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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] orchard+pigs+chickens

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] orchard+pigs+chickens
  • Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 09:57:34 -0500


On Feb 7, 2011, at 2:34 AM, Leslie Moyer wrote:

I'm looking for specific information about using pigs and chickens (and/or ducks, turkeys, guineas, etc.) for orchard floor management (controlling vegetation under trees) and insect control in an organic orchard. Does anyone know of resources or people they could point me toward where I might learn more about that?

I think there's been less work done in this area since all the commotion about potential E coli transmission from fresh manure. To meet current organic standards you could only have the livestock in the orchard during parts of the year (raw manure must be incorporated into the soil at least 90 days before harvest of a crop that doesn't touch the soil, 120 days before harvest of a crop that does touch the soil.) If you have a lot of different varieties of different fruits in the same orchard, and therefore a long harvest season, there might not be much of the year when you could have livestock in the orchard and still meet the standards. However, if you've got a relatively short harvest season, or can fence off specific portions of the orchard, you might be able to make it work.

What about a chicken tractor? That would let you keep the birds in specific areas, and would also keep them out of the trees.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







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