permaculture

["Gaian Life" <eco@gaianlife.co.uk>]

Bearing in mind that the people who told us that we must all use pesticides 
& herbicides and dig over the earth whenever possible, are the same people 
that happen to sell pesticides and spades, I am somewhat wary of the 
'expert' advice books out there. And would like some REAL advice from you 
guys.

I am about to move to a new smallholding and will be converting it to a 
'wild food' teaching farm. Previously I couldn't keep animals on the land I 
was on and so the 'too many slugs' battle could not be solved by 'more 
ducks'. Now however I am excitedly planning the animal components of the new 
farm:
When weighing up pros and cons (multiple outputs), I decided that I wanted 2 
major outputs with regards to pest control....something that eats slugs (we 
are plagued with them!) and also something that will eat small insects & 
insect eggs (especially snail eggs). This means I am thinking of at least 2 
types of animals unless someone suggests something that eats both!
If I go for pigs, I hear they happily eat slugs and then I also get meat & 
weed clearance provided however no fur/wool or milk (or can pig milk be 
used?).
Goats & sheep give the weed clearance, fertiliser, wool & milk, but do they 
eat slugs? Wool wise I could also choose alpacas, but being taller they may 
pose a problem to fenced/trellised crops. Ducks I hear also eat slugs but i 
would have to create a pond for them first so it will take a while to get 
that in place.

On the small insect front....quails or chickens. I am tempted towards quails 
because of their faster breeding & growth rates and also greater laying 
rates (the eggs although 4x smaller are more nutritious). Couple that with 
their much smaller food requirement (and particle ingestion size) and I 
think quails may be able to mop up small insects whilst leaving my worms in 
place if left to forage amongst crops and would also not damage upper leaves 
or scratch at roots as much as chickens.

Any comments on the above gratefully recieved, for all I know quails may be 
right little terrors while foraging!.

On to the crux of the matter.....looking after the animals. According to the 
'expert' sources, chickens for example must NEVER be fed on waste veg 
scraps, must live in thousand dollar hen runs and must be pumped with every 
vaccine & antibiotic under the sun on a regular basis. Not very 
permaculture! I am assuming this advice is perpetuated by the people who 
make the aforementioned vaccines.
Having travelled fairly widely, I have seen 'stuffing it under your armpit & 
feeding it scraps from the gutter' used as a chicken keeping method in some 
countries, not that I am suggesting i do this, more I mean that there is 
patently NOT a need to bathe your flock weekly in red mite powder or some 
other concotion.

My question then is, can anyone give me, or tell me a good source for advice 
on permaculture animal keeping. Obviously I want my animals to be healthy 
and happy so are there good feed plants to use to ward off all the diseases 
etc and keep the immune systems up? Suggestions for a good varied diet? 
Garlic perhaps?
Would a mixed flock or a few ducks & chickens be the best bet? Can chickens 
be mixed with quails or do they peck each other? How much of a 
chickens/ducks/quails diet can be supplied by foraging or is it still 
necessary to either stockpile suitable grain feed or buy it in?

Another big consideration is the currently unstable situation with regards 
Avian Influenza. The virus itself doesn't worry me so much, rather the 
politics of the issue. In the UK there has been mention of banning free 
range and organic flocks (whilst obviously allowing good old Bernard 
Matthews to continue importing infected Hungarian birds and farming his 
infected flock & to re-open his infected abattoir less than 24hrs after the 
outbreak was first detected...OK I better stop, I feel a rant coming on!). 
Anyway due to politics, poultry may be a problem if we get any more recorded 
outbreaks here in the UK.

So what are your views? What animal combinations and rearing methods work 
well for you guys? Where can I find a sensible info source on animal keeping 
and diseases etc?

Cheers Guys!

Helen