merged spring 10

Feature ArticlesGrowing Mushrooms for Fun and Profit . . . . . . . . . .Page 4

Raising and Finishing Lambs on Pasture . . . . . . . . .Page 6

Farmer Brings Kefir Cheese to Market . . . . . . . . . . .Page 9

Where the Green Grass Grows: Renewable Fuel . .3Supplement to Country Folks

SPRING 2010

SMALL FARM QUARTERLYGood Living and Good Farming – Connecting People, Land, and Communities

SMALL FARM QUARTERLYGood Living and Good Farming – Connecting People, Land, and Communities

SMALL FARM PROGRAM UPDATECornell Small Farms Program Update ........................................................Page 3

COMMUNITY AND WORLDRefugees Build Farms and Community in Manchester, NH,by Kenston G. Dearborn .................................................................................Page 7

COWS AND CROPSThere is More Than One Way to Milk A Cow, by A. Fay Benson ..............Page 16Farmers Share Friendship and Knowledge at

Dairy Profit Discussion Group, by Kathy Barrett................................0

FOREST AND WOODLOTGrowing Mushrooms for Fun and Profit, by Rebecca Hargrave ................Page 4

GRAZINGYes, Cows Eat Weeds!, by Nancy Glazier...................................................Page 15

HOME AND FAMILYPrudent Carnivore: Chicken, Inside and Out, by Shannon Hayes .............Page 5Are You a Daylighter?, by Jill Swenson ......................................................Page 17

HORTICULTUREGrow Trees Not Weeds!, Elizabeth Lamb .....................................................Page 7Under the Covers: Nursing Clover to Maturity, by Molly Shaw ...............Page 15

LOCAL FOODS & MARKETINGTo Buy or Not to Buy... Influencing Your Customer’s Purchases,

by Debra Perosio ...................................................................................Page 13From Farm to Market, by Rebecca Schuelke Staehr .................................Page 16

NEW FARMERSConnecting Aspiring Farmers with Existing Land:

Connecticut Farm Link Program, by Jane Slupeki...............................Page 8From Hobby Farm to Farm Business: Laughing Goat Fiber Farm,

by Monika Roth ......................................................................................Page 12

NON-DAIRY LIVESTOCKRaising and Finishing Lambs on Pasture, by Ulf Kintzel ...........................Page 6

NORTHEAST SARE SPOTLIGHTInventive Farmer Brings Kefir Cheese to Market, by Violet Stone ............Page 9

SMALL FARM ENERGYWhere the Green Grass Grows: Local, Renewable Fuel,

by Adrienne Masler ................................................................................Page 13

SMALL FARM SPOTLIGHTSSmall and Versatile: Dairy Adapts to Changing Markets,

by Adrienne Masler ................................................................................Page 11

STEWARDSHIP & NATUREAgricultural Environmental Management:To-B-Lea Farm Focuses on Positive Image of Farming!,

by Barbara Silvestri and Mark Kenville ..................................................Page 19

WOMEN IN AGRICULTUREA “Web” of Support, by Susan Neal...........................................................Page 18

YOUTH PAGESNot Every Horse Is Easy, by Lyndsey Garvilla ...........................................Page 104-H and Me, by Ashlynn Elizabeth Kelly ......................................................Page 10Me and My Pony, by Taylor Raymond..........................................................Page 10“Chicken Business”, by Kevin Jacks..........................................................Page 11Kids, Cows and Country: an American Tradition, by April Williams ........Page 11

SMALL FARM QUARTERLYGood Farming and Good Living —

Connecting People, Land, and Communities

Small Farm Quarterly is for farmers and farm families — including spouses and chil-dren - who value the quality of life that smaller farms provide.

OUR GOALS ARE TO:• Celebrate the Northeast region’s smaller farms;• Inspire and inform farm families and their supporters;• Help farmers share expertise and opinions with each other;• Increase awareness of the benefits that small farms contribute to society and the

environment.• Share important research, extension, and other resources.

Small Farm Quarterly is produced by Lee Publications, Inc., and is distributed four times ayear as a special section of Country Folks. Volume 7 publication dates: January 25, April 6,July 6 and October 5, 2010.

EDITORIAL TEAM:• Anu Rangarajan, Cornell Small Farms Program Editor in Chief 607-255-1780• Violet Stone, Cornell Small Farms Program Managing Editor 607-255-9227• Brian Aldrich, Cayuga County CCE Field Crops 315-255-1183• Laura Biasillo, Broome County CCE New Farmers 607-584-5007• Celeste Carmichael,

NYS 4-H Youth Development Program Youth Pages; Home and Family 607-255-4799• Mike Dennis, Shady Pine Farm Grazing 315-253-4787• Gary Goff, Cornell Natural Resources Department Forest and Woodlot 607-255-2824• Martha Herbert Izzi, Vermont Farmer Vermont 802-492-3346• Betsy Lamb, CCE Integrated Pest Management Program Horticulture 607-254-8800• Susan Neal, Farmer Women in Agriculture 607-535-7161• Rebecca Schuelke Staehr, NY Farm Viability Institute Business Management 315-453-3823• John Thurgood, Delaware County

CCE-NYC Watershed Agriculture Program Stewardship and Nature 607-865-7090

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[email protected]

SEND YOUR LETTERS AND STORIES TO:Cornell Small Farms Program

135 Plant Science Building, Cornell University Ithaca, NY, 14853

[email protected]

About copyright: The material published in Small Farm Quarterly is not copyrighted unless otherwise noted.However, we ask that you please be sure to credit both the author and Small Farm Quarterly.

ABOUT OUR ADS...All advertisements in Small Farm Quarterly are managed by Lee Publications. Cornell’s SmallFarms Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and other Small Farm Quarterly sponsors andcontributors do not endorse advertisers, their products or services. We receive no revenues fromadvertisers.

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SMALL FARM QUARTERLY - SPRING 2010TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cornell Small Farms Programwww.smallfarms.cornell.edu607-255-9227

NY AgriculturalEnvironmental Management

www.nys-soilandwater.org518-457-3738

Watershed Agricultural Councilwww.nycwatershed.org607-865-7790

NYS 4-H Teen Programwww.cce.cornell.edu/4h

607-255-0886

www.cce.cornell.edu www.cals.cornell.edu

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:

Cover photo by Rose Marie Belforti: Kefir cheese ages in a cave at Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery inLedyard, NY.

Page 2 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY April 5, 2010

3RD SMALL FARM SUMMIT A SUCCESSThis past winter, the Small Farms Programhosted our 3rd NYS Small Farms Summit.Over 130 people gathered at 4 video-linkedsites across the state on March 4, 2010. Thetheme for this Summit was 'Designing SmartSolutions for NY Farms.' Farmers, educators,faculty and other service providers prioritizedkey outcomes for our livestock processing,grasslands utilization, small farm energy andlocal markets work teams. Our goal is to havereportable outcomes in two years, by the nextSmall Farm Summit. Results from this Summitwill be collated and published in the next fewmonths. To learn more about previous sum-mits, visit:http://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/projects/smallfarmssummit.cfm

GUIDE TO DIRECT MARKETINGLIVESTOCK AND POULTRY REVISEDWe are pleased to announce the LivestockProcessing Work Team has revised and

updated the "Guide to Direct MarketingLivestock and Poultry". This invaluableresource is the culmination of multiple meet-ings with NYS Department of Agriculture andMarkets to get clarification on complex regula-tions, particularly for direct-marketing. TheGuide provides 155 pages of valuable infor-

mation to help in direct marketing of meat andpoultry and Topics covered include anoverview of meat regulations, animal han-dling, slaughtering and cutting, packaging andlabeling, food safety, and resources. Pleasevisit the Small farm Program Website todownload a copy: http://www.smallfarms.cor-nell.edu/pages/projects/workteams/LP/live-stock.cfm

NEW EDITION OF "GUIDE TO FARMING IN NY" The NY Beginning Farmer Project and CornellSmall Farms Program have completed theannual revision of the popular Guide toFarming in NY: What Every AgriculturalEntrepreneur Needs to Know. If you work withfarmers in any capacity, this guide will prove auseful resource. In 2008 it was deemed an"Outstanding New Extension Publication" bythe NY State Association of CountyAgriculture Agents. The Guide consists of 33fact sheets covering finding land, food pro-cessing regulations, farm vehicle safety,financing, farm taxes, and everything inbetween. As always, the Guide is available forfree download, as a complete document or byindividual fact sheet, from the Cornell SmallFarms website http://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/resources/businessmanage/guide.

cfm (or just go the Small Farms Programhomepage and click on the QuickLink thatsays "Guide to Farming in NY.")

GREEN GRASS GREEN JOBS REPORTPUBLISHEDLatest numbers show that there are 3 millionacres of under-utilized land in the state.Productive management of these idle andunder-utilized land resources can potentiallycontribute significantly to the social and eco-nomic health of rural areas of the state. TheNY Grassland Utilization Team was organizedin the summer and fall of 2007 to identifystrategies to increase livestock utilization ofthe grasslands of New York State. The currentresurgence in grass-based agriculture is driv-en by four key factors: 1) profitability and otherbenefits of grazing systems for the farmer; 2)environmental benefits of grazing; 3) risingconsumer demand for alternatives to confine-ment reared animal products; 3) availability ofland suitable for grazing; and most recently, 4)rising grain prices from the competition for till-able cropland for energy crops. Their report,‘Green Grass, Green Jobs’ is available atwww.smallfarms.cornell.edu .

Cornell Small FarmsProgram Update

How can I get Small Farm Quarterly?Country Folks subscribers automatically receive SFQ four times a

year at no extra cost. Country Folks is delivered weekly for $35 per year.

SFQ-only subscribers receive just the 4 issues of Country Folks that contain the SFQ insert for only $5 a year.

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Bulk orders: You can order multiple copies of any issuefor just 10¢ a copy!

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to be ordered by June 4th.

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Country Folks SubscriptionsP.O. Box 121, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428

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April 5, 2010 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY

Small Farm Quarterly is Recruiting!We are looking for several new members to join theSmall Farm Quarterly Editorial Team, and we are always looking fornew writers and photographers. We are especially looking for editorsand writers from outside of New York State, so that we can improveour coverage of New England and Pennsylvania small farm issuesand innovators. All SFQ editors and writers are volunteers. If you'reinterested, please contact Violet Stone at 607-255-9227 [email protected]

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By Rebecca Hargrave

In the Fall 2009 issue of Small Farms Quarterly, Mike Farrellwrote an introductory article on some agroforestry topics,including maple syrup production and nuts. There are dozens ofother crops that can be farmed in the understory of a forestincluding ginseng, floral and ornamental crops, specialty woodproducts, fruits, and mushrooms. Most agroforestry crops aregenerally considered niche market crops and may require a lit-tle more marketing work on your part, but the potential profitsare worth it.

Which one to try? Many agroforestry crops have a natural timingthat put the majority of their work at different times of the year.Maple: tapping, collecting and boiling in early spring; ginseng:harvesting and drying in the fall; mushrooms: inoculating in earlyspring and harvest throughout the summer. Look at your farm'sschedule and the timing of the agroforestry crops you're interest-ed in to see which will fit best. Remember, they all have somesort of year-round work, whether it is scouting for pests, fixingtubing, or marketing. Take all of the tasks into consideration.

One agroforestry crop that is garnering a lot of interest is mush-rooms. Generally speaking, agroforestry mushrooms are thosegrown in logs or woodchips in the understory of a forest. Themost commonly grown are shiitake (pronounced "sheetaakee"),oyster, and lion's mane. Some lesser grown are chicken of thewoods, hen of the woods, and wine cap stropharia. However,the vast majority of commercial producers only grow shiitake.There are only a few commercial agroforestry mushroom grow-ers, so the potential for a market in your area is probably good,but check into it before you start.

Each mushroom strain has preferred host species. It is easiestto match the fungus strain with the trees you have. Contact amushroom supplier to discuss the best strain(s) for you. Thetimeline: fresh logs are cut in late winter or early spring andinoculated soon after. Inoculation refers to the process of plac-ing a known mushroom strain inside logs to colonize them. Twostandard inoculating methods are drilling small holes and fillingthe holes with spawn (pre-colonized substrate such as dowels,sawdust or grain), or cutting larger logs into rounds and stack-ing them totem style with spawn layered between the rounds.Once the logs are inoculated, they are left to colonize for one totwo years, depending on the mushroom species and woodspecies. Colonization happens in a laying yard where the logsare stacked in some manner. This is a cool, moist area, that hasa dense overhead canopy of conifers to provide year-round

shade. Access to water is also handy, such as a creek, but isnot paramount in choosing a laying yard. Maintaining high mois-ture content in the log is important- it is a fungus after all. Toincrease the chance of producing a successful crop, you shoulduse freshly cut, green logs as stock. Also, consider watering thelogs during the summer and plan to protect them from the drywinter sun.

After the logs are colonized they will begin to fruit. Fruiting willbe light the first year, and pick up in the middle years. Logs canhave multiple flushes of mushroom each year and can fruit for2-6 years depending on the species of wood. Once all of thenutrients have been extracted, the log will be very light and nolonger able to support mushrooms.

Fruiting will come in flushes, depending on temperature and thestrain, and can be forced twice a year by shocking in water.Harvest with a sharp knife every couple of days. Mushroomsare highly perishable, so quickly put them into cool storage andsell. Your marketing method needs to be determined BEFOREmushrooms appear. Consider restaurants, farmers markets andlocal groceries. You can also sell dried mushrooms for a year-round market.

More information about agroforestry mushrooms, includinglinks, videos, workshops and detailed instructions, can be foundat the NY Forest Mushroom Growers Network, http://mush-rooms.cals.cornell.edu/.

Enjoy the fruits of your harvest!

Rebecca Hargrave is an Extension Educator at CornellCooperative Extension of Chenango County. Her work involvesadult and youth programs in natural resources and horticulture.She can be reached at 607-334-5841 ext. 16, or [email protected] .

SMALL FARM QUARTERLY April 5, 2010

Commercial shiitake mushroom laying yard, under a shadyhemlock canopy, showing both the crib stack and the totemmethod of log stacking

FOREST AND WOODLOT

Growing Mushrooms for Fun and Profit

Need Info?Visit the Cornell Small Farms Programonline at www.smallfarms.cornell.edu

Dr. Ken Mudge, Assoc. Prof. at Cornell University, does researchand extension in the area of agroforestry, including mushroomproduction. Each spring he conducts a training workshop called"Camp Mushroom," at Cornell's Arnot Forest. He cautions allpotential growers to realize that this endeavor is not for every-one! It is important to have several key factors in your favor tomake the effort fun and profitable. For example, Ken suggeststhat you start small and increase production over time as youbecome more efficient and hopefully your markets grow.

Case StudyMr. Steve Sierigk, from Schuyler Co. in NY State, has beengrowing shiitake mushrooms commercially, on a part-time basis,for about 5 years. Some of the important factors that make itprofitable and enjoyable for him include:* already had a booth a viable local farmer's market* enjoys receiving some payments in the form of bartering* enjoys the social interaction of finding markets, working with

other producers and establishing a loyal clientele* owns a woodlot and can get spawning logs while doing his

management thinning and producing firewood* started small with about 100 logs and now has increased pro-

duction to 400 logs, which means he needs to add about 100logs annually as some logs go out of production

* hands-on labor is a nice break from his full-time job* still thinks shiitake mushrooms taste GREAT!

Shiitake mushrooms growing on a red oak log inoculatedabout 2 years earlier. Photos by Ken Mudge

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By Shannon Hayes

Often, one of the first forays customers makeinto the world of farm-direct meat buying ispastured poultry. From the viewpoint of afarmer, nothing could be simpler (or cheaper)to bring home to the kitchen. During the morn-ing rush at our farmers' market, I tend to grabthe plump birds, bag them up, total the pur-chase and send my customers happily on theirway, scarcely taking the time to even look up.It is only when my husband thoughtfully pokes

me in the ribs that I lift my head and notice theoccasional truly new customer, whose eye-brows are raised in a state of innocent confu-sion and trepidation as they take possession oftheir dinner. If you've never purchased a pas-ture-raised chicken directly from a farmerbefore, there is definitely some sense of mys-tery to it. Even veteran farm-direct shopperscan always learn a few things about what theyare buying, including how to get the most fortheir money.

First of all, there is no such thing as a grassfedchicken. Chickens are omnivores, which meansthat, although they eat a lot of it, they cannotsubsist on grass alone; they need some proteinin their diet. In the old days, when folks hadchickens running around their backyards, theywere often raised on household food waste, suchas scraps of bread, vegetables, fruit, egg shellsand, yes, even meat. Like the backyard pig,chickens were a critical part of a family ecosys-tem, converting food waste into more food for thefuture. Today, however, since most people do notkeep their little flock behind their house or apart-ment building, it is up to farmers to produce themfor many people. Our household scraps wouldnever suffice. Also, while the chickens see noth-ing wrong with it, many people frown on the ideaof feeding animal by-products, even leftover din-ner scraps, to other animals that will beprocessed for meat. Although a good farmer willkeep their chickens out on well-managed pas-tures rich in insect life, there will not be enoughbugs around to satisfy the hunger of an entireflock. That's where the grain comes in. Pasture-raised broilers require grain supplementation inorder to grow well. Thus, we do not call them"grassfed." Instead, they are referred to as "pas-tured" (not, as many mistakenly say, "pasteur-ized," which is a heating process to sterilize con-ventionally-produced milk).

Some people refer to these chickens as free-range. While chickens that are raised out onpasture may be properly considered free-range, it is important to note that free-rangechickens are not necessarily pastured. My firstexperience visiting a free-range chicken farm issomething I hope never to repeat. The birdswere tightly crammed into a barn, with an opendoor covered over by a fence panel. The placereeked of ammonia from the excrement. Free-range, according to the producer, implied onlythat they were not in cages and that they hadaccess to open air. It meant nothing aboutample room to roam, constant access to freshair and lush clean pasture, all which are essen-tial elements in responsible pasture-raisedchicken production. Thus, before you buy, it isalways best to ask if the birds are kept out-doors and how often they are moved to freshpasture. Better yet, if you get a chance, go seethe birds for yourself. The access to greengrass and the ability to roam about freely andwithout stressful crowding will directly impactthe flavor of your bird.

The next thing to know about your pasturedpoultry: It ain't cheap. Pastured poultry hasthe lowest price per pound of all the meats wesell on the farm. It is even cheaper than ourhamburger. Nonetheless, it is also the mostexpensive to produce. That is because movingchickens to fresh pasture is far more laborintensive than opening a gate and allowing aherd of sheep or cattle to run to the next field.Chickens require constant access to shelter, sowhen they are moved, the shelter must alsomove. They don't move as a unit like sheep orcows, and many often require individual han-dling to get them to a new place. Their grain,especially since a lot of corn is being divertedto ethanol production, is very expensive.Processing the birds is also labor intensive.We sell pastured chickens at our farmers' mar-ket for $4.95 per pound, and even then, ourreturn to labor is only minimum wage. Farmersare reluctant to charge more, because cultural-ly, we have grown accustomed to thinking ofchicken as "the cheap meat." In fact, prior toWorld War II and our nation's push for cheapgrain, as food historians John and Karen Hesspoint out, chicken was actually expensive.

Unscrupulous food purveyors were known tosubstitute veal in Chicken à la King. Hopefully,there will come a day when farmers can onceagain charge the real cost for growing chicken.Until then, most of us farmers are afraid thatconsumers will get so angry with the price thatwe will lose business. Thus, we keep the priceartificially low in efforts to keep our customers.

From the consumers' perspective, $20 for afour-pound bird still seems like a bundle. Butit's a bargain. Honestly. I promise. The chick-en that appears on your table for dinner is onlythe first meal you will get for that $20. Onewhole pastured chicken is actually the base forthree meals.

For the first meal, roast or grill the bird. Thebreasts alone off a pastured bird are oftenenough meat for four servings, especially if it ismade even richer by serving it up with gravy ora pan sauce, and it is accompanied by otherfoods. When meat is truly nutrient-dense andfull-flavored, we do not need to consume vol-umes of it in order to sustain ourselves. Whenyou take the chicken out of the oven or off thegrill, gently slide your knife down along thebreastbone and "wishbone" to remove eachbreast. Then, slice each breast half just as youwould your Thanksgiving turkey, crosswise intoseveral thin strips. Fan the strips out on fourdifferent plates, drizzle generously with thegravy, and you will be surprised at how gener-ous the portions truly are. And how flavorful. Ofcourse, if you prefer dark meat, then feast onthe legs and thighs, and save the breast meatfor your second meal.

For the second meal, pull off all the remainingmeat. There will be some morsels still restingon the breast bone, and lots of meat in thethighs and legs. Be sure to pull off any bitsalong the rib cage, then flip the bird over andrun your fingers down the back until you findthe two tenderloin pieces, also referred to asthe "oysters." Let none of the meat go towaste. Once you've pulled off all this meat,use it for a chicken salad, casserole, chicken àla king, in a cream sauce with crepes, or evenin croquettes. The possibilities are endless.Since we are in the height of summer as I writethis, I've provided an Asian style chicken saladrecipe below, which makes use of summer'svegetable bounty.

For the final feast, now that the bones havebeen picked clean, it is time to make soup.Some people- tragically, I think- boil a chickencarcass with all the leftover meat on it, thenpull the remaining pieces off and add it backinto the stock to make chicken soup. Onceboiled, those bits of meat have little nutritionleft to offer. And they're pretty chewy and fla-vorless. Thus, it is best to pull the meat offbefore you boil the carcass and use it for thesecond meal, above, or add it back only afterthe bones have been boiled separately to makethe stock.

Enjoy, knowing you've made the most of yourchicken!

Shannon Hayes is the author of the newlyreleased book RADICAL HOMEMAKERS:Reclaiming Domesticity From A ConsumerCulture. Hayes works with her family on SapBush Hollow Farm in Upstate New York. Thispiece is excerpted from her fourth book, LongWay On a Little: And Earth-Lovers Handbookfor Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and LivingDeliciously. Visit Sap Bush Hollow Farm athttp://www.sapbush.com/


Prudent Carnivore:Chicken, Inside and Out

HOME AND FAMILY

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"It can't be done". I hear that often when thetopic of raising and finishing lambs on pastureis being discussed.

Can it be done? Let's take a look at the historyof sheep. Sheep as well as goats were raisedin areas that could not support a cow. Or theywere raised by people who could not afford tofeed a cow. A sheep had the reputation tothrive were a cow wouldn't. A German sayingstates: "You can feed ten sheep where a cowwould starve to death". Then why do weassume nowadays that lambs need to be fedgrain in order to produce a finished carcass?

In my opinion we've strayed away from tradi-tional ways of raising sheep on pasture.Instead, many sheep producers wean some-what light lambs, so-called feeder lambs, andsell them to a feed lot or put them in the barnand finish them on grain. "Don't use it and youlose it" goes another saying. In this case, manysheep breeds have lost their ability to finish ongrass simply because the selection process forthis ability was neglected for as long as therewas cheap grain.

Higher grain prices, a revival of pasture basedfarm systems and the desire for grass-finishedmeats have now led us to re-invent the wheeland let sheep do what they did for thousandsof years: graze on pasture.

I think it can be done. First, you need sheepthat can thrive on pasture. Large, long-leggedsheep with small bellies do not have the rumencapacity to do that. Rule of thumb: The moredaylight passes through underneath thesheep's belly, the less meat there is on thissheep. If you have an existing flock just selectthose individual sheep that still thrive on pas-ture and eliminate those that don't.

If you are starting up or if you want to startover, select a breed of sheep that has not yetlost its ability to thrive on pasture. Some ofthese breeds come from other continents andare fairly new to the United States. The Dorperand the White Dorper sheep from South Africaare such examples. Although there has beenalready a development towards some grain-dependent show lines within this breed, manyDorpers do well on pasture. Other sheepbreeds have been developed in this countrysuch as the Katahdins. If you are not certain ifthe breed you choose is the right one simplylook at the management of the farmer fromwhom you consider buying your sheep. If he orshe raises these sheep on pasture they arelikely to work for you.

However, raising and finishing lambs on pas-ture does not mean turning them loose in apaddock and hoping for the best. It requires aset of skills and knowledge that one needs toacquire. If you don't have that set of skills youwill find the learning curve steep at times.

The pasture needs to be nutritious and densewith a high percentage of legumes and a wellbalanced pH level. It needs to be harvested(grazed) at the right time of maturity. Rotationalgrazing is a necessity. If you choose continu-ous grazing you will soon run out of desirableforage and as a result the sheep won't eat asmuch. Thus, the daily gain of weight will godown immediately. Water and minerals shouldbe supplied at all times. In the summer, shadeshould be provided and in the winter, sheltershould be accessible. I encountered many situ-ations were one or any of the above was notprovided. I was told "They can take it". Yes,they could but that wasn't really the issue. Asheep farmer should not measure the sheep'sability to survive. Instead, he or she should doeverything to get the highest daily gain ofweight possible. That goes beyond providingnutrition. It also means that the sheep need tohave species-specific comfort without pamper-ing them.

The flock also needs to be free of disease inorder to thrive. One of the most common dis-eases that affect the bottom line is hoof rot.Sheep with hoof rot limp, are in pain, and don'tmove more than absolutely necessary. Asheep in a grazing system will need to be ableto move in order to forage.

One needs to be able to evaluate a carcasswhile the lamb is still alive in order to knowwhen to harvest. Even if all the above is donecorrectly, when do you know when the lamb is"finished"? Let's look first at the definition of"finished". A lamb is finished when it has theright relation between bone, meat and fat.While there are some breeds which lambs arebasically always finished no matter what theweight is, there are others that grow unevenly.First, they are boney and there is not much

meat, let alone fat. Then the meat yieldincreases, but there is still little to no fat coveryet. If a lamb is harvested at that stage it willresult in a "blue" carcass. Then the lamb devel-ops a fat cover and before too long that fatcover may grow into a layer that is too thick.Producing fat instead of meat is a waste of for-age. It needs to be harvested before that hap-pens. And what weight is that going to be?

Well, that is breed specific. My White Dorperlambs have their ideal butchering weightbetween 80 and 95 pounds live. Up to 105pounds they aren't too fat yet. However, ittakes more input to get these additionalpounds. Smaller breeds like Southdown andBorder Cheviots reach this ideal weight earlierbut are also lighter. This makes them ideal toproduce hothouse lambs. For larger breeds likeHampshire Sheep or Suffolks this ideal weightis higher but they will reach it later.

Well-finished grass-fed lambs are still some-what rare and have the potential of fetching apremium price. Maybe I've convinced you thatyou can do it!

Ulf Kintzel owns and manages White CloverSheep Farm in Rushville, NY where he breedsgrass-fed White Dorper sheep. He can bereached at 585-554-3313 or by e-mail [email protected] . More infor-mation about the farm is posted at: www.white-cloversheepfarm.com

Copyright 2010 Ulf Kintzel. For permission touse either text or photographs please contactthe author at [email protected]


NON-DAIRY LIVESTOCK

Raising and Finishing Lambs on Pasture

These two carcasses yielded about 40 lbs.hanging weight.

This group of grass-fed market lambs is ready to be harvested. Photos by Ulf Kintzel

Grass and legumes should always be plentiful.

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By Kenston G. Dearborn

The Somali Bantu Community Association ofNew Hampshire (SBCA-NH) is working withSouthern New Hampshire Services (SNHS) tocreate a hands-on agricultural program forrefugees living in Manchester. Many SomaliBantu and other refugee groups have foundthe current economy difficult to navigate andoften hard to get healthy food into their homes.SBCA-NH's agriculture program will allowresettled refugees the opportunity to providehealthy food for their families while buildingcommunity through the culturally familiar prac-tice of farming.

The program will focus on choosing crops,preparing the soil and learning about how togrow food in New England. Refugees will takepart in classroom and field trainings, organizedfarm visits to local working farms and have100% of the food grown go back to the familiesparticipating. Ultimately the program hopes tocreate income opportunities throughCommunity Supported Agriculture (CSA's),farm stands, and farmers' markets.

The program is open to all refugees, not justSomali Bantu, and hopes to incorporate someof the vast agricultural know-how of local farm-ers. "Our program promotes sustainable prac-tices, and first-hand information from a varietyof knowledgeable farmers will go along waywith the folks we're working with," says KenDearborn, Agricultural Training and OutreachCoordinator for SBCA-NH. Refugee farmerswill attend a series of training workshops that

will focus on agricultural production, marketing,business planning, and risk management.SBCA-NH will provide land access for refugeesby maintaining training plots at farms and gar-den sites in the area.

The people known as the Somali Bantu haveendured discrimination in Somalia for over 200years. In 1991, as civil war broke out inSomalia, the Bantus suffered widespread mas-sacre and rape. Thousands of Bantus, amongothers fleeing the violence, were forced fromtheir land and fled to refugee camps in Kenya.Ironically, the Bantus found themselves againtreated as second-class citizens even amongother refugees in Kenya. Still victims of vio-lence and discrimination, the U.S. began toresettle some 12,000 Somali Bantu refugeeshere in the U.S. after more than a decade inKenyan refugee camps.

The agricultural program is still being devel-oped and the SBCA-NH is working to secureland to farm this season within reach ofrefugees in Manchester. SBCA-NH is lookingfor donations of all kinds; from farmable land tohand tools and seeds. To find out more,donate, or volunteer please contact KenDearborn, at (603)296-0443 [email protected].

Kenston G. Dearborn is an Agricultural Trainingand Outreach Coordinator with Somali BantuCommunity Association of New Hampshire. Hecan be reached at 603-296-0443 or [email protected].

COMMUNITY/WORLD

Refugees Build Farms andCommunity in Manchester, NH

Isho Mohamed is happy to be farming again. In her home country of Somalia, Isho grew corn,potatoes, yams, bananas, pumpkin, watermelon, squash, beans, spinach and many other crops.

Photo by the SBCA-NH

The Somali Bantu Community Association ofNew Hampshire (SBCA-NH) is a non-profitorganization formed by a group of SomaliBantu who came to the United States asrefugee immigrants and originally settled herein Manchester. The SBCA-NH's mission is tohelp facilitate resettlement of Somali Banturefugees by providing assistance that willenhance their education, economic resources,and opportunities for self-sufficiency. By build-ing stronger community, SBCA-NH will be ableto help facilitate the social, emotional, and cul-tural transition of its refugee families into main-stream American Society. To learn more, visit:www.nhsomalibantu.org

Isho hopes to grow "Baa-mi" (okra) this season - a particular favorite of the SomaliBantu.

By Elizabeth Lamb

Weeds in Christmas tree plantings are oftenthe most difficult pests to control. They canreduce growth rates in young trees and affectthe shape of older ones. They can provide arefuge for insects and create microclimatesthat diseases love. And they just get in theway of shearing, spraying and harvesting.

Planning before planting is always the beststrategy. Map the planting area for differencesin soil type, drainage, and elevation (for tem-perature differences). At the same time, mapthe area for the major weeds present. Takeparticular note of whether you have summerannuals, winter annuals or perennial weeds,as that information will help you plan yourweed control practices.

Cultivation is most practical and effectivebefore planting. Use a labeled post-emer-gence herbicide to kill weeds before cultiva-tion. Especially target any weeds that are like-ly to be problems once the trees are planted.Vines and woody perennials are weeds tolook out for!

Improving fertility levels is also easiest whenpreparing the field before planting. Have yoursoil tested to determine what you need toapply. Applying nutrients in the rows rather thanbroadcast will make them more available to thetrees and less available to the weeds betweenthe rows.Your trees will reward you with fastergrowth and better weed competition.

Even species selection can help in your fightagainst damage due to weeds. Choose treespecies best adapted to the site and environ-ment, as well as desirable to the consumer.Trees grown under stressful conditions aremore likely to have pest problems of all sorts,and those slower growing trees are more like-ly to be out grown by weeds.Keep weed control in mind when you plant

your trees. Any equipment you use for mowingor spraying needs to fit between the rows andperhaps between trees in the row when theyare mature.

If you are renovating an area or replanting inbetween existing trees, you can still do someweed control in advance. A summer mowingwill result in actively growing weeds for a fallspot treatment of herbicide. Check to makesure the herbicide is labeled in your locationfor the weeds and the surrounding treespecies, and is appropriate for the site andsoil conditions. Even labeled pesticides cancause damage, especially on young trees, sobe sure to shield them if you are not sure.

Not too many growers are still growing theirown transplants in seed or transplant beds. Ifyou do, weed control is essential. Eventhough the high density of planting wouldseem to help crowd out weeds, seedling ever-greens don't offer much ground cover andmay be slower growing than the weeds.Younger trees are more susceptible to herbi-cide damage so seed/transplant beds are theone place in Christmas tree production wheremulches to exclude weeds are practical.

Once you are in the full swing of production,weed control is based on scouting -- just likedisease and insect control. Scout before treebudbreak in the spring and again inJuly/August to identify weed problems. Spring,early summer and late summer mowings arethe backbone of the weed management pro-gram. Where needed, spring pre-emergentherbicide and fall post-emergence herbicidesare used for problem weeds based on theresults of your scouting. Being especially vigi-lant during the first few years of tree growthwill pay off in faster growth rates and fewerlosses to other pests.

Ground cover management is of growinginterest as a weed management tool. In effect,

if you are promoting low growing weeds, likechickweed, between rows with mowing andsuppressive rates of herbicides, you have aground cover. You can also plant low-growingfescues or clover between the rows when youplant the trees or overseed them in an exist-ing field. Ground covers suppress the growthof less desirable weeds, keep soil tempera-tures cooler, and reduce the need for mowing.

Bear in mind that a groundcover can alsocompete with the trees so a weed free area atthe base of very young trees is advisable.

Elizabeth Lamb is a Senior ExtensionAssociate with the Ornamentals Program ofNYS Integrated Pest Management. She canbe reached at [email protected] or 607 254-8800.

HORTICULTURE

Grow Trees Not Weeds!Weed Control Strategies in Christmas Tree Plantings

Specifics on herbicides for New York State can be found in the annual Pest ManagementGuide for Commercial Production and Maintenance of Trees and Shrubs at http://ipmguide-lines.org/treesandshrubs or through the NYS Pesticide Product, Ingredient and ManufacturerSystem http://magritte.psur.cornell.edu/pims/current/

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White clover ground cover in Christmas tree plantation Photo by Elizabeth Lamb


By Jane Slupeki

In 2006, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture estab-lished the FarmLink Program. The goal of the program is toconnect farmer seekers with farm owners with agriculturalland for rent or for sale. The program also disseminates infor-mation on leasing and farm transfer to the next generation offarmers. That is the official line I use while on the phone withmy constituents. What you really want to read, though, is thestory about the adventure, and how I, a real novice in thefield, with a lot of other people, established and learned toappreciate a new land link program for the State ofConnecticut.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, Connecticutis losing farmland at one of the fastest rates in the country.Preserving farmland is by far the most effective way of pro-viding a method for stabilizing regional food security forAmerica. However, FarmLinkalso has a place at the table,as it finds and helps to getother landowners interested inputting their idle land back intoproduction, but not necessarilyformally preserving it. Thetrend across America sadlypoints out there are twice asmany people looking for land,as there are parcels for leaseor for sale on similar land linkprograms.

Why and how didConnecticut's FarmLink start?Connecticut grassroots groupswrote and fought to passConnecticut legislation, knownas the Community InvestmentAct, Public Act 05-228. It setsaside funds for many agricul-tural programs: farmlandpreservation, farm-to-school,farm-to-institution -- and afunded FarmLink program.(Please see http://www.cga.ct.gov/ for full text.)

I am not a lawyer, real estateagent, or much of a farmer, solet's be real: the only lease Iknew was for an apartment ortwo I rented when I was in mytwenties (a good long timeago). What would I be able to do for these people? I had noprayer of getting this right.

This program was about 15 years in the works. I had beenhanded this an entire year after the legislation passed! Thegroups had gathered information - a lot of information. I readit all, then visited nearly every U.S. land link site, and calledlots of program directors (and began to understand how littleI knew). Whittling down the programs that mirroredConnecticut's law, I used them as the template to build ourprogram. I called the program coordinator in Wisconsin a lot.I literally built a program that fit the statute, which mappedout a structure to help farmers and farm seekers make itthrough the transition of old farm owner to new farm owner.

I am a marketing rep, by trade and passion. Almost immedi-ately, I worked on a logo and website with UConn's Collegeof Agriculture Communications and Information Technology(CIT) office. I researched information to fill pages thatanswered the statute's call for an educational hub. Whileresearching topics, I juggled the paperwork, negotiations,quotations and agreements between my agency, theUniversity and our business office, a third state agency. Ityped up rough applications, and then it was reviewed bymarketing, regulation, farmland preservation, theCommissioner's Office, some outside partners for goodmeasure, adjusting the applications along the way.

With a logo, brochure, website and applications completed, ayear had passed. Finally, I had something to show the grass-roots groups. After explaining that I would only be swappingapplications, not negotiating the land agreements, I thoughtthat would be the end of me. We laid out what I was allowed

to do and what the legislation left to be done by othergroups. Shortly after our group meeting, a website went liveJanuary 2007 (please visit www.farmlink.uconn.edu)

In essence, the FarmLink program listings serve as a sort ofmatchmaking website for prospective farm owners and farmseekers. Interested parties register by completing either aFarm Seeker Application or Farm Owner Application. Thedescription of an available farm or an individual's needs forfarmland is then posted on the website. Then, participatingfarm owners or seekers can call or write, and we send outthe full application to help with the "match."

There. I was done. I was so naïve, I figured I would never geta call on this topic. I had no idea what I was in for.

The phone started to ring. And I did my stuff. I am a talkerand a referrer. If I do not know, I send you on to someone

who does. The phones rang some more. Then the listingsstarted coming in--seekers and owners. More calls and acouple of local news paper stories, well placed, and a fivesecond NPR story that picked up on the idea I was a match-maker. Next thing I know I have a decent pool of land and aton of farm seekers! I was shocked!

I think in some ways I am still in shock. Typically, each quar-ter, I receive about 60 phone calls inquiring about the pro-gram, usually by word of mouth or through my agriculturalpartners across the state. "They tell me I should talk to you,Jane."

There are presently 90 farm seekers and 34 farm owners inprogram. We have all shapes and sizes of farms, from 3acres or less to 650 acres, all types of operations. There arecurrently more than 1000 acres which could be turned intofarmland.

I have landowners who can no longer afford their land orhave land they have inherited and want it to stay productive. Ithink about a man who said he needed help to get someoneon his land. He really wanted his family's land to remain aworking farm. He offered it rent-free to any responsiblefarmer. Within the month, he had an agreement for a youngperson. He was happy. I was thrilled. The young farmer is stillin the program, as he needs more land.

Some landowners saw a story about the FarmLink programand thought they could help. That particular man had twoparcels of land that he listed, to let someone use. No matchyet but what a generous offer that was.

Some seekers are school systems looking to grow their ownfood. A major city in Connecticut would like someone toallow them to lease land (inexpensively was mentioned) andthe school would find a farm manager to work the propertyto grow food for the cafeterias in their city. We have two farm-seeking groups looking to start farms for autistic persons.The need to find productive jobs for persons with disabilitiesis quite common for me to list.

Still, most seekers are people looking to go back to the land,to homestead. Yes, there are some dreamers, but we likedreamers in the Marketing Division. Some of those dreamerswill in fact become small hobby farms, or market gardens,growing up into farms with farm stands or morphing intopick-your-own operations.

We had a young couple move to Connecticut who purchasedone preserved farm but continues to look for another throughthe FarmLink Program to complete their dreams to have alarger, more viable farm in Connecticut.

I have young farmers looking to start their careers after fin-ishing at UConn...they struggle with capital requirements,collateral or lack thereof to buy land, but I try my best to findthem solutions to the crisis of the day blocking their dream tobuy a farm. I hear a lot about the financial and credit crunch

these days, which is nowworse than ever.

To encourage participation,we put out notices aboutthe program, send applica-tions to state stakeholders,like town halls, town plan-ners, commodity groups,agricultural associations,federal agencies, andUConn CooperativeExtension System. I try notto turn down any opportuni-ties to speak about the pro-gram. I am hopeful aboutsome newer ideas bubblingup around FarmLink to helptowns that are purchasingfarmland.

I am grateful toConnecticut's agriculturecommunity for putting upwith me. My advice for otherorganizers of farmlink pro-grams -- never turn awayadvice, learn as I did, plod-ding into the unknown,unfettered by any old mind-sets, preconceived notionsor old habits. Everythingshould be new and fresh. Italso helps that I am quitepersistent and ask too

many questions-ask for help from anyone that is willing togive it to you. Never give up. This complex clearinghouse ofseekers and owners has the simple goal of keeping farmlandin production. And I will do my darndest to help them suc-ceed, because farmland is irreplaceable. And we need ourfarmers in the Northeast to survive. Our food securitydepends upon it.

Jane Slupeki is a Agricultural Marketing & Inspection Repwith CT Dept of Agriculture in Hartford, CT. She can bereached at 860-173-2588 or [email protected].

Connecting Aspiring Farmers with ExistingLand: Connecticut Farm Link Program

NEW FARMERS

Connecticut Landlink helps young and beginning farmers locate affordable land to rent.

We Want To Hear From YouWe welcome letters to the editor - Pleasewrite to us! Or send a question and we’ll doour best to answer it. We’re also looking forbeautiful, interesting and/or funny smallfarm photos to print.

Write or email Violet Stone,Cornell Small Farms Program,135C Plant Science Building,Cornell University,Ithaca, NY [email protected]


Welcome to the Northeast SARE Spotlight! SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research andEducation) offers grants to farmers, educators, uni-versities and communities that are working to makeagriculture more sustainable - economicly, environ-mentally, and socially. Learn about whether a SAREgrant would be a good fit for you.

Inventive Farmer BringsKefir Cheese to Market Rose Marie Belforti scaled up a home recipe for raw milkkefir cheese to a commercial process

By Violet Stone

THE FARMFinger Lakes Dexter Creamery beginsits story when two town dwellers with apassion for farming, a lot of patience, athirst for knowledge and an empty nestfind their way back to the country. In1999 Rose Marie Belforti and her hus-band purchased a 12 acre farm inLedyard, NY and acquired a little dunheifer from a distant neighbor. Theirone cow grew into a small herd andRose's small farm dream evolved intoa business plan for a small-scalecheese company. When her farmsteadcheese plant became certified in 2006,she started producing the first knowncommercially available kefir cheesecultured with authentic living kefirgrains. This unique cheese is madeeven more unusual by its main ingredi-ent: the rich, creamy milk from hersmall herd of rare her-itage Dexter cattle. To herknowledge, Rose oper-ates the only commercialDexter creamery in theUnited States.

THE SARE GRANTRose received a SAREgrant in July of 2006 tofund the transformation ofher home recipe for anaged raw milk kefircheese to a commercialstandard. According toRose, "Kefir grains havebeen used for centuries toculture milk by traditionalpeoples, promoting good health andlongevity". Although there are kefirproducts available on the market, theyare not made with kefir grains andtherefore lack the beneficial probioticorganisms. She worked with theCornell University Food Processingand Development Laboratory to create,record and document the kefir cheeserecipe as it materialized.

Rose stressed the importance of care-fully reviewing a grant's requirementswhen considering applying. She feltthat her project - scaling up a healthyhome recipe for a new micro-dairy --was a good match for SARE with itsemphasis on innovation and sustain-ability. She also attributed her successto thorough attention to detail inexplaining her project. "As you planyour outline for meeting the require-ments of the grant, make lots of notes,make sure you answer questions veryspecifically, and write very clear andconcise sentences" says Rose.

BEYOND THE GRANTIn summer of 2007, Rose and Cornell

Food Processing had completed thebrand new raw milk kefir cheese whichis aged at least 60 days and containsfull cream. Her next goal is to grow hersmall Dexter herd to a maximum of sixmilking cows. Rose and her husbandcontinue to rely on ingenuity to sourcethe equipment they need as appropri-ate technology for micro-dairies is notwidely available in the United States.Currently they employ arefrigerator/freezer as a bulk tank anduse a couple old jacketed steam ket-tles to warm the milk and start the kefirculture. The cheese is aged in severalrefrigerators, but plans are alreadyunderway to expand to a bigger space.

STARRING DEXTER CATTLERose has an enthusiastic appreciationfor the Dexter Cattle that have come tobe the foundation of both her businessand way of life. She describes the

thick, creamy, butterfat rich milk theyproduce as "exquisite" and althoughDexters are naturally small in size,praises their "work power". Her cattlemother their calves as long as possibleand have plenty of access to pasture.She believes providing the best carefor her cows equates to the best quali-ty milk and well-being of everyoneinvolved. She stresses her humaneapproach as "very important in a worldwhere dairying seems to forget thevalue of the very one that gives us thetreasure she has".

REVIVING THE ARTPerhaps the most remarkable aspectof Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery is itsperseverance in a business that virtu-ally no one remembers - the smallfarmstead dairy based on breeds mod-ern agriculture left behind. With only afew websites and a handful of pub-lished resources, Rose was grateful tothe few Dexter "experts" she madeacquaintance with. Beryl Rutherford, alife-long Dexter breeder in Englandnow in her eighties, provided sanity-saving advice in every facet of training,treating, hand-milking and dairyingfrom across the seas. "She was alwaysgetting me out of troubles - I owe her alot!" says Rose.

Despite the steep learning curve, Roseand her husband are as determined asever to continue developing the nichedairy they dreamed of. She insists thatthey have found success working witheven the most stubborn of cows; "Don'tlet anyone ever tell you a Dexter can-not be milked!" It is her hope thatFinger Lakes Dexter Creamery serves

as an inspiring example to other arti-sanal cheese start-up operations look-ing to incorporate heritage breeds. Andif her energetic spirit and reverence forDexters hasn't caught your interest yet,taste the cheese - it is certainly des-tined to set a trend.

Editors Note: In February 2010, Rosewas approved for a second SARE

grant to develop a stan-dard for Kefir CheeseSpread and establishbenchmarks for aging araw milk cheese spread.

To see a step by stepdocumentation of the cre-ation of Rose's Kefircheese, visit the SAREfinal report at:http://www.sare.org/reporting/report_viewer.asp?pn=FNE06-595&ry=2006&rf=1

To learn more aboutFinger Lakes Dexter

Creamery, visit their website:www.kefircheese.com

Violet Stone is the Communications &Outreach Coordinator for NY SAREand the Cornell Small Farms Program.She may be reached at 607-255-9227or [email protected]

Rose started out with just one DexterCow. Photo by Tim Wallbridge

Rose's cattle mother their calves as long as possible and have plentyof access to pasture Photo by Rose Belforti

Sustainable Agriculture Grad Student Scholarships - Due May 31,2010Northeast SARE is now offering grants to graduate students doingresearch in sustainable agriculture. The grant will allow the student,under the supervision of a faculty advisor, to explore topics that willbenefit farmers and add to our understanding of sustainable farm sys-tems. Awards are capped at $15,000 and can run up to two years,and the money can be used for labor, materials, and other direct costsassociated with a research effort. Proposals can cover a wide rangeof topic areas -- cropping systems, pest management, livestockhealth, farm energy production, soil quality, or the institutional pur-chase of local food, for example. Proposals can be submitted on linefrom mid-April until May 31, 2010. To learn more, go to the NortheastSARE web site at www.nesare.org

SARE Professional Development Grants - Preproposals due late MayNortheast SARE Professional Development grants build the knowledgebase and educational infrastructure so that Cooperative Extensioneducators and other agricultural professionals can get and use theknowledge they need to help farmers move toward greater sustainabili-ty. The beneficiaries of Professional Development projects are exten-sion staff, NRCS personnel, and a range of other agricultural serviceproviders like crop consultants, veterinarians, energy advisors, andsuppliers. The program emphasis is on training the trainers, dissemi-nating sustainable practices and technologies, advancing new content,and seeking measurable, verifiable change that leads to the improvedand widespread practice of agricultural sustainability. The preproposal,a brief concept document, is submitted online, usually in late in May.The SARE Administrative Council decides which preproposals willprogress to full proposals in July. Full proposals are due in the fall, usu-ally late October or early November. Learn more:http://nesare.org/get/professional-development/pdp-overview/

SARE Research and Education Grants - Preproposals due late MayNortheast SARE seeks proposals for research, education and on-farmdemonstration projects, and the emphasis is on projects that leaddirectly to improved farming practices and an enhanced quality of lifefor farmers and rural communities. Projects must involve farmers andother stakeholders in planning, implementing, and evaluating a poten-tial project; we also fund projects where research, CooperativeExtension, and education are closely linked. The beneficiaries ofResearch and Education projects are farmers, and the emphasis is onfarmers making measurable changes that enhance sustainabilitythrough improved profits, better stewardship, and stronger farm com-munities. Projects designed to have a secondary influence on thebehavior of consumers and the general public are also within thescope of the program, and we encourage proposals that recognizethe interaction between the farm and the community. The preproposal,a brief concept document, is submitted online, usually in late in May.Applicants whose projects have been selected to proceed will be noti-fied in August. Full proposals are due in the fall, usually late Octoberor early November. Learn more: http://nesare.org/get/research-and-education/re-overview/

SARE Agroecosystems Grants - Preproposals due late MayNortheast SARE seeks preproposals for long-term research projectsthat will explore the ecological interactions that are the basis of sus-tainable agriculture. The goal is to develop a greater understanding ofthese interactions and to promote new models of farming systemsdesigned around them so that in the future farmers will be able tominimize the use of external, energy-dependent inputs while optimiz-ing the use of on-site natural resources to maintain productivity.Applicants for Agroecosystems Research grants should have experi-ence doing agricultural research, preferably using a collaborative,holistic approach. All applicants must demonstrate a firm grasp of cur-rent barriers and issues in sustainable agriculture and have a strongmultidisciplinary team prepared to see the project through to comple-tion. The preproposal, a brief concept document, that is submittedonline, is usually due in late in May. Applicants whose projects havebeen selected to proceed will be notified in August. Full proposals aredue in the fall, usually late October or early November. Learn more at:http://nesare.org/get/agroecosystems/ae-overview/

Upcoming SARE Grant Deadlines

Learn more about the NortheastSARE Program by visiting

http://nesare.orgor by contacting:Northeast SARE

655 Spear St.University of Vermont

Burlington, VT 05405-0107Phone: (802) 656-0471

E-mail: [email protected]

The new raw milk kefir cheese is aged atleast 60 days and contains full cream

Photo by Rose Belforti

Rose's farmstead cheese plant becamecertified in 2006.

Photo by Rose Belforti

Hi, I'm Ashlynn Elizabeth Kelly from the Young Riders 4-Hclub of Orange County. I have been in 4-H for 3 1/2 yearsand loved every minute of it. It's what got me into horsesand I've been working with them ever since. I have learnedhow to ride, manage a horse, how to feed it and muchmore. Knowing more about my horse has made me love himeven more.

The best thing I do with my horse is ride him. In 4-H, weare always doing cool things and going to neat places.We have been on barn tours, we go to horse races andparticipate in knowledge contests. We also do horse pre-sentations, scrap book pages, picture frames and showribbon racks.

Horse bowl and hippology have made my knowledge ofhorses grow more than I thought possible. My mom saysshe likes it because the contests help me learn about sci-

ence topics that I have not even learned about in schoolyet. It has also given me the confidence to speak in frontof a group. Learning about the animals on our farm helpsme appreciate our animals more.

Animals and 4-H have affected my future by giving meknowledge about animals especially horses. I have alsomade friends with others that share my interest. I havegained many skills that will help me be a better person.

For information about working with horses visit the 4-HResource Directory:http://www.cerp.cornell.edu/4h/ or NYS 4-H Animal Sciencehorse websitehttp://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/horses/index.html


Small Farm Quarterly

Youth PagesHi, my name is Lyndsey Garvilla, I am 16 years old and I havebeen involved with horses for half of my life. When I firststarted riding, no surprise, I was not that good. But, withtime, practice and involvement with my 4-H club I havelearned to ride well and become more knowledgeable abouthorses. I have also learned more about what it takes to owna horse.

Three years ago my parents bought me a horse to help mefurther my riding experience. His name is Joey. The first fewtimes I tried him out he was crazy...and I was not so sureabout him. He has put me through a lot of trouble - withfalling off and him not always listening - but these troubleshave made me more observant of his behavior. Now I knowwhat he is going to do before he starts to do somethingbad. Growing closer to Joey and becoming a more observantrider have improved my riding skills.

Other experiences have developed my horsemanship skills.During the summer of 2008 while preparing for a greatshow season I saw Joey had a cut. My trainer looked at itand we began to clean it out every day and keep it protect-ed. A week later we discovered that it was actually a punc-

ture. We kept cleaning it twice a day. After another week hewas lame. We had the vet come out to find out what wasgoing on and she said it was nothing and to just continuethe cleaning and protection, so that's what we did. He didnot get much better so we had her come back out. Whenshe did she took x-rays of his leg. He ended up needing sur-gery. Although this put a setback on my show season andthe work I could be putting into him, it did help me to learnmore about taking care of horses.

My experiences with Joey have made me a better rider andrealize that not every horse is easy. Also my experienceswith 4-H and the other girls in our club have furthered myleadership skills and the way I approach different challenges.I am also extremely grateful that my parents support me100% with everything I do and want to do.

For information about working with horses visit the 4-HResource Directory:http://www.cerp.cornell.edu/4h/ or NYS 4-H Animal Sciencehorse websitehttp://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/horses/index.html.

The Youth Pages are written by and foryoung people. Many thanks to the 4-HTeens from Orange County who con-tributed to this issue. We believethere's a bright future for young farm-ers in the Northeast. Whether you liveon a farm or only wish you did, we'd loveto hear from you!

Not Every Horse is Easy

Hi, my name is Taylor Raymond and I have been a member ofthe Young Riders 4-H club for 6 years. I have been workingwith horses my whole life. I love horses! My pony's name isHarmony. She is the sweetest pony and she is an incrediblejumper. She is my best friend.While working with horses I have learned responsibility. Everymorning I go out to the barn to care for my horse. Riding isthe best part of having a horse. It's very rewarding when Iteach my horse something new and she understands.Jumping is the best part of riding. The cool breeze in myface and the few seconds off the ground is exciting. 4-H gives me a chance to do what I love and meet new peo-ple who share my passions. Horsebowl/Hippology are knowl-edge tests that give me a chance to meet different peopleand learn more about horses. Over the years I have learnedabout the horse's anatomy, illnesses, injuries, equipment,breeding/reproduction, foaling, training, breeds andcolors/markings. Since I was eight I wanted to be a vet. As a career I want tobe an equine vet because of my love of horses. For information about working with horses visit the 4-HResource Directory:http://www.cerp.cornell.edu/4h/ or NYS 4-H Animal Sciencehorse websitehttp://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/horses/index.html

Me and My Pony

Harmony and 4-H inspire Taylor to be a future equine vet

ADVERTISERS!Small Farm Quarterly is YourReaders’ Information Resource• Delivered to over 27,000 households from Maine to Pennsylvania• Long shelf lif • Online readership• Readers are interested in a wide

range of products and servicesFor advertising information call:Bruce Button, Country Folks, 518-673-3237

More information about theCornell Cooperative Extension

4-H Youth Development program can be found at:

http://nys4h.cce.cornell.edu

Right — Ashlynn enjoys riding her horse, Coco and learning allabout horses.

4-H and Me

Lyndsey's experience with Joey helped her develop leadershipand problem solving skills.


Hi, my name is Kevin Jacks. I currently havearound 75 laying hens. I sell most of theeggs to a local orchard that resells them. Igot into the chicken business about 5years ago with around 30 chickens.

I have learned many things along the way,moving from a backyard hobby to a smallbusiness. In the past five years I havefound the most important aspect of run-ning a business is controlling expenses andcutting losses as soon as possible.

Currently I have about 35 Buff Orpingtons,25 Black Australorps and a fewAmeraucanas. I have found the heavybreeds work best for me. Heavy breedsdon't seem to fly well which means they areeasier to fence in. They are tough in coldweather and are good layers.

I am a member of Livestockers 4-H Club inOrange County, NY. My 4-H club has sever-al chicken fanciers in it. Networking withothers with similar interests has been aplus. We help each other with issues relat-ed to poultry such as diseases, housingsituations and some tricks of the trade. Ihave also learned how to show chickens atthe Orange County Fair. I won the BestRooster Award and was ShowmanshipChampion last year. I think the key in thechicken business is to learn from your mis-takes and don't give up.

For information about working with poultryvisit the 4-H Resource Directory:http://www.cerp.cornell.edu/4h/ or NYS 4-HAnimal Science birds and poultry websitehttp://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/birds/index.html

"Chicken Business"

Kevin displaying his Best Rooster Award winning bird

My name is April Williams; I am a 15 yearold member of the "The Milk Shakers" anOrange County 4-H dairy club. Although Iwas not raised on a dairy farm, I remembergoing to all the county fairs as a young kidand seeing all the 4-H'ers work with theiranimals and thinking, "Wow!, that looks likesomething I would love to do". I just hap-pened to have a dairy farm not too farfrom my house. So we went to the farmand found out that they actually had twokids around my age that participated inthe 4-H dairy program. They gave me a calfto work with and since then my life hasn'tbeen the same. We soon formed a 4-H cluband with their experience with showing cat-tle I learned a lot in that first year and amstill learning.

I have been in 4-H for 7 years now and havecome a long way. I now compete state-widein dairy bowl, dairy judging and even rankednationally in dairy challenge. My involve-ment with cows and 4-H has taught meteamwork, how to win, how to loose and

that hard work does pay off. Showing cowsis a lot of hard work and dedication. It'shard to think where I would be without allthe long hours in the summer of preppingour cows for shows or all those 4-H tripsand the continuous help and support fromthe other kids in the program.

While in this program I have had thechance to travel and meet many amazingpeople and along the way have had some ofthe best times of my life and made friend-ships that will surely last a lifetime. I knowI want to be involved in making the world abetter, cleaner world and stay with agricul-ture and animals and to continue givingback to my community, to animals andpeople alike.

For information about working with dairycows visit the 4-H Animal Science dairywebsitehttp://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/dairycat-tle/index.html

Kids, Cows and Country: an American Tradition

April wins a blue ribbon and the chance to experience great opportunities

By Adrienne Masler

BECOMING CERTIFIEDSeasoned dairy farmers Ed and Eileen Scheffler have learnedover the years that adapting the farm business to changingtimes is the only way to succeed. For the Schefflers, being smallhas made adapting their business easier because they haven'tmade huge investments in infrastructure or equipment thatwould tie them to one type of production.

This became particularly useful about a decade ago, when Edand Eileen noticed the growing demand for organic and locallyproduced food. "We didn't like spraying chemicals," says Ed."Organic seemed like something we could do, somethingviable." Change can be scary, and this choice required a willing-ness to change one's mind. The Schefflers began the transitionto organic and sold their first organic milk in December of 2003.They sell to the Organic Valley co-op and have been very happywith organic prices; the increase in income has helped theminvest in a retirement account and send their children to college.Ed notes that they haven't seen a significant yield decreasesince the transition, an experience that challenges the conven-tional wisdom that organic simply can't produce enough food.They do spend more time cultivating, but Ed believes the priceof increased labor balances out the cost of chemicals they usedto spray, and is a better stewardship practice.

The Schefflers like to do as much of the labor by themselves aspossible, so they have made a point to invest in equipment thatwill help them work efficiently and achieve high-quality products.For example, the stationary mixer installed in 2008 replaced aRissler cart (a mobile mixer) and Ed is now producing a muchmore consistent ration for his cows. When it comes to growingcrops, Ed prefers to plant and harvest when the time is right. Hesays, "It's difficult to see getting a custom operator to the farmon my time."

DIRECT MARKETINGEileen began direct marketing her organic eggs in 2008. After afew false starts - the snowplow buried their roadside cooler andcustomers couldn't see the cooler on the porch - they decidedthat Ed's new heated motorcycle shed could double as a farmstore. Theyadded grass-fed organic beef shortly afterward; the beef isprocessed in a Pennsylvania slaughterhouse that is certifiedorganic and humane. They also obtained a raw milk permit in2009. Customers call ahead to place their order and pick uptheir milk at the farm store on Tuesdays. "People are looking fora high-quality product, they want to know their farmer and wheretheir food comes from," says Ed. Direct marketing is also away to diversify the operation and to add value by selling theirproducts at retail value. Ed and Eileen enjoy talking to their cus-tomers and rely on word-of-mouth to attract new customers;they also sell at one farm market. Eileen's egg cartons bear themotto "Sharing our healthy harvest with you" and she says,"That's really what I believe - I really want to get good, whole-some food to people." Their customers' stories are inspiring.One woman reversed severe gum disease by eating naturalfoods and a high-fat diet, including Schefflers' raw milk. Othersare able to drink raw milk after years of avoiding pasteurizedmilk (lactase, the enzyme that digests the milk sugar lactose, ispresent in raw milk but is destroyed by pasteurization). Somecustomers are concerned about their overall health or simplywant a relationship with the farmers who supply their food.

ADAPTING ON A SMALL FARMThe Schefflers are happy with their current practices. They enjoyfarming without chemicals, not relying on commodity pricing andgovernment subsidies, and having input into the Organic Valleyco-op. Most importantly, says Ed, "it's fun again." They don'thave plans to make direct marketing a bigger part their opera-tion immediately, but they may start growing more beef animals;

"We hadn't anticipated such interest in ourbeef," says Ed. He mentions that they are selling out of eggsevery day and that they could probably expand egg productionwithout much investment. They currently sell 9 gallons of rawmilk per week - the rest is sold in bulk to Organic Valley - anddon't plan to expand their on-farm sales. The current market fororganic milk has been affected by the economic recession justlike every other sector, but the Schefflers aren't panicking.Whatever changes come to this small dairy in the future, Ed andEileen are ready with open minds, knowing their approach tofarming has brought them a long way.

Adrienne Masler is a recent graduate of Cornell where shemajored in agricultural communications. She may be reached [email protected]

SMALL FARM SPOTLIGHT

Small and Versatile: Dairy Adapts toChanging MarketsThe Schefflers respond to the growing demand for local, organic food

On-farm sales diversify the Schefflers' incomePhotos by Adrienne Masler

The Schefflersfirst sold certifiedorganic milk in 2003


By Monika Roth

Lisa Ferguson has held a lifelong passion for knitting. Thus,when she and her husband Gary purchased a 48 acre parcelwest of Ithaca, NY, 9 years ago, they put the land to quick useraising angora goats for fiber. Their goat raising venture startedas a hobby, and for the past 5 years, they have been filingfarm tax returns transitioning the hobby into a business. Alongthe way they have acquired farming skills and sought out busi-ness planning assistance.

The vision for Laughing Goat Fiber Farm was to raise exoticfiber animals and sell yarn. After realizing yarn sales would notgenerate sufficient returns, they have started producing fin-ished goods, woven and knitted, and are considering agri-tourism opportunities as a way to bring customers to the farm.Lisa has been more actively marketing her yarns at the farmand community events and hopes to build a customer followingvia the farm website.

One of the joys of farming expressed by Lisa is that "you arealways learning". She and Gary value the connection to theland and the animals. As a suburban kid, Lisa takes pride inskills she learned out of necessity including basic veterinaryskills and other animal husbandry practices to keep her herdhealthy. Gary and Lisa enjoy being farmers and living in a farmcommunity. They have made a commitment to keeping their

land in agriculture by selling development rights to the Town ofIthaca. The permanent easement keeps their land in farmingforever.

Both Lisa and Gary work full-time off the farm so they are attimes frustrated that their progress on business developmenthas been slow. But, they are learning along the way and lookforward to devoting more active time to the business in thefuture when they retire.

The current operation includes a mixed herd of 45 fiber ani-mals, including angora and cashmere goats, sheep andalpacas, along with some ducks. The farm provides 10 acresof pasture, and includes 30 tillable acres where hay is pro-duced and used by a neighboring dairy farmer. Farm infra-structure includes a carriage house used for equipment stor-age, a pole barn that provides animal shelter in winter, andsmall movable shelters set up in paddocks where animalsgraze. Currently off-farm income pays for farm investments. Inthe future, they hope the farm will pay for itself.

Lisa and Gary have been actively working on their businessplan, being careful not to overextend themselves, yet theyremain focused on their vision. Initially they took a business-planning course offered by a community bank; however, theyfound it not so useful because it lacked an agricultural focus. In2008, Gary and Lisa attended a 4-part Introduction to FarmingCourse offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension as part ofthe NY Beginning Farmer Project. The course was structuredso that each week a farmer presented his/her story about howthey got started, what they learned and how long it took tobecome "profitable". Lisa said that the course provided a use-

ful "reality check" and inspiration. To a word, each of thefarmer presenters said it took 7 years to build their farmingenterprise to where it generated more than it absorbed inmoney. So, even though Lisa and Gary feel their progress isslow, they are on par with other start-up farming operations.

Since taking the Intro to Farming class, Lisa and Gary havebeen working with NY FarmNet business consultant, JeffPerry, to develop their farm business plan. Lisa feels the plan-ning process has helped them consider ways to grow theirbusiness and it has provided the discipline needed to moveforward with business planning. In the future they envisionexpanding their herd to as many as 100 goats, offering moreon farm tours, building a shop for retail sales, hosting classes,and perhaps developing a farmstay opportunity. They are ide-ally located close to Ithaca on a main route that provides bothretailing and agritourism opportunities.

One of their biggest challenges has been balancing animalmanagement demands with marketing demands, especiallywith full-time jobs. In recent years Laughing Goat Fiber Farmhas been a stop on Cooperative Extension organized Fiberand Farm Trail tours. This has brought family visitors to thefarm and created connections to knitters. Lisa has also ven-tured into off farm sales at community festivals that draw bigcrowds providing exposure and sales. Her website is not get-ting a lot of action, but she anticipates it being more importantin the future. Facebook and Twitter are also being used to gen-erate brand recognition and customers.

In considering what advice to give to other beginning farmers,Lisa says, "don't borrow money, be patient, and don't be afraidto make mistakes." She recommends business planning as away to assess opportunities for business growth and stayfocused.

Monika Roth is an Extension Educator at Cornell CooperativeExtension of Tompkins County in Ithaca, NY. She can bereached at [email protected] or 607-272-2292. To learn moreabout Laughing Goat fiber farm, visit their website atwww.laughinggoatfiber.com

NEW FARMER

From Hobby Farm to Farm Business:Laughing Goat Fiber Farm

Get Connected!Find your local Cooperative

Extension office

CT: UConn Cooperative Extension • 1-860-486-9228

ME: UME Cooperative Extension • 1-800-287-0274 (in Maine)

MA: UMass Cooperative Extension • (413)545-4800

NH: UNH Cooperative Extension • 603-862-1520

NY: Cornell Cooperative Extension • 607-255-2237

PA: Penn State Cooperative Extension •814-865-4028

RI: URI Cooperative Extension • (401) 874-2900

VT: UVM Cooperative Extension • 1-866-622-2990 (toll-free in VT)

The Fergusons dye this 100% mohair yarn in their kitchen withfood coloring and vinegar. Photos by Lisa Ferguson

Nancy, Gary, Lisa and Marion Ferguson are posing before thefirst Country Fiber Farm Tour in 2009.

Triplets, Peter, Paul and Mary are angora goats that can befound on the Ferguson's farm.

Rt. 20, Sharon Springs, NY • (800) 887-1872 or (518) 284-23461175 Hoosick St. Troy, NY • (518) 279-9709

By Debra Perosio

Do you wonder what is going through a customer's mind whenthey come to your farm store, pick up a product, look it overcarefully, and then put it back and walk out? Do you ask your-self, "What happened to that sale?" Consumer decision mak-ing is a complex science about how consumers make pur-chase decisions: is it impulse or planned, do consumers doresearch, do they consult a friend or use their own judgment?Is there a way you can help convert a customer visit into asale? Consumer decision making can be broken down intoseveral simple steps, many of which, as a business person,you can influence.

We all go through a process when making a decision. For rou-tine items we buy every day, we know well, and that have arelatively low price tag, that decision can be very quick. Forother items that are more complex, for which we really don'tknow much about, or that are very important the process canbecome complex and lengthy.

All buying decisions are sparked by a need (or an "I want"!): Ijust ran out of eggs, my car broke down, I love that flat screenTV. Marketers further develop our needs and wants. How?Certainly, forms of advertising greatly influence us. Advertisingcan take many forms, reminders for those everyday items,educational for those new items, or persuasive for those itemsthat you may not really need but would love to have. Oftensales promotions help, buy one get one free, new flavors,sizes and packages can grab their attention. Signage at thepoint of sale is a great tool to draw consumer attention. Loyaltyprograms also help but make sure it delivers real benefits toyour customers (some of the best loyalty programs right noware with supermarkets offering discounts on gas).

Once consumers recognize a need, they begin an informationsearch. For the eggs that I just ran out of that search is rela-tively easy. I quickly scan my internal memory for how to geteggs quickly and easily, and I think of the closest place I cango to get eggs. Not much thought or involvement there. Butwhat about a need for a medical procedure or a purchase ofan expensive new piece of farm equipment? These types ofdecisions require an "external" search. You might start talkingto friends, do some research on the web, visit equipment deal-

erships. High risk and high prices typically produce longer andmore extensive information searches.

How can you, as a marketer, influence your customers' deci-sions? Make sure your website is up to date and easy to navi-gate and make sure the resources on it are helpful and easyto read. Today, many people start their information search onthe web, and if you don't have a presence there, you may beover looked. Complex decisions require clear information, edu-cation, and often extensive customer service. Have education-al information readily available, be helpful, offer tours anddemonstrations, but maybe most important, offer yourself as apersonal consultant for your customer, providing informationand follow up throughout the information search process.

Once consumers have collected their information, the nextstep is to evaluate the alternatives. Which doctor should Iselect for the procedure, which hospital is best, what farmequipment dealership has the best equipment, which brandhas the best warranty, which had the best service department,and who has the most competitive price? Usually in thesecomplex situations we decide what attributes are most impor-tant to us and set criteria, say maximum price, or best doctor,as our most important attribute when making the decision. Asa marketer how can you help your customers work through theevaluation of all of the alternatives? You can find out from themwhat is most important and work toward attribute. You canboldly compare your product against your competitors andeasily illustrate the differences for your customers (think aboutinsurance companies who do this a lot).

Once consumers have carefully weighed their alternatives, apurchase usually results. Wait! Your marketing commitment isnot over yet. Now is the time to help your customers avoid suf-fering from "buyer's remorse," that nagging feeling you getafter making a major purchase; when you start to wonder if itreally was a good decision. Consumers want reassurance thatthey made the right decision, and marketers can help theircustomers feel confident about their purchases. How about fol-low-up emails, letters, thank you postcards that can also pro-vide additional information about the product they just bought?And how about a phone call a month or two after thesale...does the customer have any questions, is everythingworking properly? This is also a good time to remind them of

other services/products that you have that may complement orenhance the product they just purchased from you.

Remember, the more complex, risky and/or expensive a pur-chase decision is, the more "help" a consumer needs in mak-ing that decision. As a marketer your chances of converting avisit to a sale is much better if you can influence a customerfrom need recognition to alleviating buyer's remorse.

Debra Perosio works with the Food Industry ManagementProgram at Cornell University. She may be reached [email protected] or 607-255-1588.

This article first appeared in the January, 2010 issue of "SmartMarketing". Smart Marketing is a monthly newsletter producedby from the Department of Applied Economics andManagement at Cornell University. PDFs of the SmartMarketing articles may be found on the Marketing PWT web-site at: http://marketingpwt.aem.cornell.edu/publications


By Adrienne Masler

A NEW VENTUREHow did May and Bob Miller go from dairyfarming to making grass pellets? They hadalways been interested in "green" energy, butwhen fuel prices started to rise in 2008, theysaw new potential in the growing acreageowned by non-farming landowners surroundingtheir home in Delaware County. With the goal ofturning idle land into a renewable fuel, they setout to launch their new business venture: mak-ing grass pellets. Approximately the size ofgrain pellets (~1/8" in diameter and ~1/2" long),grass pellets can be burned in stoves to provideheat or electricity. While researching grass pel-lets, the Millers traveled to Canada becausethey had heard that it was feasible to pelletgrass there. They learned that no one was mak-ing pellets for local home energy use: Canadianpellets were marketed for horse bedding or forcoal plants. The Millers continued to researchthe pellet industry in the United States, payingattention to what was working and what wasn'tworking. "We thought we could see where itcould be done better," says May, so they boughtsome old wood pelleting equipment and beganexperimenting. In partnership with their son,May and Bob created EnviroEnergy LLC in thesummer of 2008.

TRIAL-AND-ERRORThe learning curve turned out to be muchlonger and steeper than the Millers anticipated.For example, they had to figure out how to

make dense enough pellets and determine theappropriate moisture content for their raw mate-rials. They've received great support fromCornell Cooperative Extension in DelawareCounty, which received funding to install pelletstoves about the same time that Millers beganpelleting grass. Other support has come fromthe Delaware and Otsego County Offices ofEconomic Development. After many rounds oftrial and error, EnviroEnergy has been makingsuccessful pellets since early 2009.

LOCAL OPPORTUNITYPelleting grass has turned out to be a perfectenterprise for these independent-minded retireddairy farmers. Delaware County's newest cropof residents is largely composed of people fromdownstate who often hire farmers to mow theirfields rather than allow them to become over-grown. EnviroEnergy can purchase this grass -they pay $60/ton for delivered hay - and makepellets. They plan to keep the business operat-ing within a 40-50 mile radius because theyenjoy working with local farmers and developinglocal markets for their pellets. May says thatbecause of the available grass, high fuel prices,and increasing interest in sustainability, "this isa very good product for this area."

ROOM FOR GROWTHAll of the pellets made since the Millers beganpelleting have been sold and used successfully,but there's a lot of room for growth. Grass pel-lets have a higher ash content than their woodcounterparts, and while some wood pellet

stoves can burn grass pellets, some can't. Mayand Bob keep track of which stoves work fortheir customers and recommend contactingCornell researcher Dr. Jerry Cherney for moreinformation about pellet-burning stoves. Asstoves designed to burn grass become avail-able, the market for grass pellets will improve.May thinks that pelleted grass is a good fuelalternative in the Northeast: there's ampleopportunity for local pelleting businesses andgrass pellets produce 90% less emissions thanallowed by the EPA.

A 'MULTI-PURPOSE' PELLET?Local consumers can purchase grass pelletsfrom EnviroEnergy at $225/ton or $4.50/40-pound bag. Though the Millers are focused onmaking pellets that burn well, some customersare coming up with alternative uses. Some usegrass pellets for cat litter or horse bedding andlove the product's absorbency. A nursery triedand failed to germinate weed seeds in the pelletmaterial and may explore using pellets asmulch or in a potting soil mix. Whatever theapplication, the Millers are committed to pro-ducing a quality product.

To learn more about EnviroEnergy LLC, seehttp://www.enviroenergyny.com/. To learn moreabout energy resources for small farms, visithttp://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/resources/production/energy.html.

Adrienne Masler is a recent graduate of Cornellwhere she completed an internship with theSmall Farms Energy Workteam. She may bereached at [email protected]

Where the Green Grass Grows:Local, Renewable Fuel Retired dairy farmers May and Bob Miller launched a new business that transforms hay into renewable energy.

FARM ENERGY

The hammermill grinds hay in preparationfor pelleting. Photos by Janet Aldrich

The screener removes dust after pelleting.

Filling and sealing 40-pound bags of pel-lets.

To Buy or Not to Buy...Influencing Your Customer's Purchases

LOCAL FOODS & MARKETING

Is there a way you can help convert a customer visit intoa sale?

April 5, 2010 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 15

By Nancy Glazier

The Northeast Pasture Consortium (NEPC)Annual Meeting was held in January this yearin Vermont. The weather can be questionableat best in January, but it cooperated this year.The latest pasture research was presentedby universities, agencies and producers atthe two-day conference. Many great projectswere shared and lots of time for networkingwas allotted.

One very practical session with great on-farmpotential was brush and weed control onpastures. Research on finding biological con-trols of multiflora rose was covered as well asgetting cattle to clear idle pastures. Thespeaker that I was most excited about wasKathy Voth from "Livestock for Landscapes"in Loveland, Colorado. She presented herresearch on training cows to eat weeds.

Kathy's work on this began in earnest in2004. Prior to that, she had been sitting in onclasses and reading Dr. Fred Provenza'swork at Utah State University in animalbehavior. She presented some of her work atthe Northeast Grasstravaganza inBinghamton in 2008. Since then, she hascontinued to teach cattle this concept in thewest and across the country.

Disclaimer: When I refer to livestock, I amreferring to ruminant livestock. That does notinclude horses!

The biggest hurdle with the concept of four-legged weed control is sometimes the humanmindset. A weed is any plant out of its properplace. That does not denote poor nutritivevalue. Kathy has run forage analyses onweed specimens and they tend to be high inprotein when vegetative.

So, here are the basics:

Step 1: Know your weedMake sure you know what weed you aretraining your livestock to eat. Weeds (andplants) have toxins in them; some weeds arepoisonous. Don't train your livestock to eatpoisonous weeds! Begin by researching whattoxin is in the weed. Cornell's Department ofAnimal Science has a basic web site:http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/ This willprovide you Latin and common names and

the toxin and species affected. Other websites are out there as well. Kathy stronglysuggests getting your hands on "A Guide toPlant Poisoning of Animals in NorthAmerica", by Anthony P. Knight and RichardWalter. I have this book and it provides com-plete descriptions of the toxins present inweeds you may target. It has a hefty pricetag, but worth the price in the long run.

Focus on one weed for training purposes.Later, when out in the pasture, the cattle willbe more apt to try other weeds.

Cattle will pay attention to "post-ingestivefeedback". They eat a weed and the brain

registers how they feel. If it's not good, theywon't eat what made them ill. If it makesthem feel good, they will eat it again. Also,toxin levels can change throughout the grow-ing season. This is not a failsafe system, sothat's why you need to know your weed.

Step 2: Choose your trainees and traininglocationIt is best to train a manageable number ofyoung females; they are more apt to try newthings since they don't know any better! Oncethey are trained, they can later train their off-

spring and herd mates. If you don't haveheifers to train, work with cow-calf pairs. It'salso best to work with tame cattle. They needto know you and trust you since you are theone that will be doing the training.

If your cattle are used to coming to you, train-ing can occur in a pasture. This makes it sim-pler by having water and feed already there.They can also be training in a barnyardenclosure, but they will need feed and waterthere. One thing for sure, they need a familiararea to reduce stress; they will be more aptto try something new.

Step 3: Make the unfamiliar seem familiarNow we are getting down to the details of thetraining. Kathy has developed a trainingprocess that occurs over 10 days, dependingon if your cattle are fast or slow learners.

Begin by purchasing 8 different kinds of feedwith one of those being something they arefamiliar with. This will not be their sole food

supply, just a treat. Kathy uses 50 poundsper 25 "trainees" per feeding. Place the feedin tubs shared by the cattle. This increasescompetition among the cattle to clean up thefeed.

1. Day one begins with the familiar feed fedmorning and night.2. Day two through 4 a new feed fed morningand night.3. Day 5 skip the morning feed. At night intro-duce a weed with the feed. You will need to

harvest it from a pasture.4. Days 6 through 8 continue this, reducingthe feed and increasing the weed. Closeobservation is necessary to ensure the train-ing is working. Progress is occurring whenthey run to you when you call; they are wait-ing for you to come and they clean up theirfeed with the weed quicker each day.

Step 4: Practice in pastureYour practice pasture should include a patchof the target weed plus some others as wellas their "good" pasture. Give the traineesenough pasture to last them 1-3 days. Givethem additional training pastures until youfeel they have mastered the training.After that, let them join the rest of the herdand see how well they train the rest of theherd!

This is a brief overview of Kathy's processthat she has developed and refined over sev-eral years. She has put her knowledgetogether on web site, http://www.livestockfor-landscapes.com/ and in a book, "Cows EatWeeds". The book goes into depth on thebackground information and has worksheetsto developing your own training plan.

Nancy Glazier is a Small Farms SupportSpecialist for the Northwest New York Dairy,Livestock and Field Crops Team of CornellCooperative Extension/PRO-DAIRY. You canreach her at 315-536-5123 [email protected]

GRAZING

Yes, Cows Eat Weeds!Learn from Kathy Voth's work

By Molly Shaw

Clovers can be wonderful cover crops, growingmore than 100 lbs of nitrogen/acre and improv-ing soil tilth with their large root systems, butthey get off to a slow, weak start after seeding.Jerry and Val Carocci, who run Church StreetProduce in Burdett, have dealt with this prob-lem by using nurse crops for their clover.

Aptly named, nurse crops provide shelter forbaby legumes during their puny stage, whentheir big bad world is full of heat, drought, andweeds. As part of the Cover Crop project,funded by Cornell Cooperative Extension andthe NY Farm Viability Institute in 2007-2008,the Caroccis have tried two differentclover/nurse crop systems, both with success.

Clovers seeded by themselves (without herbi-cides) are quickly swamped by fast-growingannual weeds, particularly when planted in

August. The weed cover doesn't seem to harmthe clovers, which tolerate shade well andactually appreciate the cooler, moister environ-ment down under the weeds, but annualweeds make tens of thousands of seedsbefore they're killed by the frost, banking prob-lems for years to come. Also, if perennialweeds are present (like yellow rocket, quack-grass, etc), they won't be controlled by mowingand will be a much bigger problem than annualweeds like lambsquarter and pigweed.

The first nurse crop combination the Caroccisused was the classic oats and white clover,planted in late summer 2007. Using 1-2bushels (35-70 lb)/A oats in combination with4-6 lb/A white clover is about right-eachspecies pure seeding rate is decreased someto allow the other some space. Oats have theadded benefit of being cheap ($0.11/lb) so thecombination cost about $25/A. The oats grewand provided shelter into late fall, died over

winter, and the next spring the field wasswamped by a lush stand of white clover.

In 2008, the Caroccis tried a new twist on theold nurse crop concept. They seeded 50 lbbuckwheat and 10 lb medium red clovertogether in August. Buckwheat was $0.56/lb,and the clover cost $2.50/lb, so the combina-tion cost $52/A. One advantage to usingbuckwheat is that it gives more thoroughweed control in warm summer growing condi-tions than oats.

The soil was warm and the buckwheat took off.You had to look very closely to find the redclover hanging out in the shade. Then fall hit,the buckwheat was mowed, and the clovertook over. When the growing season starts, theclover should grow really fast-it'll be at its peaknitrogen content just before flowering, in earlyJune. If it's mowed at that stage it should die,but if it's mowed earlier it will not have "fin-ished," and it will persist.

The biggest challenge the Caroccis have hadis with their cover crop seeding equipment.They don't have a tractor-mounted seedspreader, so they use what Val terms her"Johnny AppleSeeder," a hand-held spin seed-er. She's had a hard time getting the seeding

rate even throughout the field using that seed-er. Also, they don't have good tools to helpincorporate the seed, and they've found theirPerfecta field cultivator to be a little too coarseof an instrument in many cases.

Sometimes sowing two different seeds at thesame time can be tricky because they mighthave different ideal rather than to fluff it seed-ing depths, but in the case of buckwheat andred clover, they'll both be ok at 1/2 inch deep.One can broadcast the clover, then drill thebuckwheat with a grain drill. If broadcastingboth seeds, they should be spread in differentpasses, then pressed lightly into the soil. A cul-tipacker is great, but if you don't have one, adrag works better than a disk. It doesn't haveto be fancy, an old set of bedsprings draggedbehind the tractor even works. The key to anice even stand is to firm the soil rather than tofluff it for better seed-to-soil-contact.

We can all use a helping hand, so try nursecrops to get your clover cover crops started

Molly Shaw is a Fruit and Vegetable Specialistwith the Cornell Cooperative Extension officein Tioga County, NY. She can be reached at(607) 687-4020 or [email protected]

HORTICULTURE

Under the Covers:Nursing clovers to maturity

Kathy Voth explains in her book that weedsare high in protein when vegetative.

Image provided by Kathy Voth

Your practice pasture should include a patch of the target weed plus some others as well astheir "good" pasture.


By A. Fay Benson

The contrast between a U.S. dairy management style and theNew Zealand grazing dairy approach was easy to see at a graz-ing conference in Missouri this past summer. New Zealand-styledgrazing dairies focus on intensive pasture management, ratherthan milk production, to lower costs and achieve profits. Missourigrazing dairies modeled off the New Zealand style averaged12,000 to 13,000 lbs per cow on 6 to 8 lbs of grain per day.

New Zealand style dairies have been moving to Missouri for thepast three years. I wanted to learn more about these dairies tosee if the model would be transferable to New York. It is impor-tant to remember that the New Zealand Government has noprice supports for dairy, leaving all profit potential entirely up tothe farmer. While New Zealand is a small nation, their dairyfarmers have substantial impact on the global market with theirlow cost milk production. Most importantly, New Zealand dairyfarms rely on grazing to produce all this milk.

This past summer, I had a chance to investigate this differencebetween U.S. and New Zealand dairy management at theGrazing Dairy Conference in Joplin, Missouri. The conferencetargeted U.S. dairy farmers who want to graze. The conferencewas hosted by the University of Missouri, which has a grazingdairy research farm based on the New Zealand model. TheUniversity of Missouri faculty made several trips to New Zealandto observe and learn the dairy management approach.Conference presenters included faculty (also Jason Karszesfrom Cornell's Pro-Dairy), industry and dairy producers. Farmtours visited a number of locally-owned dairies as well as farmsowned by a New Zealand Corporation. New Zealand dairy farm-ers immigrated to southern Missouri for the climate and toaccess the U.S. dairy market, bringing with them their style ofdairy farming. These farms are all seasonal dairies milking for 9to10 months a year, allowing them to maximize the grass grow-ing season and to have the best grass when the cows were inlactation. The only buildings were the milking parlor and anoccasional farm building. Very little machinery was owned by thefarms, usually some hay equipment or four- wheelers for movingthe animals.

Typical MO Grazing Dairy Today, the grazing dairies in Missouri look a lot like NewZealand grazing dairies. They typically have about 300 acresand 500 milking cows fed high forage diets. Pasture providesabout 65% of the cow's diet. Only about 10% of total dry matter

intake comes from grain compared to the typical U.S. dairy cowwhich receives 40 to 50% as grain. This heavy reliance on pas-ture reduces the time and costs to plant, harvest, and store feedand spread manure compared to conventional confinementdairies. The 500 cow herd size fits for a number of reasons. Thepasture acres required for a herd this size still allow the cows toreach the farthest pasture between the two milkings. The milk-ings take place in parlors that hold up to 50 cows at a time,reducing time for milking. Three workers can handle the choresfor this style of dairy or 150 cows per worker compared to 40 to50 cows per worker on most U.S. dairies.

New Zealand style dairies manage their pastures intensively.Every week measurements are taken in each paddock to deter-mine how much dry matter they contain. The measurements aredone by a hand operated "Rising Plate Meter." A few of thedairies have purchased and share a computer-operated unit thatis towed behind a 4-wheeler. The unit generates a chart of drymatter called a 'grazing wedge.' The farmer learns which pad-docks are too far ahead to be grazed and should be harvestedfor hay or which ones may need a shot of fertilizer to increaseproduction before the next grazing. The Missouri farms are stillfine tuning their grass management. In New Zealand, perennialrye grass is the dominant grass, performing wonderfully in theperpetual spring-like weather. In Missouri, they have not yetfound the right grass to match the warmer summer tempera-tures and the colder winter temperatures. A number of on-goingtrials are looking at fescue. The original fescue had numeroustypes of endophytes detrimental to the animals. Plant breedersdeveloped endophyte-free lines which had some success herein the North but did not do well in the South. Plant breeders arenow trying to find plants that have only the Endophytes that pro-tect the plant from the heat and not the ones that cause toxinsto animals.

New Zealand Business ApproachI sat with a banker from Western NY, who attended the confer-ence at the invitation of a farmer client. He had spoken to someof the relocated New Zealand farmers. He was told that in NewZealand, farmers had appointments with their banker everymonth, to review budgets developed the previous month and tosee how the business was doing. The farmer and banker thenprepared the budget for the next month. This NY banker thoughtthis would be a good practice for NY farmers as well. Consistentefforts to measure performance and react to changes in per-formance are a sure way to reach business goals.

Take Home MessageMissouri farmers still have a number of adaptations to make tothe grazing dairy system in their state. They have a climate thatdoes not require a barn for housing animals. This is a key areafor cost savings on a dairy. The lower capital and labor requiredto clean and to feed is an advantage also seen in western USdairies. I saw several benefits that would be transferable to theNortheast. Costs of production are lowered by focusing on graz-ing with low fiber and nutrient dense forage. This will lower grainbills, especially with fluctuating prices of corn and soybeans.The New Zealand business philosophy of monthly budgetreviews would also be advantageous to farmers here. On myfamily's small dairy, I attribute much of our success to participat-ing in the Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary. While this isonly done once a year, I can imagine the benefit of looking at abusiness's performance monthly. The real benefit for me attend-ing the conference was to get 'out of the norm' and view anotherdairy system under going changes. It was exciting to see differ-ent perspectives on producing milk and a new model of milkproduction that recognizes grazing as a benefit to the animaland the business.

A. Fay Benson is a small dairy specialist at Cortland CountyCooperative Extension. He also coordinates the NY OrganicDiary Initiative. He can be reached at 607-753-5213 [email protected] .

There is More Than One Way to Milk a Cow.New Zealanders Change the Dairy Paradigm in Missouri

Pastures are "Mob" stocked on this Missouri Grazing Dairy.Cows get a new pasture every 12 hours.

Photo by A. Fay Benson

COWS AND CROPS

By Rebecca Schuelke Staehr

The list of where, and how, to sell produce,milk, meat and other items raised on the farmis long. Today, many farmers are making salesthrough farmers markets, farm shares, road-side stands, grocery stores, websites, festivals.Most farmers use more than one market chan-nel to get farm goods to the consumer, andmost farmers experiment with several ways tosell before landing on the one or more streamsthat work best.

The best for each farmer may be a little differ-ent. Some do well with community-supportedagriculture. Others prosper selling wholesale toa broker. For new farmers and those looking fornew, or more cost-effective, markets, choosingwhere, and how, to sell can be a daunting task.

Recognizing that there's more than one "rightway" to sell farm goods, the NY Farm ViabilityInstitute has supported numerous projects tohelp farmers fine tune marketing models, andshare their successful techniques with others.Efforts range from marketing foods through afarmers' cooperative, direct to schools, withonline sales, through home delivery, and muchmore. The NY Farm Viability Institute is afarmer-run nonprofit group that awards grants toprojects that help farmers improve profitability,and develop models for all farmers. The Institutereceived funds from the NYS legislature andDepartment of Agriculture and Markets.

So, what works?: Since 2005, the Instituteawarded more than 25 grants to projects thathelp farmers test and improve marketing strate-gies, which had the all-farmer board of direc-tors wondering: "But, which ones reallyworked?"NY Farm Viability uses an outcome based pro-gram model: all the projects it funds seek tohelp farmers improve profitability, and developmodels to replicate successful techniques onall farms. Funded project leaders are requiredto report on how projects lead to new revenue,decreases in operating expenses, new job cre-ation, and other tangible measures of farmprofitability. Last fall, board members awardeda grant to Cornell University economist MiguelGomez to lead an examination of the specialtycrop and food marketing projects funded by NYFarm Viability, and determine which techniqueswere the most beneficial for farmers.

"We turned the tables on our own programmodel, and asked an economist to review theprojects that are working on marketing localfood. We want to be able to make better rec-ommendations to farmers about what works,and, also, to have more guidance when select-ing new projects for grant funds," said JohnLincoln, chair of the NY Farm Viability board ofdirectors. The evaluation will wrap up in late2011. Extension bulletins and other outreachare expected.

At the same time NY Farm Viability askedCornell to evaluate the farm benefit of coopera-tive marketing, online sales, and myriad othermarketing routes, they awarded grant funds toCornell Cooperative Extension of TompkinsCounty to help farmers assess the profitabilityand labor costs at each farm's various market-ing channels.

Mandeville Farm in Spencer, NY sells freshproduce at two farm stands, two farmers mar-kets, and to a grocery store. "We were prettysure the road stands were the way to go, butwe wanted to look at that," said JanetMandeville.

In evaluating the various marketing channels,road side stands proved the most profitable forthe Mandeville family - there's minimal labor at

the stand. Other farms in the study found com-munity-supported agriculture to be the best betfor them.

Results may vary by farm, but the importantcommonalty, said Matt LeRoux, an agriculturemarketing educator with CCE TompkinsCounty, is record keeping - tracking how muchtime and money goes into each marketingeffort. "Some farms don't do accounting andmay not know if they are making a profit. Somefarms don't do channel-specific accounting, sothey don't know what's most profitable,"LeRoux said. He has grant funds to help NewYork farmers evaluate their marketing channelsthrough December 2011, and hopes to collectenough data to offer farmers benchmarks formarketing channel performance.

For more information about the marketingchannel research, or to participate in the study,contact the NY Farm Viability Institute.

Rebecca Schuelke Staehr is a writer with NYFarm Viability Institute. She may be reached at(315) 453-3823 or [email protected]. Formore information about the NY Farm ViabilityInstitute, visit www.nyfvi.org.

From farm to market: choosingthe right marketing channel foryour farm

LOCAL FOODS & MARKETING

Janet Mandeville of Mandeville Farms inSpencer, NY worked with CornellCooperative Extension to evaluate which ofher marketing channels

Photos by Rebecca Schuelke Staehr

Cornell Cooperative Extension hopes tocollect enough data from farms to offerbenchmarks for labor effeciency, prof-itabity, and more.

By Jill Swenson

What country folks know to be common sense becomes newsas a new practice in sustainability. Become a "daylighter" andput your lifestyle back in sync with the sun and the seasons. Adaylighter wakes up with the sun and goes to sleep shortly afterit sets.

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy andwise," wrote Benjamin Franklin more than two centuries ago.This wisdom seems self-evident to most farmers working theirhomesteads every day year round.

Twelve to 14 hours of sleep during the shortest days and sevento eight hours of shut-eye during the longest days of the yearmakes good sense for your own health and longevity and is aneasy way to significantly lower your carbon-footprint.

The first reason to become a daylighter is to remedy sleep dep-rivation. Many Americans deprive themselves of sleep to thepoint where it is dangerous to drive, according to studies by theFederal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank HighwayResearch Center. Farmers are not immune from this problem.There is always more work to be done than hours in a day.Sleep exhaustion can lead to serious farm accidents.Contrary to popular myth you cannot make up sleep you lost thenight before, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Failingto get enough sleep heightens the risk for a variety of major ill-nesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity,according to findings from Harvard's Nurses' Health Study.

Sleep is seasonal. In the cold winter months when the days areshorter we need to sleep more just like hibernating mam-malians. Sleep is necessary to one's overall health and in winterour bodies need to sleep more. In cold climates, sleep is thebody's way of conserving energy during winter. "As the day'slengthen, the cold strengthens," is a familiar weather observa-tion for winter's duration. The spring equinox brings an end tothis winter jinx.

Sleep is the body's restorative process. Sleep is very inexpen-sive preventative health care. It is when we are too tired thataccidents happen, mistakes are made and we tax our immunesystems. You know how much better you feel after a goodnight's sleep.

The second reason to live by the sun's clock is to decreaseoverall electric energy consumption. If you can live by daylightthere is little use for electric lights. When electric power becamewidely available, it changed the way we farmed. With the pas-sage of the Rural Electrification Act, electricity became availableto country folks at the same price as city people paid. Nightturned into day. Winter turned into summer and summer intowinter. Electric power industrialized this nation. A "day" becamethree 8-hour shifts.

Before electricity when it got dark at night, people went to bed.There wasn't much you could really do by candle light or oillamps. Heating and refrigeration weren't things you could takefor granted without wood or ice. Before electricity, if you wantedto be warm in the middle of winter, you had to plan years inadvance to have the seasoned wood on hand, dried andstacked, hours to start the fire and time to let the house getwarmed and time for tending the wood fire. Today in upstateNew York, this is still true if you heat or cook with wood.

Before electricity you needed a root cellar to keep produce coolin summer and not freeze in the winter. Before electricity youhad to harvest ice from the pond in the middle of winter andstore it in a hay barn covered in sawdust for use four to sixmonths later. You can still do this, and some country folk still do,however, most farmers have altered their practices significantly.

I grew up with the expectation of an electrified life. I assume atthe flick of a switch there to be light, or heat, or sound, animage displayed or a door opened. All at the flick of a switch:On/Off. The binary code built the digital universe but it can'tpower it. It runs on fossil fuels and is not sustainable.Daylighting offers a natural solution to soaring energy demands.

It sounds so simple and yet the practice of "daylighting" seemstoo extreme for many people who work long hours at one ormore jobs, have children and family obligations, and cram their

daily calendars well into dark. Daylighting doesn't cost anythingand will save you money, energy and years on your life, butmost modern folks seem to resist this idea.

The rush and push and urgency of everyday life is not sustain-able. Contemporary culture treats sleep as a waste of time.People have a hard time imaging what daylighting is like here onan upstate New York farm in the midst of winter when up to 14hours of darkness constitutes a day. It's easy in the summerwhen the birds start chirping before dawn around 5 a.m. and it'sstill light after 9 p.m. These are the natural patterns of sleepaccording to the seasons of rural northeasterners.

Psychiatrist Thomas Wehr and his colleagues at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health conducted a study in their sleep labwhere they simulated the daylight hours of a winter day.Subjects went into the dark at 6 p.m. to lie down and rest. Lightsdid not come back on until 8 the next morning. Wehr was curi-ous to see what might happen if he put busy modern Americansinto the 19th century sleep environment.

Wehr's sleep study found that the long night led to two bouts ofdeep concentrated sleep; two REM sessions with a period ofwakefulness in the middle, lasting up to a few hours. Dr. Wehr'sstudy was published in the American Journal of Physiology.

Insomniacs might think lying awake for a couple hours in themiddle of the night to be a kind of torture. But the subjects in thestudy described this period in terms used during the 1800s as a"watch" or "watching"; a period of heightened mindfulness.

There are historical records of people sleeping in first a "deadsleep" and later a "morning sleep" with the wakeful periodbetween as a "watch," according to the study's lead investigator,Thomas Wehr. The subjects in his study reported this middleperiod as a kind of quiet meditation.

Researchers found similar results in a more recent study of ado-lescents. The longer night seems to give rise, according toNational Public Radio correspondent Allison Aubrey in anAugust 2009 story, to a sort of "midnight comfort." Teens growso fast they need more sleep to catch up with their bodies.

A third reason to practice daylighting is that you will live longerand enjoy life so much more. Do you fight against sleep? Is yourinstinct to resist drowsiness? Do you push down the urge toclose your eyes and rest? Give in to these urges. The moresleep you get, the less stress on your overall health and wellbeing. Research from the Harvard Medical School found anincreased risk of mortality among those who sleep less than sixhours a night.

When you live by the seasons, the sun, the moon and the stars,you fall into a natural rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. Theshortest days of the year come in the coldest months and thelongest days during summer.

The simple act of "daylighting" doesn't cost you anything. Youdon't have to join a club or pass a test or buy anything to just doit. It sounds so simple and yet to practice it will make you a radi-cal. Your friends and family won't understand why you won'tattend evening events or answer the phone or email after dark.Your kids might think you are crazy, until their grades startimproving and their attitude becomes more positive. The energysavings, increased work performance, improved health andsense of well-being provide positive reinforcements to thelifestyle changes.

Jill Swenson owns and operates a small scale seed company atOn Warren Pond Farm in Trumansburg, NY. Learn more atwww.onwarrenpondfarm.com

HOME & FAMILY

Are you a Daylighter?


Fishing in Warren Pond by dawn's early light.Photos by Jill Swenson

Great niece Jadyn up early for farm chores

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When you live by the seasons, the sun, the moon and thestars, you fall into a natural rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.

By Susan Neal

For many of us, winter is that time of the year when life final-ly slows down for a little while, a time when we can engagein social activities, pursue educational goals, catch up onbookkeeping, or reacquaint ourselves with local and nationalissues. This past winter I finally found the time to do somesurfing on the Internet. What was I searching for? Not a newtractor or a way to boost my hens' egg production. I wasinterested in organizations founded by, created for, andactively supporting agricultural women. I was pleasantly sur-prised to find a growing community of sites dedicated specifi-cally to us and our ways of life. So I thought I would sharesome of this information. Whether your interests turn towomen's health, farm economics, women's safety, food pro-duction, animals, or rural isolation, chances are you will finda number of valuable resources to help educate, entertain,and enlighten you. Happy surfing!

International Organizations:Most international women's organizations are acutely con-cerned with the health, safety, empowerment, and politicalequality of rural and agricultural women. These organizationswork to end violence and dis-crimination against womenaround the world, especially indeveloping nations, and toteaching and assist them intheir agricultural pursuits.Membership fees and/or dona-tion requests may vary. Theseorganizations publish maga-zines, newsletters, reports,and studies; they help drafthuman rights legislation; main-tain interactive websites; hostconferences; and/or offeronline meetings and discus-sions. They include:

WOCAN: Women Organizingfor Change in Agriculture andNatural ResourceManagement. This global net-work was established in 2004to help transform agricultureand natural resource manage-ment programs by offeringsupport and empowering pro-fessional and rural women toachieve gender equalityaround the world. The organi-zation collaborates with univer-sities, governments, NGO's,civic groups, and internationalorganizations to empowerwomen professionals in agri-culture and NRM sectors.www.wocan.org

Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW): Thisgroup claims to be the largest organization dedicated to pro-viding support, friendship and practical assistance to ruralwomen around the world. The organization's charitable pro-grams focus on the relief of poverty, the education of women,and improving women's health and economic opportunities.www.acww.org.uk/. (The US branch of the ACWW is theCountry Women's Council of the USA (CWC). Its website is:www.cwcusa.org)

National Organizations:There are numerous women's farming and agriculturalorganizations across the country. Some focus on legislation,while others are concerned with safety, farm economics, oreducation. Many national organizations host meetings, work-shops, or conferences; they often publish magazines ornewsletters; and most require their members to register inorder to receive full benefits.

Women, Food and Agriculture Network: The network wasfounded in 1997 to provide women with the information, con-nections, and empowerment they need to be effective practi-tioners and supporters of sustainable agriculture and healthy,local food systems. The majority of their work is performed inthe Midwest. They offer annual educational events, lectures,and workshops, resource articles, studies, newsletters, and

an email list. www.wfan.org; 515-460-2477

WIFE-Women Involved in Farm Economics: This grass-roots organization, founded in 1976, is open to anyone inter-ested in agriculture. It is a non-partisan, policy-makingorganization that works to improve profitability in productionagriculture through education, legislation, communication,and cooperation. WIFE produces monthly newsletters; hostsan annual conference, and the website provides importantlinks to government agencies. www.wifeline.com

American Agri-Women: Founded in 1974, the AAW current-ly has 50 state and commodity-affiliated organizationsthroughout the country. The organization is active in legisla-tion and regulatory matters at the local, state, and nationallevel, as well as student and consumer ag education. Theorganization helped to initiate the Agriculture in theClassroom program at the national level. The website pro-vides information and links to meetings and conferences,publications, mentoring services, scholarships, educationalmaterials for students and educators, and a consumer infor-mation page featuring farm facts, food safety, and nutritionresources. www.americanagriwomen.org; 785-537-6171

Woman's National Farm and Garden Association: Thisenvironmental group was founded in 1914 and is comprisedof various garden clubs, local chapters, and other specialinterest organizations who share a passion for furtheringtheir agricultural and horticultural interests. Focuses includecivic service, education, horticultural therapy, gardening, flo-ral arts, and numerous environmental concerns. The organi-zation currently has four primary divisions (Michigan,Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York), single branches inMassachusetts and New Jersey, and several specialized

branches including an herb group and a floral design group.The organization's Farm and Garden Magazine not only fea-tures informative articles and recipes, but also provides infor-mation about scholarships, meetings, and current members.The website features a new blog. http://www.wnfga.org

Conferences:Women in Blue Jeans: Started in 2001 as an evening train-ing session on grain marketing and crop insurance, this con-ference has since become a rousing annual event inMitchell, SD. While the January 2010 conference was can-celled due to severe weather conditions, breakout sessionswould have included: wind power, farm first aid, digital photo-graphing, growing container vegetables, cleaning withoutchemicals, women in government, niche marketing, breasthealth and screenings, long-term insurance, and compost-ing. The goal of the three-day conference is for attendees tohave fun and learn something new. Planning for the 2011conference is already underway. www.womeninbluejeans.org;605-996-9169

Women Managing the Farm: This project and its annualtwo-day conference was developed by Kansas StateUniversity to prepare women to participate in multiple farmroles by providing the training, risk management tools, andthe professional resources they need. This year's breakoutsessions included such topics as water rights, beef qualityassurance, soil and crop rotation, mental health, insurance,and farm safety. On the conference website there is also alive chat feature called "Rural Route Women." www.women-managingthefarm.info; 866-327-6578

Websites:Women's AgricultureCommunity: This website wasdesigned by folks at MichiganState University as a resource forwomen farmers. The Resource linkprovides a list of useful websitesas well as a "How to Start" sectionthat includes information on start-ing community gardens, CSA's,farmer's markets, grassed-basedagriculture, organic farming, andurban agriculture.http://www.safs.msu. edu/wome-nag/

Local Resources:Farm Bureau: Contact your localFarm Bureau for information aboutgetting involved with the AmericanFarm Bureau Women's LeadershipCommittee. The four focus areas ofthis group include empowerment,grassroots revitalization, under-standing the political process, andspeaking up for agriculture. Formore information: www.fb.org

Women's Agricultural Network(WAgN): Originally started in 1995as a collaboration between theUniversity of Vermont and the US

Dept of Agriculture, WAgN branch-es are beginning to pop up around

the country. Some state chapter are supported by their landgrant universities, others are energetic grassroots networksof women with diverse agricultural backgrounds and inter-ests. To locate a WAgN network near you log on to theUniversity of Vermont's site (www.uvm.edu/wagn) or contactyour state university's department of agriculture or coopera-tive extension.

Susan Neal owns and operates Wiccaway Farm in BeaverDams, NY and can be reached at (607) 535-7161 or [email protected]


A "Web" of Support: Online Directory toWomen in Agriculture Organizations

WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE

International agriculture organizations support and empower rural women across the world

Need Info?Subscribe to the Small Farms Update, a monthly emailnewsletter with announcements, upcoming events, resources,funding and farming opportunities and more. Send an email [email protected] . Please provide your name,farm name, postal address, and county.

By Barbara Silvestri & Mark Kenville

For dairy farmers Tobe and Lena Elmer, farming cleaner andgreener has always been a top priority and a source of greatpride. Because of their commitment, they have receivednumerous recognitions for their conservation practices andmilk quality.

The Elmers' To-B-Lea Farm is situated in the southwest cor-ner of Jefferson County in the Town of Ellisburg, New York.The entrance to Southwick Beach State Park on Lake Ontariois less than a quarter mile down the road. "Our proximity tothe lake and state park makes us very visible to the public,"commented Lena. "With all the traffic passing by us -campers, lake residents and park visitors - we've becomemore aware of our image and the image we present for dairyfarming. We try to keep things neat and clean, as well asfocus on our conservation practices." Tobe added, "It's impor-tant to promote a positive image of farming. Taking good careof the land, water and animals creates a good impression."

The Elmers purchased the farm from Tobe's father, Lloyd, in1964, when the dairy consisted of 115 acres of workable landwith a milking herd of 45 cows. Since then, they expanded to100 Holstein milkers and 325 acres, growing primarily cornand alfalfa. In addition to Tobe and Lena, their three now-grown children, Tim, Terry and Traci, have been active in theoperation over the years. They now have a hired employee.

They began focusing on conservation issues in the early1990s. Their prime concerns were manure run-off, leachingand odor, as well as developing a nutrient management plan

to ensure theywere spreadingnutrients respon-sibly and effec-tively to protectwater quality and get the most value from their manure.

Working with the staff of the Jefferson County Soil and WaterConservation District, the Elmers participated in theAgricultural Environmental Management (AEM) process,which started with an inventory of the farm's activities, futureplans and potential environmental concerns. A customizedconservation plan was developed and implemented, followedby an evaluation to ensure that goals were met to protect theenvironment and the farm's viability.

With the guidance of the District staff, the Elmers embarkedon several improvements to divert rainwater and treat runofffrom the milkhouse, barnyard, silos and roads. "We had amilkhouse drainage problem and installed a barkbed systemthat was innovative at the time," explained Tobe. "We'veremodeled it since its initial installation to become even moreefficient." The system entails a septic tank that receives thewaste, where solids settle. The liquid then drains into thebark, which provides a carbon source for bacterial breakdownof the nutrients in the effluent and out-letted to a wastewatervegetative treatment area. The solids from the septic tank arepumped out and spread on the land.

Another area addressed was the barnyard. "We completelydug out the original barnyard and filled it with big rocks thenfilter fabric and finer material, which prevent mud and manurefrom leaching into the ground," Lena said. "The top is thenscraped and spread on the fields once a year. We continueadding stones to keep it properly maintained and make sureit's effective."

A roof water collection system was developed that alleviated amajor mud problem in their barnyard. The rain water no longerruns into the barnyard area, but is diverted into a drainageditch that brings the clean water to a wetland area.Improvements were also made to address silage leachingfrom the bunker silo. A system was installed to collect the lowflows, and the high flows divert to a wastewater vegetativetreatment area. Also, a stone and felt screen was used to

build up and harden thedriveway and access roads,thereby preventing mud fromgoing on the highway andgetting into the bunk silo.

With the assistance of theSoil and Water ConservationDistrict, the Elmers enrolledin Natural ResourcesConservation Service's EQIPprogram. "The EQIP grantcovered about 75 percent ofthe costs," said Lena. "It waswell worth it, even with pay-ing what we did for theimprovements." Tobe con-curred: "Without the grant,

I'm not sure how much would have gotten done; if it wouldhave gotten done as soon as it did; or done as well."

More recently, the Elmers worked with their ConservationDistrict to develop a Comprehensive Nutrient ManagementPlan to make sure their manure was handled effectively. "Itinvolved a more accurate measurement plan for spreading,"Tobe said. "And, it was nice to learn we already were doing agood job with our manure. We only had to make a minorchange in spreading on one field during a certain time of yearbecause of slope." Getting the maximum nutrient benefitsfrom their manure has been extremely cost-effective, as theyhaven't had to use fertilizer on their corn fields for years.

According to Lena, they began making conservation improve-ments because it was "the right thing to do." Their commit-ment to improving the environment and enhancing the publicimage of dairying earned them the Jefferson Soil and WaterConservation District's 2002 Conservation Farm of the Year,which is a source of pride for the couple. "We received a greatamount of help and guidance over the years from the staff atthe Soil and Water Conservation District," said Tobe. "Theyare excellent people to work with, asking what you want to doand making suggestions. They know the rules and regula-tions, but are flexible and work with you making sure you getthe outcomes you want as well."

"The Elmers epitomize the strong conservation ethic that manyof our county farmers display," said Christine Watkins of theJefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District. "Theirdecision to address the resource concerns on their farm wasnot driven by regulation, but by their desire to do what is bestfor the environment, their farm and the community."

While being environmentally responsible is important to theimage of farming, Lena added that producing a high qualityproduct is important to. "We take pride in what we do and theproduct we produce for the public," she said. Their effortshave been well noted as they have been honored consistentlythrough Dairylea Cooperative's Quality Milk RecognitionProgram, and have received the Super Milk Award over theyears. Most recently, they also attained the Dairylea "GoldStandard Dairy" designation, which recognizes dedication toproducing a quality product on a farm that has met a varietyof safety, environmental and animal care standards.

"It's nice to be recognized for what you've done, but wealways feel that there's room for improvement," said Lena."We like to try to get out ahead of things, continue to do theright things for our farm and the environment, and look formore ways to present a good image for dairy farming.

The Agricultural Environment Management (AEM) program isfree. In addition to helping farmers identify and address envi-ronmental concerns, the process documents good steward-ship. To get started, call your county Soil and WaterConservation District today to schedule a free, confidentialAEM Assessment for your farm. To learn more about AEM,view the AEM Worksheets (under 'Technical Tools') or tolocate your County Soil and Water Conservation Districtoffice, visit: www.nys-soilandwater.org.

Barbara Silvestri is the Information & Education ProgramCoordinator with the NYS Soil & Water ConservationCommittee in Albany, NY. She can be reached at 518-457-3738 or [email protected]. Mark Kenville is theDirector of the New York Center for Dairy Excellence, which isa farmer-led nonprofit group that awards grant funds forapplied research and outreach education projects that helpfarms increase profits and provide models for other farms. Hecan be reached at 315-453-3823 or [email protected]


Agricultural EnvironmentalManagement:To-B-Lea Farm Focuses on Positive Image of Farming!

STEWARDSHIP & NATURE

Tobe, Lena and Corky sit among the flowers planted infrom of the barn to add a touch of color for the publicto enjoy.

Photo by Jefferson County Soil & Water ConservationDistrict

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We Want To HearFrom YouWe welcome letters to the editor -Please write to us! Or send a questionand we’ll do our best to answer it.We’re also looking for beautiful, inter-esting and/or funny small farm photosto print.

Write or email Violet Stone, Cornell Small Farms Program,135C Plant Science Building,Cornell University,Ithaca, NY [email protected]

By Kathy Barrett

I've lost count of the number of times I've heardfarmers say after a dairy meeting or event thatthe best part of the program was talking to theother farmers over lunch or during the break.It's clear that farmers find tremendous value intalking to other farmers about their practicesand experiences on the farm. The Dairy ProfitDiscussion group program is built on that sim-ple concept: farmers gain invaluable knowledgefrom other farmers.

Discussion groups have taken off across NewYork State with over 40 groups formed andmore than 500 farmers participating. This hasbeen a tough year for the dairy industry, yet arecord number of farmers have attended DairyProfit Discussion Groups. Clearly they are get-ting something important from these groups. Asurvey of farmers participating in discussiongroups indicated that being able to sit acrossthe table from other farmers who were experi-encing similar challenges encouraged them tomake changes that improved their profitability.The continuous interaction allows farmers tohear what others are doing on their farms andfollow the results and impacts of those activi-ties. Talking through ideas and decisions withother farmers enables them to have more con-fidence in their own decision-making process.

So what is a Dairy Profit Discussion Group?It's a group of about 10-12 farmers who havesomething in common who meet on a regularbasis to discuss their farms. The commonalitymight be farm size, production practice (e.g.organic, grazing) or stage of career (e.g. youngfarmers). The key is that the farms haveenough in common that the discussion is perti-nent to each farmer, with ideas that can beimplemented on their farms.

A skilled facilitator manages the discussion andadministration of the group, doing the leg workneeded to make sure the group has what itneeds for a fruitful discussion. Dairy ProfitDiscussion groups usually have agriprofessionalsserve as the facilitator. Most often extension edu-cators serve this role, but veterinarians, nutrition-ists, financial advisors and crop consultants arealso involved with different discussion groups.Several groups have a couple of agribusinessfolks who share the role of facilitator.

Discussion groups are small by design, so thatdiscussion can be informal and uninhibited.Small groups also allow the group members toget to know each other. Time and again farmershave said the professional relationships theybuild via the groups are extremely important.

It's important that the group be self-directed,and that the ideas for discussion topics comefrom the group. Groups have discussed justabout every topic under the sun. Some havefocused on production types of topics, such asmilking systems, calf nutrition or transition cowmanagement. Others have participated in theCornell Dairy Farm Business Summary or theCornell Dairy Profit Monitor program, and haveused this information to benchmark where theirbusiness is at and monitor progress.

How the group approaches a chosen topic isdriven by the subject matter and the prefer-ences of the group. A resource person might beinvited to join the meeting, provide some infor-mation and then sit at the table for the discus-sion. Tours of farms doing a specific practice ortechnology are always a favorite activity.Sometimes the tours are of group member'sfarms, and sometimes of an unrelated farm thatis doing something of interest. Overnight trips tovisit farms or other groups can be especiallyvaluable. The ride in the van gives group mem-bers time to discuss things in depth and reallyget to know each other. Meeting up with farm-ers from another group adds new ideas andpersonalities to the mix. The unifying theme forall these activities, whether it is a simple groupdiscussion, resource person, financial bench-marking or farm visits, is the shared knowledgeand experience of the farmers.

Farmers join discussion groups for theexchange of ideas and the experience thatcomes only from farming. They use the groupsto learn about new technologies, recentresearch and management strategies, butthrough the prism of real world, hands-onexperience.

The Dairy Profit Discussion Group program isfunded by the New York Center for DairyExcellence.

Kathy Barrett is the Dairy Profit DiscussionGroup program's director with the CornellPRO-DAIRY program. She may be reached at607.229.4357 or [email protected]

Farmers Share Friendship andKnowledge at Dairy ProfitDiscussion Groups

COWS AND CROPS


Bonnie Collins (center), farm business management educator with Cornell CooperativeExtension, facilitates the Women Farming Today discussion group in Oneida County.

Photo by Kathy Barrett

merged spring 10

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