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market-farming - [Market-farming] ANIMAL HEALTH and FINITE RESOURCES Benefits of organic and IRV over "conventional" farming

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  • From: "Jill Taylor Bussiere" <jdt AT itol.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] ANIMAL HEALTH and FINITE RESOURCES Benefits of organic and IRV over "conventional" farming
  • Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 07:47:12 -0600

ANIMAL HEALTH
In IRV and organic dairies, animals are outside, so their lives are varied.
Organic regulations require that animals have access to the outside. IRG
and Organic setups are less intense - the animal is not pushed to its limits
as it is in confined dairies.

"Many Organic ValleyT farmers prefer to accept less that 50 pounds of milk
per day rather than the usual 70 pounds conventional farmers expect. Farmers
observe that this practice reduces stress on the animals and increases
longevity." Organic Valley website

"Where as the average rBGH dairy cow lives only 18 months, Organic ValleyT
farmers have cows as old as fifteen years. Our average cow is over five
years old." Organic Valley website

Average age of conventional dairy cows is 3.1 years.( Nigel Young, The
Kingshay Farming Trust and Report of a Dairy Cow Longevity Study UK)

Longevity has been defined as the ability for a cow to delay involuntary
culling or to survive to 48 months of age (Alvaro Garcia Cow Longevity)
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
/ USDA


"Dr. Ken Nordlund, UW-Veterinarian, says the death loss in dairy herds in
the upper Midwest are alarmingly high at close to 7%. Dr. Nordlund believes
it's probably higher than that, depending on how cows are reported leaving
the herd. For example, a cow might suffer a leg injury and eventually die.
In one instance, her reason might be listed under injury while in another it
might fall under died for leaving the herd.
"In contrast, California DHIA dairy herds have one of the lowest death rates
in the country at 4.76% per year with southern California at 3.64%. As herd
sizes get larger in California, death rates go down, whereas in Wisconsin
they go up.
"Why do Wisconsin herds have a high death rate compared to California? Dr.
Ken Nordlund thinks it's housing difference. Most cows in California are
housed in open lots, lie and walk mostly on dirt. Wisconsin confinement cows
are predominantly on concrete and use stanchion/tie stalls or freestalls.
Many of the stalls in confinement barns are poorly designed. Injuries and
deaths do occur from entrapment injuries when a cow works her way under a
stall divider or neck rail to rise when stalls are too short, slippage due
to a too smooth concrete surface and getting banged up from the hard stall
surface." (UWExtension Newsletter, Fond du Lac County)

"A survey of DHI herds by Smith, et. al., University of Georgia, examined
cow turnover rate and found the percentage of cows leaving the herd
increased as herd size increased from 33.1% for small herds (25 to 99 cows)
to 37.9% for large herds (= 300 cows)." (same as above)

FINITE RESOURCES

Predictions of peak oil production range from already having occurred to 5
years to 20 years. According to an article by Mike Duffy, "Prices on the
Rise: How will higher energy costs impact farmers?", energy expenses for
fuel, fertilizers and pesticides, added up to 16 percent of total farm
expenditures in 1998 - with 2.6% for fuel, 7% for fertilizers, and 6.5% for
pesticides. This causes the cost of production to rise.

According to the US Department of Energy, agriculture is one of the 9 top
energy-intensive industries in the United States (April 2, 2002).

"Natural gas is the primary cost component in producing nitrogen
fertilizers. Since experiencing a record high natural gas price at $9.00
per MMBtu in January 2001, natural gas cost has accounted or about 92
percent of the cost of ammonia production. Without a sharp increase in
nitrogen fertilizer prices, , the higher natural gas price creates
significant pressure for nitrogen fertilizer producers to curtail
production." (Economic Analysis of the Changing Structure of the U.S.
Fertilizer Industry C.S. Im, H. Taylor, C. Hallahan, and G. Schaible,
Economic Research Service, USDA)

"Reliable estimates from the Department of Energy show that 5 pounds of
nitrogen have the energy equivalent of a gallon of diesel fuel, in other
words, 100 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer would have the energy of 20
gallons of diesel fuel." (Prices on the Rise, p 1-2))

"Pesticides are made from petroleum. The exact amount depends on the
product. A common measure used is that it takes the equivalent of a gallon
of diesel fuel to make one pound of active ingredient of pesticides."
(Prices on the Rise, p. 2)

Organic standards prohibit the use of petroleum fertilizers and pesticides,
although more crop cultivation may be necessary for weed control than in
conventional farming. Rotational grazing has little need of petroleum
fertilizers and pesticides, and cuts down on the use of fuel use as well,
since machinery operation is less crucial to IRG management. Thus, both
methods are less vulnerable to rising prices, and the decreasing
availability of petroleum.









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