Resources for Farmers - And a Passion for Grassin'

So we’ve talked the last few days about grazing and why graze. I’d like to tilt the viewfinder a little today and give farmers out there some resources for grazing. Here’s one I found right off this morning that looks pretty fun, full of how-tos and fencing. http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/home.htm. That one looks to mostly cater to beef, but a useful poultry resource for us has been http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/poultry/. Purdue also has some great info on grazing and pasture management http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/rotational/index.html.

So hopefully that’s enough to get you started. I’ve got tons more resources, of course, but that’s enough to wade through for now, I think. One thing about it, it’s never hard to sell farmers on the benefits of grass. I think most of us would rather see our animals out on pasture more than anything else. The problem is that’s not where the demand of the market is. The demand is for cheaply raised meat that grows quickly and that’s exactly what the public has gotten, full of antibiotics and hormones. But, that is what they asked for.

Last I heard, less than 2% of the population is involved with food production in America, with fewer young people getting involved as the years go by. And when you think about it, why should they get involved? There’s little money and long hours involved with farming, passion for grassin’ or not. The key now is niche markets and educating the public on where their food comes from. I’m continually amazed at how many people my own age have never even been up close to a horse, let alone a cow. They have no clue about grass-fed versus grain-fed and no incentive to care. But food is the basis of everything. Without food, there’s no room for civilization. Farmers are integral to everything. I mean, how many people, realistically, can feed themselves without a grocery store? So there’s the incentive to learn about where your food comes from: no store, no eat. Scary. So my advice to aspiring and current farmers? Business planning.

I’ve mentioned Annie’s Project on the blog before, but for those who didn’t catch that post, it’s a nationwide class held to educate women in agriculture about opportunities and management in agriculture. For it, I picked up a lot of information on how to manage and build your farm on paper. This aspect of ag is actually a post or two all in itself so I’ll leave off today with a few starting resources on ag business and pick up tomorrow discussing the importance of business planning and how it can benefit your ag business.

http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-125-1568_2388---,00.html Haven’t explored this one yet, but does look to have some useful info.

The best site for farmers interested in business planning is https://www.msu.edu/~steind/. Dennis Stein is part of Michigan State University’s Extension Service and a great personality.

Here’s a link for beginning farmers and looks great for people just thinking about adding farming to their repertoire. After all, the reason most small businesses fail is poor planning. http://beginningfarmers.org/farm-business-planning/

Sorry for the tangent today, folks, but I get excited about ag and all its facets. I’ll try to be more focused tomorrow and more interesting to those who yawn their way through my rhapsodies over turf grass. Cheers.

Everybody Poops

My apologies, but that video just made me laugh. And strangely feel like I’m at work. Anyway, today we’re still talking about grazing. How awesome is that? Okay, not very for those of you who came here for lit stuff, but hopefully a fun read nonetheless.

Grass-fed beef has one really amazing side benefit: it’s good for the environment. Grazing is one of the most fuel-efficient processes available. Sunlight makes grass grow. Grass makes cows grow. And cows make us grow. All with just proper pasture management. No inputs and totally renewable if properly managed. It really is beautiful when you think about it.

On confinement operations, such as ones available at most dairies (wink wink), animals are confined in limited spaces, feed is moved to them, rather than them being moved to food, and the feeds are chuck-full of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer, and are planted and harvested with heavy equipment, which require, you guessed it, fossil fuels. Or bio-fuels, which I’m not really qualified to comment on.

Manure is also a point where management practices differ. In confinement operations, workers burn fossil fuels manually moving manure away from the livestock. In grazing operations, the animals are left to distribute their manure over the land they graze, where it transforms to organic fertilizer. Manure and sunlight make the grass grow, the grass makes the animals go, and… well, you see where I’m going.

While grazing needs more knowledge and management, the animals are the ones who do the work in this situation. There’s less stress on the animals since they’re only doing what is natural to them.

I do have to share this story, even though it’s of the “my-kid-did-the-cutest-thing” variety. My cows calve out on approximately twenty acres every fall. Our job as caretakers is to go out and treat the calves after the cows have calved, essentially giving them their well-baby shots. This year was unique in that after calving the cows hid their babies in the tall grass and we couldn’t find them for sometimes five days. At first, this concerned me greatly, thinking the babies might be in distress. But when they emerged from hiding, they were healthy and strong, ready to join the herd. I realized eventually that this behavior, in fact, was my cows reverting to their natural behavior. In the wild, deer mothers will hide their offspring, returning to them only once or twice per day, in order that predators don’t scent the young ones. The cows were behaving in much the same way, not even their body language revealing where the calves lay. Once I realized this, it was very cool and exciting to realize that the environment I raised my animals in allowed them to revert to what was natural for them to do, without me having to do a damn thing to “help” them.

So I guess the moral of all this, is that confinement operations are necessary in this high-production world. Who would feed the masses otherwise? But grazing is amazing in its simplicity and the lifestyle that it promotes, for livestock and humans alike.

Basics of Grass-fed Beef

I’d like to switch gears today and talk about ag, mostly grass-fed beef. I’m passionate about raising natural, happy beef. Cattle raised on grass are healthier, happier, and lead more fulfilling lives. Why is this important? you ask. Why should I care how my beef lives?

Here’s why.

Cattle raised on hormones and antibiotics typically live in stressful, crowded feedlots. While these types of situations are necessary to raise beef on a massive scale, smaller, more sustainable alternatives are available. While the demand for cheap, low-grade beef drives the market, if people demand higher quality meat, most farmers I know would love to oblige.

So check out this video from Purdue on the basics of grass-fed beef and we’ll resume this conversation.

So what’s the big deal about receiving nutrition from forages rather than grain? First of all, grass is healthier. According to eatwild.com, grass fed beef contains far higher levels of vitamin E, vitamin D, omega 3 fatty acids, beta-carotene, and conjugated lineoleic acid, or CLA, which has been linked to lower risk of cancer. Grain to cattle is like potato chips to us. It provides energy and puts on weight, which is good for cattle and bad for us. So if people consume beef that’s been raised on a poor diet, they have a poor diet, essentially eating what the cattle ate. Ruminates, such as cattle and sheep, are amazing in that they can convert grass, something humans can’t digest, into meat, which is something people can. Corn is highly inefficient for both people and animals. It’s hard to digest and is essentially made up of sugars that store to fat instead of muscle. The main benefit of grass-fed beef is that it is made up of salad greens instead of sugar cane.

This says it much better. Get back to basics, reality, and quality of life.

Tomorrow I'll talk about environment and how a grass-fed basis benefits humans and animals alike.

NaNoWriMo: Five reasons why you should participate

NaNoWriMo: Five reasons why you should participate : from the Christian Science Monitor.

Don't just listen to me: here's what a top news authority says on the subject. And while we're at it:

NaNoWriMo Kickoff!

Today marks the frantic onset of National Novel Writing Month. Do you have your 1,667 words in today? Hehehe :) I sure as hell don’t.

Rather than focus on the word count, I’d rather explore the joy of writing today, especially since that’s something that’s easy for writers to lose track of in our daydreams of fame, fortune, and publication. Because that’s what it all comes down to: hands and a keyboard, or a pen or a crayon, and a drive so strong to put down word after word that it rises up and overwhelms everything else, that it’s more important than anything else, job, relationships, sleep, health. It’s easy to lose sight of having passion for the process when so many other things compete with it. We want to be good. We want to be published, to spend our days taking interviews, sipping coffee or green tea, talking about our greatness.

We want so many things.

Something we’re reminded to ask is whether we want the perceived trappings of being a writer or to actually sit down at our desks and place word after word, making a string of beads to worry and pick at later like a literary rosary. Because that is what it all comes down to: passion for stringing words together, reaching with two hands, grasping for words in the dark, to bring them to light and impale them on our beading strings.

So happy NaNo everyone. Be productive and passionate and don’t get lost in the dark.