I am often asked this question.
There is a popular misconception among the green fraternity that the Goat is the perfect animal for any smallholding. Well, they aren't.
Now before a million goat lovers write me heated letters please understand that many years ago I and my family lived on goat milk and chevon (goat meat) for several years. I have dealt with goats under any circumstance you can think of and my opinion is that if you like goats, you can have them! While goats can be absolutely lovable creatures at times they are also stubborn, devious and far, far too intelligent! In addition a goat is the single hardest animal in creation to fence in! The last time a frustrated gardener asked me how to keep her goats fenced out of her vegetable garden after their latest raid had leveled the place I suggested razor wire and machine gun sentries! Failing that put the goats in the freezer. You can either have orchards and veggie gardens- or goats but you will never keep the two successfully together.
Having said all that, my main reason for not keeping goats here is that this area is simply not suited for them. We receive far too much rain and goats hate getting wet, they are also very susceptible to parasites found in wet conditions and get foot-rot easily. Cattle remain unfazed by these obstacles and fare much better in this area. Now if I lived down on the dry lands I would consider goats indeed because a goat will thrive on absolutely rubbish land and produce just as much milk and meat as it would on green pastures. I have seen them do so when cattle were wasting away!
At the end of the day you must grow what is suitable for your area and accept that some things will just never thrive in some areas. Therefore we keep cattle and pigs, hardy breed chickens and meat pigeons. These are animals complimentary to our area, landscape and weather.
Life on the cloud farm. Small farming and self sufficiency, organics, permaculture and all that stuff.
Tuesday 26 April 2016
Sunday 24 April 2016
Q&A #5 Please explain the "nutrient cycle" you mentioned?
The Nutrient cycle is really the core of our whole existence on this planet- and where humanity for the most part has come unstuck.
In essence it means that all nutrient (energy) remains in constant motion as each creature lives it uses nutrient and in its wastes and eventual death in turn provides nutrient to other creatures. On a small farm if we were to farm in a truly organic manner this would mean that we try to return as much of the nutrient we use as possible to the soil so that it in turn can be used to feed the farm as a whole. If we try to only import nutrient (in the form of stock feed and the like) and do not allow the end nutrient to leave the farm it follows that over time you will enrich the soil of the farm far beyond its original capacity. Of course this means that you are technically stealing nutrient from another source. This is the problem with industrial level farming where the soil is continually harvested for all it can provide and the nutrient is then shipped off to big cities where it is consumed and then flushed out to sea as sewage.
What a colossal waste!
Worst of all is that those industrial farms are then "fertilized" with chemicals made largely from petroleum and even then they are grudgingly given only as much as the next crop needs and no more. The soil is in no way improved or fed. The soil life dies and the soil is little more than a growing medium bare of life. Doubt me? Go dig a hole in a field on a large scale industrial farm and see how many worms and the like you find. Compare this to even a simple shovelful of soil from a good organic garden!
The point I am getting at is that you must feed the soil before you feed anything else on your farm! From your soil comes all other life on the farm. It is a living creature, like a coral reef, full of diverse life. Each contributes to the soil and enhances plant life. The plant life in turn feeds us as vegetables, our livestock as grass and makes compost to be returned to the soil. Trees reach deep down to the bedrock where they extract nutrient grasses cannot reach, they will then shed leaves and bark to create that wonderfully rich humus. Trees also attract wildlife which import nutrient in the form of droppings.
So on the perfect farm I would feed my soil. All my livestock would contribute through their manure- processed into a more readily usable fertilizer to feed the soil life. All household organic wastes are either fed to livestock or else directly composted. A variety of livestock is kept to provide a variety of manures each rich in their own elements. Cow manure is soft and easily makes good black soil, pig manure is rich in almost every area and chickens and pigeons manure is high in nitrogen and phosphorus. Best of all is human manure. The ultimate sin of humanity is to pump this, the best available nutrient of all, into the ocean out of pure squeamishness. It has long been proven that human wastes are easily processed and rendered harmless of any pathogens while also producing a valuable fuel gas, methane, at the same time! If I can (and I am still checking the council by-laws but it does look feasible) I will be emptying and spreading the contents of my septic tank onto a paddock left unstocked for three months. The sunlight and exposure to air will render it harmless in a short time and the results on the grass should be dynamic. Indeed, if possible I would like to be eventually buried on this farm, or perhaps mulched, to give some tree in the orchard a good head start.
On the perfect farm nothing should be wasted. All that you use should come from your farm and then returned to the soil when you are done with it. In time the soil will grow rich beyond anything you have ever seen and will abound with life. That is true farming and that is the Nutrient cycle.
In essence it means that all nutrient (energy) remains in constant motion as each creature lives it uses nutrient and in its wastes and eventual death in turn provides nutrient to other creatures. On a small farm if we were to farm in a truly organic manner this would mean that we try to return as much of the nutrient we use as possible to the soil so that it in turn can be used to feed the farm as a whole. If we try to only import nutrient (in the form of stock feed and the like) and do not allow the end nutrient to leave the farm it follows that over time you will enrich the soil of the farm far beyond its original capacity. Of course this means that you are technically stealing nutrient from another source. This is the problem with industrial level farming where the soil is continually harvested for all it can provide and the nutrient is then shipped off to big cities where it is consumed and then flushed out to sea as sewage.
What a colossal waste!
Worst of all is that those industrial farms are then "fertilized" with chemicals made largely from petroleum and even then they are grudgingly given only as much as the next crop needs and no more. The soil is in no way improved or fed. The soil life dies and the soil is little more than a growing medium bare of life. Doubt me? Go dig a hole in a field on a large scale industrial farm and see how many worms and the like you find. Compare this to even a simple shovelful of soil from a good organic garden!
The point I am getting at is that you must feed the soil before you feed anything else on your farm! From your soil comes all other life on the farm. It is a living creature, like a coral reef, full of diverse life. Each contributes to the soil and enhances plant life. The plant life in turn feeds us as vegetables, our livestock as grass and makes compost to be returned to the soil. Trees reach deep down to the bedrock where they extract nutrient grasses cannot reach, they will then shed leaves and bark to create that wonderfully rich humus. Trees also attract wildlife which import nutrient in the form of droppings.
So on the perfect farm I would feed my soil. All my livestock would contribute through their manure- processed into a more readily usable fertilizer to feed the soil life. All household organic wastes are either fed to livestock or else directly composted. A variety of livestock is kept to provide a variety of manures each rich in their own elements. Cow manure is soft and easily makes good black soil, pig manure is rich in almost every area and chickens and pigeons manure is high in nitrogen and phosphorus. Best of all is human manure. The ultimate sin of humanity is to pump this, the best available nutrient of all, into the ocean out of pure squeamishness. It has long been proven that human wastes are easily processed and rendered harmless of any pathogens while also producing a valuable fuel gas, methane, at the same time! If I can (and I am still checking the council by-laws but it does look feasible) I will be emptying and spreading the contents of my septic tank onto a paddock left unstocked for three months. The sunlight and exposure to air will render it harmless in a short time and the results on the grass should be dynamic. Indeed, if possible I would like to be eventually buried on this farm, or perhaps mulched, to give some tree in the orchard a good head start.
On the perfect farm nothing should be wasted. All that you use should come from your farm and then returned to the soil when you are done with it. In time the soil will grow rich beyond anything you have ever seen and will abound with life. That is true farming and that is the Nutrient cycle.
Thursday 21 April 2016
April rains
The wet season has come late this year, again. Nevertheless we are continuing work about the place as we can.
The meat pigeons, which had been doing so well suffered a serious setback when a local python discovered a way into their shed at night. Suddenly there were no more squabs to be had and even the eggs began to disappear. So after some discussion we decided the best way to solve this problem was to cement the floor of the shed and seal up all of the ways in. I doubt even a mouse could get into the pigeon loft now without a ladder. The shed was always designed to have a cement floor for this reason, we just had to move that project ahead on the list to make sure we can keep a steady supply of meat coming. Nests began to appear all over the shed once the floor went in! I counted eight nesting mothers this morning and we should be eating squab again in four weeks or so.
Last week I went over to a mates place to bring our meat steer back for slaughter. Loading him proved surprisingly easy for once. On Tuesday the slaughter man came in (yes, we still have not constructed the gambrel and frame we need for a full sized beast) and did the kill and quarter. I then carried each quarter into the waiting cold room to age for a couple of weeks. The quarters were heavy indeed! Or perhaps I am just getting old. Either way the steer, Timmy, was three and a half years old and in prime condition. We enjoyed a breakfast of devilled kidneys the next morning.
The meat pigeons, which had been doing so well suffered a serious setback when a local python discovered a way into their shed at night. Suddenly there were no more squabs to be had and even the eggs began to disappear. So after some discussion we decided the best way to solve this problem was to cement the floor of the shed and seal up all of the ways in. I doubt even a mouse could get into the pigeon loft now without a ladder. The shed was always designed to have a cement floor for this reason, we just had to move that project ahead on the list to make sure we can keep a steady supply of meat coming. Nests began to appear all over the shed once the floor went in! I counted eight nesting mothers this morning and we should be eating squab again in four weeks or so.
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