Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Norma Sutton <sweetspringfarm@gmail.com>]

Hi Paul,
IMO smaller livestock does better.  I have sheep and goats that I rotate and free range chickens.  My brother has a pair of Royal Palm turkeys that we also rotate in behind the livestock.  I think any of the smaller breeds of livestock do better, and I'm including the small breeds of cattle.  When used for meat they are easier to process on the farm and even though they are smaller the bone to meat ratio is better so much of the time you get more meat percentage wise from a small animal then from a large one.
Norma

On 10/12/09, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:

I assume that's you on the Kubota, right? Now, I'd like to reach the same conclusion but Worden Farm, being a CSA with volunteer labor, wouldn't be the best case of a 50-acre farm supporting 50 people. We don't have enough information to know how far that production would go to "support" 50 people. And the need for six volunteer laborers still leaves the financial viability of 50-acres supporting 50 people offsite an open question. And as Mark reminds us, not all acres are created equal. Florida with a nine-month growing season should be able to reach the mark if anywhere can.

But there's more than the question of 50 acres feeding 50 people. To completely support one person per acre it also needs to make a profit to fund all other needs besides food. There's a test of financial viability in all this. I remain skeptical about power machinery in the cost/gross ratio. Mark's point about livestock raises another question. What kind of livestock works best for maintaining fertility? Does it increase labor too much? Can outside inputs work better financially?


paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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