Getting Beyond Buzz Words...

Sustainable, Local, Natural, Organic, and all those other "label" words are pretty big right now. And I have to admit that I have used them quite a bit here on the blog and in conversation with people all over the place. Sometimes I think that they are best thing we have to describe what we are doing and what we are striving to do, but there are other times when I think that words just can't say enough or even that certain words are losing their meaning. Words are important to me ... so, this is the kind of stuff that I think of from time to time.

But, as I read Allan Nation's July, 2nd blog post about Horizon Brands new "natural dairy" line of products the idea of word labels and categories really started bouncing around in my mind. Check out this quote from Mr. Nation's blog post:

"Dean Foods’ Horizon Brands plans to create a 'natural dairy' line to profit from consumers’ increasing disillusionment with Certified organic dairy products. Sales growth from organic products has flattened as consumers have learned that much of today’s organic milk did not come from pristine little pastoral farms in Vermont as they had supposed but from large-scale feedlot dairies in the West."

Basically it is time to change the label because the "organic secret" got out. The word "organic" no longer gets milk out of the fridge case quick enough and at a high enough volume so the powers that be in the marketing department have decided that "natural" must be the new thing on the label. I suppose they are hoping that this will bring back all their old organic customers and add some new natural customers.

Of course if this quote is to be trusted it also seems that it will make life easier for the Horizon company:

"Deans new Horizon "natural dairy" line will only claim that the milk is from cows who have not been given bovine growth hormones. This frees them to access all of their milk from industrial dairies without fear of media exposure or chastisement."

I understand our need for labels and descriptive words, but I do have a hard time understanding how easily we let those words influence our purchasing and thought process. Oh well, I guess I'll just invent a word or phrase for our farm ... kind of like Joel Salatin has done!

Never Thought of This...

I ran across this today while reading Allan Nation's blog (editor of the Stockman Grass Farmer) and it really hit me. Take the link above to read the post for yourself, but the title is what really grabbed me ... "Falling Car Sales Take Down World Beef Prices". I will admit that I read that and I thought ... "Huh?" But, after reading about it I can see how the slowing car sales (especially of cars with leather features) can have an impact on the cattle industry ... I just never would have made the connection.

The connection between the cars and the beef is the hide. According to Mr. Nation's post car interiors made up 12% of the world's leather use in 2007 and that percentage has dropped to 8% now. It may not seem like a lot, but I guess it makes a pretty big splash in the bucket and that splash gets passed down the line to producers and everyone else.

This all reminds me how interconnected our society really is with agriculture even if we don't realize it. As I have mentioned before, even here in Iowa there are less and less people that have a direct connection to farms or a particular farm family and that lack of connection can only hurt us (both farmers and consumers). In my mind it is just another reason to talk agriculture as much as you can and always be open and transparent about what you do and why you do it. A good reminder for me!

You Don't Always Get What You Pay For

That could be the title of the post I read over on Allan Nation's "Stockman Grassfarmer Blog". You can check the post out for yourself, but this little bit really says it all:

"The Truthful Labeling Coalition estimates that American consumers annually spend an estimated $2 billion for added salt water in commercial grade chickens, The Wall Street Journal reported. Currently, roughly one-third of fresh chicken sold in the USA is "plumped" with water, salt and sometimes a seaweed extract that helps the meat retain the water."

The poultry companies claim that they have been forced to go this route (have no reason to doubt them) because the large chains want a uniform product and by adding as much as 400 mgs of salt per 4-ounce serving they can get that uniformity. The rub for some people is that the companies are still allowed to call these "plumped" chickens 100% natural or all natural.

I suppose you could say that salt is a "natural" thing, but finding it in such high amounts in a serving of chicken is pretty unnatural I would think...

A Passionate Essay...

I found this over on Allan Nation's blog:

"The Japanese government said agriculture is one of the few industry’s that could provide much needed jobs in the current economic environment and has earmarked $10 million to send 900 young, unemployed workers to farm training schools. So far, there have been ten prospects for each slot. Each candidate must write a passionate essay about why they want to be farmers to be considered. "

Mr. Nation's post continues on to say that 2 out of 3 Japanese farmers are over the age of 65 and that one Japanese economist believes that if that trend isn't reversed. Of course if Japan's agricultural system goes like ours here in the U.S. they won't need to replace all those farmers they are losing because the farms and everything else will get bigger. But, that is a discussion for another day (I don't have the energy to think about it now).

What really hit me after reading that quote was the essay thing. If I had a 10% chance to getting the farming job and had to write an essay in order to secure the position that I passionately wanted what would I say?

Would I talk about the family that I need to provide money for (which may be one of the top things in Japan at the moment)? Would I discuss my love for the land and the food we eat? Would I make sure to touch on the importance of keeping food production in our own country? What exactly would I write about...

I think that thought is an interesting one, and probably it is even one that all farmers (or beginning farmers) should think about from time to time. One big thing of mine is that we need to work in our passions, so if I cannot be passionate about farming (and the way I farm) then I don't think I should farm because I probably won't be as successful as someone that is completely sold out on what they are doing.

My question to you ... What would you write in your passionate essay?

A New Secretary

With a new president comes all sorts of new things ... including a new Secretary of Agriculture. And, just this past week we found out that Mr. Obama's choice would be ex-governor Tom Vilsack of my own state (the great state of Iowa). I didn't catch much of the farm news this week, but from what I did hear it seems that they were fairly pleased with the choice if for no other reason than the fact that he is from Iowa and so he would be intimately concerned with the "needs" of today's Iowa farmer. On the other hand, there are plenty of people out there that are less that pleased with the pick.

Michael Pollan said, "a good day for corn. Less good for eaters." And, Allan Nation (editor of The Stockman Grassfarmer) wrote, "This ends the speculation that a 'sustainable ag' candidate might get the nod and the appointment is a major coup for Big Corn and the ethanol industry." In fact you can read more of what Mr. Nation had to say by checking out his blog.

What I know about Mr. Vilsack is that he was a two-term governor in our state who only ran for two terms ... after that he had a short lived run for the presidency. I also know that he actually isn't a native Iowan (he was born in Pittsburgh) and that he spent his time most recently as a lawyer among other things. I do know though that he is probably acutely aware of the workings of big agriculture and the ethanol industry in Iowa and beyond and seems to be a helper in the cause of bio-fuels.

It seems that some of the organic organizations aren't very pleased either because of the way he has reached out to the GMO crowd and the ethanol industry. In fact after a little wiki search I found out that the Organic Consumers Organization (never heard of it) thought that Mr. Vilsack was a poor choice, "particularly as energy and environmental reforms were a key point of the Obama campaign."

If we have any sense of history we know that the Secretary of Agriculture does have a lot of power to shape our country (see Earl Butz) if they are allowed to do so. I'm not quite sure what Mr. Vilsack has in mind, but it should be interesting ... at least he is an Iowan ... well, sort of.

Firewood and a Follow-up

Some times I write my posts the night before so that I can get them up early. Sometimes I write the in the morning because I don't have time the night before. But, today is one of those situations where I didn't have time last night (because we were putting up fence) and I don't have a ton of time today (because I need to go cut firewood). But, I will say that it is a perfect day to cut firewood ... it is a bit windy, but the snow is falling and that is my favorite time to be in the woods.

Before I head out though, I wanted to take a few seconds and follow-up on yesterdays post regarding Allan Nation's wheat cost/price blog post. If you haven't had a chance yet I encourage you to check out the comments because there was a lot of good discussion in there. Including some evidence that the numbers might be off a bit from the real world ... or at least some peoples real world.

The most interesting thing I gleaned from the comments though was a great realization of how much the system has changed. It was mentioned a few times in the comments about different crop/livestock rotations that farmers use or have used in the past, but I know in Iowa those have mostly left. What I'm not sure of is the system of corn and bean buying only lead to them leaving or if it was the other way around.

For example, many farmers here in Iowa (even in the best black dirt central Iowa land) used to have a good rotation of alfalfa, beans, corn, and maybe even some wheat or oats. Many of those same farms had cattle also and they would graze their corn fields after harvest or rotate to a pasture now and then. Things have changed now. Most farms rotate every other year between corn and soybeans (and nothing else). They have moved the cattle off the farm so they no longer winter graze their corn fields (plus, they have taken down a lot of the fences so they could plant a few more rows).

We have gotten to the place that if a farmer wanted to raise and alternative crop (anything besides corn and beans) they might have to drive a ways to sell their crop. This makes crop diversification very difficult, and I'm not sure how this sort of system would even be fixed...

Anyways, just a few thoughts from yesterdays post. Thanks so much for the great discussion! Now, I'm off to the woods...

Are the Wheels Falling Off

This morning as I was searching around some of the websites that I like to read for good blogging fodder I found a November, 21 blog post by Allan Nation (on his blog). The post was titled, "A Wylie Coyote Moment In the Wheat Belt" and you can read it by taking the link above and scrolling down a little bit. The thrust of the article is about the falling wheat prices, but Mr. Nation can't resist a little prophecy about the corn market. Here are a few especially interesting quotes from the post.

"Currently, the input costs to grow this winter’s wheat crop are estimated to be around $6.00 a bushel, but elevators are only offering $3.17 for it. This apparent sure loss has not slowed America’s wheat farmers as they start to plant this year’s crop."

"According to one Oklahoma banker, growing this year’s crop will probably make them poor. He estimates that half of the net worth of his current farmer customers will be lost in 2009."

"Watch for a Farm Bailout bill in 2010."

Since in am ignorant in the growing of wheat I was wondering if someone could enlighten me on the "hows and whys" of wheat costing $6.00 a bushel of input costs. I'm not disagreeing with the number, I just don't know what goes into a wheat crop like I do corn or soybeans. But, one thing is for sure, I do understand why the wheat farmers are continuing to plant wheat even when the prices are so low ... because that is what they have been told to do and that is the only agricultural system they know.

I assume that many of the wheat farms are large scale mono-crop type operations and they probably are tooled up enough to just switch operations on the fly. Because of that they just plant wheat and some may even plant more ... because that is what our government wants.

As for corn having the same fate and the 2010 Farm Bailout Bill ... Well, I'm not sure what will happen with corn, but I do know that corn closed at $3.32 yesterday which is darn close to the break even point. As for a farm bailout ... what more could they do that they don't already do in the 2008 Food Stamp ...err... Farm Bill?

Woe is Me ... The "Economic Downturn"

Don't you just love the term, "economic downturn"? I don't think I liked it at first, but it is starting to grow on me now. I must admit that even though I can be a little, "woe is me" at times, for the most part I am a pretty much an optimist. So, when I look at the current "economic downturn" I just try and look at the bright side of things ... one of the bright spots right now is that gas is below $2.00 a gallon and with my 7¢ off for using a Wal-Mart gift card it almost seems like I don't mind filling up (but really it needs to go down more and stay down).

But, gas prices aren't the only thing being affected by this "economic downturn". I just read over at Allan Nation's blog that the Whole Foods chain of stores is seeing a huge decrease in growth and is trying to get out of some leases. It seems with people thinking that the financial word is and is going to crumble they have decided that buying food from Whole Foods isn't as cool as it used to be. To quote the quote that was in Mr. Nations blog post, "Two to three years ago, it was cool to shop at Whole Foods. Now you might say it is cool to shop at Costco".

There are only a couple of things wrong with that. First of all I've never been to a Whole Foods, so I don't know exactly what they sell. But, if they sell food that is organic/natural/just plain better for you than I'm guessing that the reason you shop there should not be because it is cool. It should be because you have a reason to shop there. And secondly, how bad have we become as a country if we shop at grocery stores because of the status symbol that they are ... it is bad enough that we do it for clothes and everything else.

So, here is my question. How do you see the "economic downturn" impacting small-scale family agriculture? I have noticed time and time again comments from people over at the Epi-Log that they are cutting back on their farmer's market purchases and other local food things because they just can't afford it (by the way, how does an "economic downturn" effect a 20'something with a secure job and no need to withdraw money from their pension?). So, what will the impact be? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Is Crop Ground the Next Shoe to Fall?

That is actually a topic that I have been wondering about lately (especially sense I purchased land towards the top ... although ours isn't good row crop ground). Yesterday I was checking out Allan Nation's blog and ran across his thoughts on the farmland price run up and the possible run down. Take the link above and scroll down to the post titled, "Is Farmland the Next Asset to Collapse?" from October, 13th.

Basically Mr. Nation writes that the cash rent will actually be the first to go because of the falling grain prices (he mentions $3.50 and $8.00 for corn and beans respectively at the moment, which is about or slightly less than the farmers would get for selling right now). If those lower prices hold (really no telling what it will do, but if the markets stay down than they might also) then it is going to make it a little difficult at times to pay the current cash rent prices with the income you make from an acre of corn/beans.

Mr. Nation theorizes that then we could see a drop in land prices in around 2010 or 2011... I'm not sure where I land on all of this, but I know that I have talked with quite a few people about it from time to time trying to get a handle on the subject. On one hand many of the farmers that I talk with don't think there will be quite the bubble burst as there was in the 80's farm crisis because there is a bit more capital behind some of the purchases today. But, on the other hand there is beginning to be a sense that $8,000 an acre and up for crop land might be a little too high in the long run.

I know what I would like to see happen ... I wouldn't mind seeing things just kind of hold steady and then bottom out in about ten years. That would give us some time to gain a little equity and savings and then swipe up a little more land when the price is right! But, I'm not holding my breath on that one :)

Is Anyone Ruining Farming?

Here is a continuation of yesterdays blog post... Later on in the e-mailer wrote this, "So many comments on the blog are geared to how "we" are ruining farming. Where do you think the line is between "lifestyle" and "profession"? What makes one better or worse?" I have to admit that this one is a tough one, but it is also a question that I have thought about quite a bit from time to time. It is also a question that can be very divisive, so I'll just throw out a couple of thoughts.

There are probably a few comments from me and others on this blog about how the larger farmers are ruining farming and I will stand by that to a point. I do think that a 20,000 acre grain farm can have a negative impact on farming ... just as I believe that Wal-Mart can have a negative impact on shopping and consumerism. I honestly believe the bigger is better mentality is ruining our culture.

I see it in all of the teenagers that I work with, whether it is on the soccer field ... at church ... or in youth group. There is a trend even among the Middle School students that goes something like this, "I need to have this to fit in ... I can't live without a cell phone ... I don't have 15 minutes a day to just sit and be quiet." And it just goes on and on from there.

I have a feeling the bigger is better in agriculture comes from the same through process that the teenagers I work with have ... I got to have it because it just seems like I need to have it or just because I can have it. Just because you can have it doesn't mean you need it! The same goes for 20,000 acre farms I believe.

But, I think the biggest thing is brought up from the Top Producer columnist himself. Remember what he said: "Phipps said in his spring column in Top Producer that there has been little discussion about the long-term impact of an ever-increasing productivity in an industry with a fixed land base."

I don't think it is a question of where you draw the line, I think it is a question of why are we doing this and how is it going to turn out... Again, what are your thoughts?

More About Titan Farmers...

My posts this week are going to be relatively short because I have a VERY busy week coming up with work and such. But, since I enjoy posting so much and I absolutely love learning from others I at least wanted to put something up each day. That being said ... I will probably not have much time to comment back or respond to e-mails this week. I check in when I have a break though!

I am always surprised when people stumble across the blog and begin commenting or e-mailing me. It seems like there have been a few more of those lately and I enjoy the interaction, learning, and the opportunity to share some of my experiences. One such e-mail came last week from someone who stumbled across the blog while searching for "beginning farmer" on Google (thank you Google). I thought he had some very valid points that deserved a lot of discussion and thought ... so far I haven't been able to respond to all of those points, but I wanted to hit a couple this week.

The e-mailer wrote: "Here's the thing, I found your site because I'm giving very very serious consideration to taking my degree next May and putting up in closet. So "Beginning Farmer" typed into Google brought me to you. After reading through your site for awhile I wondered if you've ever thought about the challenges that face the very few that are in line to become what you and "A[llan] Nation" describe as the Titan Farmers."

Well, my knee-jerk reaction would be, "Challenges ... they don't face challenges! They inherit huge amounts of land and equipment and employees and whatever else. If you want to see a challenge try to figure out how to build a house, buy land, spend time with your family, work a job, and be a beginning farmer!"

But, I don't really think that is a true response ... let alone a proper response! My thought out response would go something like this...

First of all I'm all about putting the degree up on the shelf (I'm a college dropout) ... but, do make sure you get the degree (I regret being a college dropout). Secondly, I have to admit that I haven't thought about the challenges that those that are inheriting/taking over face. I guess that just isn't what this blog is about, but I'm sure they face some major challenges dealing with management/equipment/land acquesition and more. Also, there is probably some pressure that goes along with keeping the thing going.

But, the biggest thing I would say in response is that the term "Titan Farmer" isn't my term or even Allan Nation's. The term comes from "Top Producer Magazine" (a mag for the big farms). And the writer that Mr. Nation quoted in his column said that he was worried about the direction of the titan farms. I would think that if someone on the inside is worried I should be worried.

Those are some of my thoughts. Now, what are some of yours?

Boomers, X'ers, and Millennials

Allan Nation posted a little snippet from a study on the eating habits of Baby Boomers (43-62), Generation X (32-42), and Millennials (16-32). He doesn't link to the study, but he does give a basic summary of the findings:

"Baby boomers believe in balanced meals, consumption of fruits and vegetables, and avoidance of fats; but Millennials are the largest users of natural and organic foods. Boomers are far more interested in limited trans fat consumption that the other two generations. Millennials eat more meals away from home than at home while Boomers tend to reserve dining out for special occasions. Only 40% of Gen Xers dine out more frequently that they eat at home."

It is funny because as soon as I read that quote this morning I clicked over to blogger to start writing this post. The first thing that popped into my mind was that we need to get the natural/local/organic food into more restaurants (both large and smaller local ones). After I had that thought I went back to read the rest of Mr. Nation's post and saw that he came to the same conclusion.

On the flip side, I think it also points out that we need to continue to educate. I have to admit that I have a passion for helping people be good stewards of their money, and eating at home more often than eating out is one of those stewardship issues. Of course restaurants don't want to hear that, but I think they will be fine because plenty of people will still eat out. When you combine the importance of eating local and supporting the local economy there are so many benefits.

Is anybody working on getting their food into local restaurants? I recently wrote about a place in North Carolina that is connected with a farm ... pretty cool thing.

A High Failure Rate

A slightly late post today. We were at my Uncle's last night and my wife convinced me (not that difficult really) that since we were at the farm everyday now with the pigs and the building we should have some chickens. Sooo..... I spent extra time at the farm this morning fixing up our chicken pen and getting them sort of settled. I'll have to do a little more work to get everything in tip-top shape again (since we haven't used it for a while), but we should have eggs pretty soon. Also, we still have five chickens at my Dad's ... we will bring them back up once we are out there during the day and evening so we can let them roam during the day.

Now, back to the Allan Nation column that I began writing about on Monday...

"The start-from-scratch career path now has a failure rate similar to professional sports. Farming's problem with kids today is we don't tell them the truth."

That is what Mr. Nation reports John W. Phipps (of Top Producer Magazine) has to say about today's state of farming in the United States. But, Mr. Phipps doesn't believe that it is totally hopeless for the young farmers of today. He believes there is a place for them in "agrarian agriculture". That is the term he used, and I'm not too sure I like it ... but, oh well ...

Anyways, this agrarian agriculture that he is talking about is exactly what this blog and so many that read this blog are all about. Mr. Phipps defines agrarian agriculture as, "Producing for a market that values how a commodity is created (organic, local, free-range, etc.), is labor intensive and sensitive to public perception." Of course that is something that many who read this blog already know, but it is always great to hear this type of thinking from a "top producer".

Maybe the tide is turning? What are your thoughts?

Young Farmers Need Not Apply

This little snippet from Allan Nation's latest editorial (the one I referenced yesterday) really got my mind churning,

"The net result, he said [the 'he' in this case is John W. Phipps], will always be an ever-smaller need for replacement farmers. This huge implication for young people who would like to farm but aren't in line to inherit a large farm.

'Put bluntly, agriculture's problem with young people is we don't need them,' he said."

Here is what I think ... that statement is true ... that statement is scary ... that statement reiterates how difficult I think this farming thing can be ... and to top it all off it makes really feel for the students that I work with that have a desire to farm. Just a couple weekends ago I was chatting with a recently graduated high school student from my church who has a HUGE desire to come back and work on the family farm, but with only a few hundred acres does he even have much of a fighting chance (if he continues with what he knows).

Mr. Nation also relates this statement from Mr. Phipps,

"He said throughout his whole farming career he had heard that X percentage of farmers were 65 years old and would soon need replacing. And yet, due to the constant increase in scale there has never been a shortage of farmers."

Now, don't get me wrong I'm not advocating keeping farms small just because they are pretty and romantic. Or that we need to make sure there is a farm for everyone that wants to farm. As with all things I think there needs to be a high level of quality, but I believe there is something dangerous behind these "titan farms". As Mr. Phipps said, there is a problem when you have "ever-increasing productivity in an industry with a fixed land base."

So, do you think we can turn back the clock on this trend on a large scale? I think that those looking to grab a niche (maybe more on that tomorrow) can find a place, but will we just continue to have farms that are ever increasing in size or will the bubble burst? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Titan Farmers

As I read "Allan's Observations", the editorial column by Allan Nation in The Stockman Grassfarmer I was introduced to a term that I had never heard before, "Titan Farmer". The entire column was actually great and full of tons of little nuggets, but I think I'll tackle them one at a time over the next few days ... for now I just want to discuss this interesting term, "Titan Farmer".

So, what is a "Titan Farmer"? Well a "Titan Farmer" is a farmer who farms between 20,000 and 40,000 acres of land, and are even planning on getting bigger. Mr. Nation writes, "...thanks to super-sized machinery and resulting low labor costs per acre these farmers can afford to bid cash-lease land away from farmers in the thousand acre category..." And to tell you how serious these guys are there is even mention of a cash-lease on 2,700 acres right here in my home state of Iowa that went for $400 an acre ... UP FRONT!

There is the future of farming. One of these "Titan Farmers" even told Top Producer Magazine that he has two full-time marketing people that have the sole purpose of finding land to rent and keeping the land owners happy. They use these two marketers to find full-time farmers that are farming farms in the 1,000 acre range or so and then buy them out and hire them to work for the Ultra-Mega-Super-Duper Farm (maybe I just coined a new farming term).

With all of that in mind I believe one of the most interesting quotes from Mr. Nation's column, and subsequently from a column by 1,700 acre farmer John W. Phipps, is this:

"Phipps said in his spring column in Top Producer that there has been little discussion about the long-term impact of an ever-increasing productivity in an industry with a fixed land base."

There is a lot to think about there, and to tell you the truth there is a lot there that causes me to pause... As I said this months column was full of little nuggets, so the story does not stop here.

Stacking Hay...

As you can see by the picture on the left I picked up our Massey Ferguson #10 baler yesterday. I've got the hood up on it because I spent the evening cleaning out 3 or 4 years of old hay, barn dust, and other dirties. I have a little more work to do cleaning and then we will go through and grease everything before we start work in the field. If the weather keeps on like it has been this past week I believe we will be baling in the early part of June down at my dad's farm. We probably won't be able to get any hay off of our new farm until late summer or early fall, but with the 20+ acres available at my dad's we should be good to go.

Speaking of hay, I ran across a pretty cool article in the May 2008 issue of "The Stockman Grassfarmer". The article by editor Allan Nation is titled "Dead Apple Trees Can Help Make High Quality Hay". This article was so interesting to me on so many levels and if you have a chance to read it I highly recommend it.

The idea of the article comes from a steam train trip Mr. Nation took across Poland (cool thing #1 :: steam trains). On one particular trip Mr. Nation and his wife took was through the mountains were the Communists mostly ignored the people and they still continue on in the same way of life that they have lived for years and years. He commented on the fenceless farms, the freshly painted houses, the big families, the small size of the farm, and I guess basically the sustainability of these rural communities. I guess bigger and bigger doesn't always need to be done...

But, the thing the prompted the article was the number of dead apple trees that had been worn smooth stacked at the edges of fields. It wasn't until later in the trip that he found out that they were used for stacking hay. The trunk end had been sharpened so it could be driven into the ground and all but the main branches had been trimmed off of these 8 foot tall trees. What he saw was a large family working together in the field (cool thing #2 :: large families working together) to build a stack on this tree.

Mr. Nation goes on to write about the method of "tripoding" as described in a 1950 book that he had recently read (cool thing #3 :: Acres USA is going to republish this book). The "tripoding" method involves three poles, again about 8 feet high, set in a tripod with smooth wire ran on the outside. According to the book the hay is put up on the wires and a hut is made. It is import to leave three air holes, but the method is said to provide a very high quality green cured hay.

It probably won't happen this year and maybe not next year, but I could see a small farm like mine utilize this method. Especially if gas keeps going up!

Worms...

Okay, not just any worms but rather internal parasite worms. Pretty fun subject huh? Well, yesterday I received my December issue of "The Stockman Grassfarmer" in the mail and somehow after flipping through the pages the first article I read was about worms a.k.a. internal parasites. The article is by Allan Nation and talks about pasture-rotation system that was started on research farms in New Zealand back in the early 1940's. It is part informational article about the benefits of pasture rotation for controlling parasites in young calves and part, "this is how management intensive grazing really got started," article.

Research at the Ruarkura Animal Research Station in Hamilton, New Zealand led to a rotational leader/follower system in order to help control the parasites that were killing many of the countries dairy calves. Despite the use of wormers the calves were having problems both in the short term, and in the long term because they were not building resistance to the worms. One of the researchers, Dr. C.P. McMeekan, says that internal parasites are a normal part of a pastured animal's life and that they can develop resistance to them if they are constantly challenged by them. The problem was that either the calves were dying because of overload or the were having problems in the future as the parasites became resistant to the wormers and the cattle hadn't built up the strength to combat them.

Their dairy calves were allowed access to pasture early and could even be weaned on to grass as early as eight weeks according to Mr. Nation's article. Once on the grass the rotational system began. The researchers found that parasites live on the bottom two inches of the plants in the pasture so the obvious solution to them was to not let the calves graze at that level. In order to accomplish this they divided the pasture in to paddocks (here is the history part) so that the baby calves could graze ahead of the cows. Once they had that separation accomplished the next step was the rotation. To keep the calves from hitting that bottom two inches they would rotate them daily ... and daily or at most every other day ... is the key.

They found out that their research and system worked. The calves still had a parasite load, but they could deal with it partly because they system fought them and partly because they were eating such high quality forages. Thus, rotational grazing was born ... or something like that.

The pasture rotations will also combat parasites if you are running different types of livestock through the pastures because that helps break the cycle also. It is a pretty fascinating topic because really what it all goes back to is how the animals were created to function. Now we are just trying to capture what they did on their own and do it in a controlled environment.

The Contrary Farmer :: Chapter 4 Book Report

I finished up chapter four of Gene Logsdon book, "The Contrary Farmer", the other night. So, I thought I would give you some of my thoughts on the chapter titled, "The Peaceable Kingdom of the Barnyard".

In this chapter Mr. Nation kind of gives a run down of animals that the cottage farmer (his phrase) should consider, and how they should consider raising those animals. He points out that chickens should probably be the first choice (was for us), then maybe some sheep, a family cow, some pigs, and then maybe some sort of specialty animal like raising pets for sale or focusing on a minor breed. He has a few practical tips and antidotes in each section of the chapter dealing with the livestock, but it is not a how-to, beginners guide, or production model type of chapter at all.

A couple things I appreciated from the chapter were his mention of minor breeds (I have a place in my heart for our historical minor breeds) and his thoughts on a new type of family cow. Mr. Nation proposes that there is a alternative to the historical family cow that was mostly used to supply milk and possibly labor for the family. He realizes that milking isn't something every cottager (again, his phrase) will have time to do because he is assuming that the farm is just a piece of the puzzle, possibly even a small piece of the puzzle. So, he feels that the family cow should now become a vessel for raising beef for the freezer. Mr. Nation's cow calves in the spring and then the calf is butchered in the fall. He never weans the calf, never cuts it if it is a bull calf, and never has to worry about stored forages because the cow and the grass will supply all of the feed needs.

That is a pretty interesting concept and something I think would work out great for someone who was trying to add some self-sufficiency to their life, but the barnyard tips and thoughts in this chapter seem like they are most intended for someone who maintains a full-time job, but lives in the country.

Last chapter Mr. Nation talked about gardens being the proving ground for farms. And, I believe that is how I view this book. It puts forth a lot of great ideas that he is doing on the small scale of his 30 or so acres, but it isn't providing the nuts and bolts, or even the philosophy, behind a full-time agricultural farm. Mr. Nation does not refer to himself as a farmer as much as he refers to himself as a cottager (I thought those were people who stayed at lake houses in the summer). He writes at home and does a few small-scale farming things on the side to provide for his family and add some extra income. Which always makes me think ... I wish I could write!

To be honest I was a little less impressed with this chapter, but that doesn't mean that I didn't like it. I just think that I had higher hopes for the book after all of the positive reviews I read. That being said, the next chapter about water does seem pretty interesting and I'm sure will have lots of good thoughts.

More Thoughts From Allan Nation's Editorial...

Yesterday I wrote some of my thoughts on Allan Nation's editorial from the November, 2007 issue of "The Stockman Grass Farmer". It was a long essay on the issue of scalability in the business of farming and it really made me come to two conclusions. First, I realized that this was an important issue for the farmer that wants to make a profit in the every changing farm economy. And secondly, I was reminded how important the "business" side of farming is. Farming is not just a romantic pastime (at least the way I would like to do it), but rather it is a business that takes thought and planning so you can come out ahead. In fact, it is a business that possibly takes more thought and planning because you have all the things going on in the business side and all the things happening on the livestock/crop side. I've got a lot to learn, but I feel like I am truly on my way now.

But, scalability wasn't the only topic he wrote about in the article. He also brought up a book that he had recently read titled, "Small Giants" by Bo Burlingham. This is not a farming book at all, it is purely a business book. I decided I really respect farmers (or farm writers) who branch outside of just the nuts and bolts of agriculture and try and bring in new ways of thinking from the business world.

According to Mr. Nation the gist of the book is that most advice on running a business is, "written by and for employees of public corporations, which have low capital costs and a stockholder mandate to grow as fast as possible." It is all about growing quickly and then selling off parts of your business because you have grown so quickly.

The alternative according to the author of the book are businesses running at what he calls the "human scale". Businesses who decide to grow slow and concentrate on their profit margins run on the "human scale". Businesses who do not require outside investors, mega-lenders, or stockholders run on the "human scale". Businesses who want to keep their business private and under their control run on the "human scale". And when I think of the ever-changing agricultural markets these days and the corporate structures creeping (or busting) their way into farming I think the "human scale" is the only scale that successful farmers can work with.

Check out this quote from Mr. Nation. "But, if your goal is a pleasant life in the country, you need to concentrate on creating as much margin per unit of production as possible." Think about that! If you have a wide profit margin on a few units produced you will be able to self-finance your farming business and expand (or not expand) according to your desires.

The way you get those wide margins is by combining low production costs with higher sales or marketing prices. I have always understood this concept and it is why I have put so much effort into researching grass fed beef, year around grazing, alternative crops, u-pick fruits and vegetables, and so much more. If I wanted to farm like everyone else in the state, even if I found a farmer that would let me transition into his farm, I would have to work the off farm job so that I would have enough money to be able to get the loan that would allow me to buy that piece of equipment that I needed to keep up with the ever-changing agricultural world. Did you follow that? Well, I barely did and I wrote it!

I decided early on that I needed to work on this farming idea slowly. I know that I need to get all of my information and ideas together as much as I can so that when I start to grow I will be able to keep up with it. I know that I cannot become attached to lenders and debt or I would probably never get out. I know that I have to find the different markets and productions models so I can have this wider profit margins. It does seem daunting, but I believe it is the only way that I can attack my desire to be a farmer.

There is more to farming than early morning chores, wet dew on the grass, and cattle chewing their cud under a big old tree in the pasture (although that sounds very inviting). I believe successful farmers that aren't doing things on a corporate level are some of the most intelligent artists out there! They have to be an artist because so much of farming is an art of knowing just when to do things and just how to do them, and they must be intelligent to compete in a world that feels like it needs super-size everything ... including their farms.

Scalability in Farming

Allan Nation's editorial in the November, 2007 issue of The Stockman Grass Farmer was rather interesting. The article dealt with the issue of "scalability", something I have never heard of, regarding business and farms ... or the business of farming. In the beginning of the article Mr. Nation says, "Currently, in the USA the top one percent of income earners earn almost 70% of the total taxable income." I found that statistic very interesting. Not that I'm opposed to it, I think it is just the way things work out, but it was interesting nonetheless. He goes on to write that, "the difference between the top and the rest is that the high income people are all in "scalable" professions.

Basically, with all of the technological and social advances we have had you can reach masses of people with no more effort than it takes to reach a smaller amount (Mr. Nation draws this example from Nassim Nicholas Taleb who wrote, "The Black Swan"). That is what scalable can look like ... reaching masses with the same work of reaching less than masses, but more money involved. I believe the idea of scalability really got going with technology companies because they are all about reaching the masses. But, according to Mr. Nation's editorial most of those technology companies only last 10 years because of the intense competition they face. You may come up with an idea, but that doesn't mean you will be the one to profit most from it. Just take my beloved iPod from Apple ... they weren't the first on the scene with an MP3 players, but they are the ones who are profiting.

Okay, so that is the gist of scalable business (or at least as much as I can comprehend and explain without making my brain work on overload at this time). But, what does scalability have to do with farming and why in the world is Allan Nation writing about it in "The Stockman Grassfarmer"? Well, he took this concept and compared it to farming, specifically he compared it to Management Intensive Grazing (MiG).

MiG has been bouncing around the agricultural circles for many years (Mr. Nation says for over 25 years in fact), yet has never really found broad acceptance. According to Michael Porter, a Harvard professor, businesses that have long profit runs (like MiG examples have) are often the most difficult to get into but very easy to get out of. Mr. Nation believes that the thing that makes it so difficult to get into MiG isn't the cost of land or the cost of cattle or the cost of anything ... in reality it is the negativity associated with trying new ideas!

He mentions a survey by the University of Missouri that states that most farmers agree with the soundness of MiG in principle, but they can't change the way that they are already doing things. I believe it is just human nature because you see that in every profession ... even in the church.

Mr. Nation proposes that we should be developing farms that are, "a 'hybrid' production model that will allow us to minimize labor per unit of production (be scalable) while remaining in a non-scalable industry (minimal competition)". He brings up a great example from an article by Joel Salatin in the September issue of the magazine. Mr. Salatin wrote about expanding his grassfed beef and pastured pork operations because they were more "scalable" than his pastured poultry side of the farm. Think about it, it takes only a little more time to move 100 steers through a gate than it does to move 10 through the same gate ... but each carton of eggs he sells takes the same amount of time to package regardless of whether it is 10 dozen or 10,000 dozen eggs.

So, according to Mr. Nation what does this look like in a practical sense to someone running, or thinking about running, a MiG system. First of all, make the animals do the work for you. Let them self-harvest the forage and have them self-feed throughout the year (see post below). Secondly, manage as few herds as possible. Try to get your cattle in to one or two places so your time isn't used moving from place to place or setting up fence in multiple pastures. Make your time work in your favor. And finally, as Mr. Nation puts it, "stop buying Band-aids"! Fly problems, pinkeye, worm susceptibility can be eliminated through genetic selection according to Mr. Nation, so do that instead of spending all of your time running cattle through the head gate.

He concludes with a few other thoughts from the business world that I found interesting, but I think I'll save those for another post.

What about you readers? What do you think of this scalability issue? Any business folks out there that would like to speak to this, because it is obvious that business is not my strong suit...