of the fence while the rest of them push themselves out.  Also, the wool of the sheep, to some degree, insulates them from the electric shock, so even with up to 5 strands of fence, we still can hardly contain them.

I was listening to an interesting NPR talk the other day about the new Time article on the food system (which, by the way, I thought was a good introduction to the problems of the food system for the layperson, despite a few errors that it had).  They featured a gentleman from the National Cattleman's Beef Association, the president of the National Farmer's Union, Bryan Walsh- the writer of the article, and Joel Salatin- an innovative rancher in Virginia.  Joel was talking about stacking and multi-species diversity that I think, frankly, went over the heads of most urban/suburban NPR listeners.  Nonetheless, I was happy he mentioned it on national radio.  We all need to understand that small farms can be and in general are more efficient per unit of land.  Instead of raising one source of protein across 20 acres, we are raising 4 (eggs, pork, beef, lamb).  Instead of concentrating them on one small area such that their manure & odor becomes a problem, we move them around constantly to spread their impact and naturally spread their manure around the land.  In this way we don't have to use any purchased fertilizer to grow great grass- it happens on its own as a function of animals eating grass & grain and depositing their manure all around the field, which fertilizes the grass.

It's funny- many people and many farmers see what we do as radical, as alternative, as fringe.  But really what we are doing is what any smart business does and what many a conservative would espouse- we use nature to save us money and resources, we turn waste into food and thus into money, and we don't use any government resources to do it- all tenets of conservatism.  To top that off, we sequester carbon with our grass & minimum tillage practices, we strive to use as much local feedstuffs as possible, we market all of our meat & eggs within 75 miles of the farm, and we don't have nutrient or sediment run-off, therefore we are environmentalists in action.  Additionally, we pay & treat our workers well, donate lots of food, & mentor many new & aspiring farmers- socialists in action!  We are living proof of environmentalism, conservatism, and socialism in action.  Mix in a little of our anti-war and socialist tendecies when it comes to goverment taking care of basic human rights, libertarian beliefs that government should not regulate us into oblivion (especially without our INPUT), and you end up with who we are: earth-loving, food-producing, fair, empathetic and compassionate people with a slice of reason and intellect.  What about you- where do you lean?

Comments

[Erika Peterson]

Actually, CPP, *integrated* agriculture does produce far more calories per acre and per calorie of input than industrial farming. The most productive system of agriculture on earth is the Chinese pig-duck-rice system. It's the integration, not so much the scale that matters, but integrated agricultural systems do not lend themselves well to massive scale.

[Walter Jeffries]

We co-graze sheep, pigs, geese, ducks and chickens. They run well together, eating different things at different levels. Together the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Examples:

- Ducks eat up the mosquito larva in the pig ponds;

- Chickens eat flies and peck apart the manure of the pigs - something they'll do for cow patties too;

- Pigs root up brush turning wild pastures into lush grass and then they graze the grass

- Sheep mow down taller brush and low hanging branches of regen trees opening this up to become pasture;

- The geese honk at everyone and graze the tender grasses.

It's a system. Together they graze better than any one species would do alone.

[CPP]

Curious as to your basis for the statement that small farms are more efficient per unit of land. If efficiency is defined as the ability to produce the greatest volume of food per land unit/acre (rather than the most diverse as I believe you mention in your piece)then it seems questionable that smaller farms are in fact more efficient. You can question the negative externalities caused by large scale high volume farms but in terms of total food production they are more efficient.

[Carmelite]

Yay! I love that I am buying my food from people who see the world so much like I do! Way to represent!

[Carrie Oliver]

Glad to know I'm not the only one with mixed up political views. This is a lovely post and those Jersey calves sure are a handsome lot. My cousin had Highland heifers to keep his grass short (and that of his neighbors) - great for fire prevention in/near Nicasio. I say had because he bought a bull and I believe those heifers are now cows.

[Nature's Harmony Farm, Elberton, GA]

You're right that sheep easily break out of several strands of fence, even at 8,000 volts or so. However, we found the trick to grazing sheep and cows together, which we described in this blog post: http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/grass-fed-meat-farm-blog/2009/3/18/multi-species-rotational-grazing-cows-sheep.html

The trick is to not rely on the fence, but to force them to bond with cattle. Once they do, they'll associate them with safety and not leave. We move the cows and sheep together, and the sheep haven't broken out in 7 months.

Good luck.

Tim
Nature's Harmony Farm

[Rich]

Up our way, we call that ideology Agrarian.

[Ulla]

Your blog is lovely! I so agree. My family farms and I always thought it was funny how conservative and liberal they are.

[Liz McLellan - hyperlocavore.com]

Wow...sheep r mean!

Thanks great blog! (tweeted)