Saturday we went to tour a farm about two hours away, which sells chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, and pork. All the animals are based on pasture and moved periodically to a fresh area. The methods used at this farm are very similar to Joel Salatin's, the Virginia farmer who helped pioneer the sustainable agriculture movement.The owner was very knowledgeable on his subject- farming- and I learned quite a bit. It was nice to find that he allows homeschoolers to come and help process his birds, as well as having a homeschool daycamp.
The entire farm was quite diverse, with multiple species sharing an area to benefit each other in natural symbiosis. Chickens keep pigs clean of lice, as well as sanitizing the pasture after the cows. Cows keep the grass clipped to a comfortable level for chickens in return, while pigs provide protection, to a degree, for the chickens. A Great Pyrenees (dog) was kept with the turkeys, which are roaming birds, to protect them from aerial predators. Although the dog couldn't catch a hawk, all animals dislike and avoid dogs, including hawks and buzzards.The owner is very commited to honesty and quality. He had three healthy looking cows that had gotten sick. We never could have guessed that they had been sick, but the owner was selling them at the sale barn instead of to customers due to the fact. He also never sells a bird whose intestinal tract breaks during processing.
The trip was very informative and gave me some new ideas. I'm looking forward to being able to farm myself, hopefully before very long.
~Sherlock
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