By Jacki Perkins As I am writing this, winter deepens and spring is still a far off dream, and the effects of last summer’s drought will begin to be felt. For anyone buying hay last season, it was a study in budgeting: both for pocketbooks and rations. Short of selling livestock to anyone with enough
A 20-year-old short black poplar that Paul Hand has pollarded in England. Photo by Shana Hanson Two comparable ash trees in September 2016 – one initially pruned in summer 2015 and thriving, the other suffering from drought until it was pruned after the photo was taken. Photo by Shana Hanson Cut fodder is first browsed
By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. Raising rabbits for meat is an increasingly popular farming operation in Maine. Rabbits don’t take a lot of space to raise and are efficient feed converters, with a feed-to-meat ratio for fryers of 4:1, or 20 pounds of pellets to 5 pounds of meat. Broilers’ ratio ranges from 2 to 6:1,
By Diane Schivera, M.A.T. Want to save money and feed your animals well at the same time? On most farms the biggest cost for keeping livestock is feed. The quality of the feed can seriously impact the health and production of livestock. For ruminant animals, most if not all of their feed will come from
By Diane Schivera Copyright 2006 Following are highlights from the New England Sustainable Livestock Conference in Vermont and MOFGA’s Livestock Health workshop featuring Hue Karreman, a holistic veterinarian from Pennsylvania, and Jim and Nancy Gardiner, dairy farmers from Otselic, New York. For complete notes and handouts, contact me. Comments about bovine usually apply to all
By Alice Percy Copyright ©2006 by the author The Problem Walk into the meat department of any natural foods store, and you’ll likely find organic beef and chicken, but rarely organic pork. Why? The conventional hog farmer – the guy with thousands of sows out in Iowa – uses some of the most noxious “agricultural”
By Marada Cook Copyright 2006 Jalko Farm slopes east and north along a windy rise in Madawaska, Maine. The dirt driveway and dark brown barns are home to Northern-Most Feeds, LLC, whose owners make organic chicken, pig, goat and cattle feed from Maine-grown oats and wheat midds (a byproduct of milling wheat for flour) and
by Diane Schivera When fields are neglected: Perennial weeds begin to appear, Woody species invade, Soil becomes acidic, Frost brings large rocks to the surface. When looking for ways to return fields to production, always start with methods that are most likely to succeed and are least costly. The least costly and most environmentally sound
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