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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: KAKerby AT aol.com
- To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers
- Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:16:07 EDT
I guess I'd toss my hat into the ring of "well intentioned but
disconnected", in the context that they're asking reasonable questions but
painting black and white answers in a very diversified spectrum of
possibilities. The animal questions stood out to me as being the greatest
example of that. The comment about "no grain, ever" could be straight out
of the Weston A Price literature, which is nice and well intended. But if
you've got high producing animals, even on rich pasture they sometimes need at
least some grain or supplementation to maintain body condition. Leave them
on insufficiently rich pasture alone (which can fluctuate by the hour and/or
with cloudcover) and they can go into metabolic imbalance which can become life
threatening. Put them on super-rich pasture so they don't need the grain,
and they risk bloat and grass tetany. Sometimes, that grain ration can
keep an animal balanced very nicely at a very healthy condition. But that
document doesn't allow for a mix of grains; it assumes grass pasture or
feedlot-style massive amounts of grain. No middle ground.
The same thing occurs with the question about sick animals. It asks
if those animals are giving antibiotics, and whether those animals are then
withdrawn from production. It makes zero allowance for holistic measures
which often allow (even encourage in the case of mastitis) the continued
milking, and which require no withdrawal time. That option just isn't on
the document.
And finally, it uses the word "Organic" as if there's only Organic versus
Conventional, with no mention of sustainable or renewable or naturally
raised. The questions were fine; the black/white nature of the answers
were not.
What this document screams to me is "I am interested; teach me about these
other possibilities!" I think having a flyer to proactively give potential
customers which asks these questions and answers them in ways that fit our
individual farms is a great idea.
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
In a message dated 4/14/2010 5:22:15 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
liz AT marketfarmshoptalk.com writes:
>this thing is scary! |
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
KAKerby, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
Garth & Kim Travis, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] grass vs. grain / Vetting Local Producers,
Rob Wallbridge, 04/14/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] grass vs. grain / Vetting Local Producers, Liz Pike, 04/14/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] grass vs. grain / Vetting Local Producers, Marcy, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
beverly henkel, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
dguthrie, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
BillOhio, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
Brigette Leach, 04/16/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers, Sue Wells, 04/16/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
Brigette Leach, 04/16/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
BillOhio, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
dguthrie, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] grass vs. grain / Vetting Local Producers,
Rob Wallbridge, 04/14/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers, Liz Pike, 04/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Vetting Local Producers,
Garth & Kim Travis, 04/14/2010
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