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"Raising lamb the natural way"
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Sustainable agriculture Dictionaries define sustainable as being "the ability to maintain for a prolonged period" but there is little common agreement as to the meaning of sustainable agriculture. At a farm level organic agriculture may be sustainable because it uses relatively little external resource, but at society's level it may be unsustainable because it produces inadequate food. Widespread use of pesticides has led to the emergence of pesticide-resistant weeds, while excessive use of fertiliser contributes to global warming due to its energy-intensive manufacture, not to mention the enormous quantities of fossil fuels used in food production and transport. Meanwhile the run-off pollutes water supplies and harms fish. Food scares and epidemics are increasingly commonplace, and in response demand for organic food is skyrocketing. Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability and prosperous farming communities. Growing crops, including forages crops such as hay and alfalfa will generally deplete the soil of the nutrients required to continue to grow more crops year after year. Even animal pasture will eventually run out of nutrients if continually grazed. How can this be done without the use of chemical fertilizers? 1. Crop rotation involves changing the location of crops from one year to another, and sometimes giving the land a complete break – lying fallow. The great Irish Potato famile illustrates the dangers of monoculture- growing only one crop over and over again in the same location. Disease wiped out the Irish potatoes. 2. Grazing rotation of pastures: Moving animals from one field to another beforethe grass is eaten down so much that it cannot fully recover. 3. Using animal manure: Instead of inorganic fertilizers, composed or partly decomposed animal manure and bedding is scattered on the fields in late fall, after the animals are no longer grazing. 4. Growing legume crops: Peas, beans lentils and alfalfa varieties add nitrogen to the soil through nodules in their root systems.
Although it is difficult for producers in this area to grow completely “organic “ meat, due to the lack of organically certified abattoirs, it is still possible to purchase meat and other animal products such as wool and fibre, that have been derived from animals that have been raised in as natural and humane a way as possible.
Our sheep and llamas eat natural grass all summer and in winter, they receive hay from our own pastures that has been grown in the way described above. We spread manure on our fields instead of using chemical fertilizers, and we rotate pastures frequently to prevent overgrazing and to help reduce internal parasites. As we raise Katahdin sheep, they do not need to be sheared (the fleece sheds off in the summer and grows back in the winter) and the lambs’ tails are not docked, as the tails are not woolly enough to collect a lot of manure and associated flies. Female lambs are not separated from their mothers. Male lambs are weaned and pastured separately at the age of three months, as it is possible for them to breed their mothers and sisters if left with them. On the other hand the llamas are sheared because they are not fond of hot weather, and shearing them helps them to keep cool. We keep llamas as a source of lovely soft natural fibre, and also as guardians. They are great at keeping sheep, goats and alpacas safe from big dogs, wolves and coyote. They eat the same as a sheep and goat and so do not have to be fed dog food! None of our animals are fed growth promoting hormones, given hormones to promote out-of-season breeding, or eat prepared foods containing protein obtained from other animals.
You can help conserve greenhouse gases, depletion of fossil fuels- non-renewable resources and maintain the safety of our food and water supplies by supporting farmers in your area who are using some or all of the above methods of sustainable agriculture. |
