Feature ArticlesColostrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15

Switch the Boots, Wash the Hands, and Keep Farm Records . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 18

Profitable Broiler Enterprises in New England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 19

Ovines in the Vines?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 20

Supplement to Country Folks

SUMMER 2014

SMALL FARM QUARTERLYGood Living and Good FGood Living and Good Farming – Connecting Parming – Connecting Peopleeople,, Land,Land, and Command Communitiesunities

SMALL FARM QUARTERLY

by Petra Page-Mann

Do you breed new vegetable varieties? Doyou save seed? Do you wear clothes andeat food?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these ques-tions, you impact our food system at the seedlevel profoundly. Every day we make deci-sions that influence what seeds will — andwill not — be sown by future generations.

Few people are plant breeders by profes-sion. But if you’ve saved seed, you are aplant breeder: decisions you’ve made (con-sciously and sub-conciously) have changedthe seeds available 10, 100 and 10,000years from now. And every time you buyclothes and eat food you are influencing thedecisions of professional seed breeders whodetermine what seeds are being plantedaround the world.

Like a seed, you have more power tochange the world than perhaps you’ll everknow.

How do heirlooms matter? There are manydefinitions of an ‘heirloom’ variety; I think ofan heirloom as a plant whose seeds havebeen saved in a general region for morethan 40 years. Heirlooms have become pop-ular for many reasons and have much tooffer us: phenomenal flavor, regional adap-tation and cultural acuity. Recently bred vari-eties tend to focus on productivity and trans-portability, often leaving flavor out of theequation. So of course we are turning toheirlooms for flavor and connection to ourseed heritage.

But consider: each ‘heirloom’ variety origi-nally began as a brand new variety. Onlyafter generations of people selecting, savingand sharing these seeds did they becomethe beloved heirlooms of today. Selectedwell over generations, these varieties willcontinue to become more delicious andresilient for future generations.

Who is selecting our heirlooms to be moredelicious, more resilient? You can.

Who is breeding the new varieties that ourGrandchildren will know as ‘heirloom’? Youcan.

Our modern food crops were developedoriginally by amateurs, by grandparents andtheir grandparents before them for thou-sands of years. Professional seed breedershave only been around for a fraction of thetime we’ve been saving seeds as a species.Though modern professional plant breedersare often highly educated, don’t underesti-mate the significance of your observationand selection in your garden.

You can select heirlooms to be more deli-cious and more resilient; simply choosewhich plants’ seeds you’ll save on a basis ofsimple observation. Do some tomatoes notget blight? Save those. Do some heads oflettuce bolt after most of the others? Savethose. Do some winter squash keep longerthan others? Save those. It’s all a matter ofpersonal preference and genetic diversityoffers us the range of possibilities. Only ourimaginations are the limit.

For example, Caroline Hunt and her familyhave been saving Amish Butter Popcorn forjust over a decade. “You’ll be surprised howquickly you can work with a population andsee measurable change,” she notes. At ItalyHill Farm in the Finger Lakes of New York,Caroline selects for excellent popping, longconical ears with a small butt (easier toshell), drought tolerance and corn earwormresistance. Over the years, her seed hasdramatically improved and as these qualitieshave stabilized, further refinements aremade. It is a testament to the power ofobservation, selection, dedication and visionof amateur seed savers who are making

heirlooms more delicious, productive andresilient than ever.

You can breed the new varieties that yourgrandchildren will know as heirloom. “Ifyou’re already saving seeds,” writes CarolDeppe in her book Breed Your OwnVegetable Varieties, “you’re just a few shortsteps away from deliberately breedingplants. Why limit yourself to preserving theachievements of the amateurs of the past?

Page 2 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014SEED STORIESCultivating the Heirlooms of TomorrowWhether you plant seeds or not!

This “Red Russian” Kale has been selected for countless generations and will contin-ue to be selected for countless to come. What qualities would you select kale for nowthat future generations will thank you for?

Photo by Petra Page-Mann

Every heirloom begins as a newintroduction; “Gardener’s Sweetheart”Cherry Tomato has just been developedand future generations will know it as anheirloom.

Photo by Petra Page-Mann

See Cultivating page 3

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 3

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 $50 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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Country Folks SubscriptionsP.O. Box 121, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428

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Winter and Spring was a busy season ofhosting some excellent webinar presenta-tions! Now that you are all out in your fieldsand gardens, we don’t expect that you’ll betuning in to our webinar archive any timesoon, but should you be resting indoors toescape the hottest part of the afternoon,we’ve listed some archived presentationsbelow with links.

Valuing Time and Muscle - Working withBeginning Farmers in Labor RecordKeepingChris Blanchard, farmer, consultant, andeducator, explored ways to track and calcu-late labor inputs that translate into meaning-

ful records. This training focused on whatactivities to monitor, if and how to extrapo-late from a snapshot, when to lump activitiestogether or get picky, and what forms andformats may work better or worse. If youmissed this webinar, you can access thearchived version by visiting www.nebegin-ningfarmers.org and clicking on Trainer’sToolbox.

Diversifying Beyond Direct - SupportingBeginning Farmers in ExploringWholesale Participants learned through the experienceof Deep Root Cooperative and their workwith organic vegetable farmers in the

Northeast. The webinar discussed thenature of wholesale relationships, terms ofpricing and payment, and expectations forquality and packaging. Exploring the struc-ture of wholesale markets will help educa-tors design outreach and education pro-grams that prepare beginning farmers toconsider these channels as their enterprisesgrow. You can access this archived webinarby visiting www.nebeginningfarmers.org andclicking on Trainer’s Toolbox.

Sustainable Farm Energy Series Focusedon Solar, Geothermal, Biodiesel & MoreAre you looking to stabilize rising fuel andenergy costs on your farm or homestead?

Are you seeking more sustainable sourcesof energy? In this four-part webinar serieshosted by the Small Farms Program in Aprilwith support from NE SARE, participantslearned from an organic vegetable farmer,grape grower & winemaker, sunflower &biodiesel producer, and pastured livestockfarmer who led virtual tours of their sustain-able farm energy systems and ecologicalproduction techniques. If you missed any ofthese, the archived webinars are free andopen to the public. To view the archived ver-sion of the webinar, visithttp://smallfarms.cornell.edu/resources/farm-energy/

Cornell Small Farms Program Update

Four Winds Farm’s earth cooled barn with attached greenhouse was one of severaldesigns featured in the sustainable farm energy webinar series.

It happens every year, and always surprises me. Last summer, just after the first long,soaking rain of summer, I walked out to the garden to see a carpet of slugs feasting ona tattered array of succulent green stems that were once peppers, basil and heartygreens. I went straight to the local farm supply store to purchase another round of startsand added a large bag of organic slug killer to my cart. A little sun and the slug killerworked wonders and the new plants were soon looking delicious and hearty enough thatthey attracted a midnight visit from some local deer who browsed them to the ground. Ihalf-heartedly replanted, mostly surrendering to the fact that I was likely sticking charita-ble snacks in the ground for an infinite number of hungry fauna patrolling the great back-yard.

Several months later, despite the stresses of weather and herbivory, I bent down to seemodest fruits forming on most of the garden veggies. The resilience and abundance ofnature always surprises me. I know I’m not the only one whose fruits and vegetables aresuffering early heat or late frosts, drought or excessive rains, and damage from any num-ber of creatures with wings and legs and hoofs. And yet, as the days grow shorter, thefarm stands and stalls grow fuller with bountiful displays of the harvest. It certainly is hardwork to tend a farm or garden, but we can be thankfulthat nature does a miraculous job with its part.

During this busiest time of the year, don’t forget to finda shady spot, rest your head, and be amazed bynature’s work!

Best wishes,

VioletManaging Editor

Message from the Editor

Violet Stone

They didn’t. You can both preserve the fineold heirloom varieties and use them to cre-ate new varieties of your own.”

For example, Will Bonsall has long steward-ed and bred phenomenal varieties of allkinds of plants on his homestead in Maine.Several years ago he crossed two heirloomtomatoes, Gardener’s Delight (cherry) andRoyal Chico (paste), discovering a gem inthe progeny: vigorous plants covered inbright red, heart-shaped tomatoes, early tofruit and delectable as they were endearing.After five seasons of selection, “Gardener’sSweetheart” was just introduced in 2014. Anew variety, by the time our children’s chil-dren have their children, Gardener’sSweetheart will be a beloved heirloomalongside any classic heirloom tomato wenow know and love.

In addition to our access the the widestselection of genetic diversity in history, wealso have immense resources at our finger-tips to both save and breed new varieties ofseed. Two fantastic books on seed savingare The Organic Seed Grower by JohnNavazio and Seed to Seed by SuzanneAshworth. If you’re interested in seed breed-ing, I recommend exploring Breeding yourown Vegetable Varieties by Carol Deppe aswell as Breeding Organic Vegetables: A Stepby Step Guide for Growers by Rowen Whiteand Bryan Connolly.

Every day we make decisions that influencewhat seeds will — and will not — be sown by

future generations. Heirloom varieties areours to select, save, share and improve, sea-son after season. Each seed has the poten-tial to change the world — and so do you.

Petra Page-Mann improves the heirlooms ofyesterday and cultivates the heirlooms oftomorrow every day at Fruition Seeds, cus-tomizing organic seed to thrive in theNortheast. She can be reached atpetra@fruitionseeds.com or 585-300-0699.She’d love to hear about your seed savingand breeding projects and help in any wayshe can!

The heirloom “Amish Butter” Popcornhas been greatly improved after a decadeof vigilant selection.

Photo by Matthew Goldfarb

Cultivating from page 2

SMALL FARM QUARTERLYGood Farming and Good Living —

Connecting People, Land, and CommunitiesSmall Farm Quarterly is for farmers and farm families — including spouses andchildren - 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 fourtimes a year as a special section of Country Folks. Volume 12 publication dates:January 13th, April 7th, July 7th and October 6th, 2014.

EDITORIAL TEAM:• Violet Stone, Cornell Small Farms Program Managing Editor 607-255-9227• Anu Rangarajan, Cornell Small Farms Program Editor in Chief 607-255-1780• Abigail Woughter, Cornell Small Farms Program Student Intern 607-255-9227• Laura Biasillo, Broome County CCE New Farmers 607-584-5007• Rachel Carter, VT Farm to Plate New England Correspondent 802-318-5527• Sam Anderson Livestock 978-654-6745• Stephanie Fisher Dairy 845-249-8837• John Thurgood, USDA-Natural Resources

Conservation Service-Vermont Stewardship and Nature 802-865-7895• Nancy Glazier, Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock

and Field Crops Team Grazing 315-536-5123• Petra Mann-Page Seed Stories 585-300-0699• Jason Foscolo, Esq. Policy Corner 631-903-5055 • Melody Reynolds Local Foods & Marketing 401-749-9520• Ulf Kintzel Farmer Correspondent 585-554-3313• Edward DuQuette Farming and Technology 801-473-9615

FOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION CONTACTTracy Crouse, Lee Publications, Inc., PO Box 121, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428

888-596-5329, ext. 146 • subscriptions@leepub.com

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION CONTACT:Richard Barrett, Lee Publications, Inc., 518-673-0118 or 800-218-5586, ext. 118

or rbarrett@leepub.com

SEND YOUR LETTERS AND STORIES TO:Cornell Small Farms Program

15A Plant Science Building, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, 14853607-255-9227 • vws7@cornell.edu

Small Farm Quarterly is compiled by the Cornell Small Farms Program, based at CornellUniversity in Ithaca, NY. The Cornell Small Farms Program fosters the sustainability of

diverse, thriving small farms that contribute to food security, healthy rural communities, andthe environment. We do this by encouraging small farms-focused research and extension

programs.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

Page 4 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014Page 4 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY 7, 2014

SMALL FARM PROGRAM UPDATE

Cornell Small Farms Program Update .......................................................Page 3

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

ManageYour Risk with Crop Insurance, by Elizabeth Burrichter................Page 7

Switch the Boots, Wash the Hands, and Keep Farm Records,by Rachel Carter.....................................................................................Page 18

ENERGY ON THE FARM

Anaerobic Digesters: Up and Coming Energy Technology for Small Farms,

by Abigail Woughter.................................................................................Page 8

FARM TECH

Fishing for a New Way to Farm, by Edward DuQuette................................Page 6

GRAZING

Ovines in the Vines?, by Nancy Glazier......................................................Page 20

LIVESTOCK & POULTRYColostrum, by Ulf Kintzel..............................................................................Page 15

Profitable Broiler Enterprises in New England, by Sam Anderson..........Page 19

LOCAL FOODS & MARKETINGSmall Livestock Farm Reaches Big Markets, by Rachel Whiteheart..........Page 9

A Spirited Discussion with Hudson Valley Distillers, by Stephen E.Hadcock........Page 10

First Food Justice Certified Farm and Food Stores in New York,by Elizabeth Henderson..........................................................................Page 14

NEW AND BEGINNING FARMERSGreasing the Farm Wheels: Tips From a Former First-Year Farmer,

by Alicia Anderson....................................................................................Page 5

NORTHEAST SARE SPOTLIGHTInvestigating the Profitability of the Paper Pot Transplanter on a Small

Vegetable Farm, by Liz Martin...............................................................Page 12

SEED STORIESCultivating the Heirlooms of Tomorrow, by Petra Page-Mann....................Page 2

SMALL FARM SPOTLIGHTBarn Foundation Problems?, by Dave Aman.............................................Page 17

STEWARDSHIP AND NATUREKeeping Farming Practices in Sync with Natural Systems Will Always Keep

You in the Green, by Kimberly Hagen...................................................Page 16ABOUT 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.

To find out how your business or organization can advertise in Small Farm Quarterly, contact:Richard Barrett, Lee Publications, 518-673-0118 or 800-218-5586, ext. 118, rbarrett@leepub.com

SMALL FARM QUARTERLY - SUMMER 2014TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fundhttp://www.vsjf.org/

802-318-5527

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

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:

www.nrcs.usda.gov802-865-7895

by Alicia Anderson

To me, farming is about leaving the securityof the 9-5 structure, the comfort of special-ized tasks, completed over and over again,to push limits, to put to use all informationever learned in order to try and understandthe best way to work with the land. Newchallenges arise daily, presenting opportu-nities to craftily figure out a way to over-come, a renewal of the life of ancestorswhere work and gratification went hand-in-hand.

I didn’t grow up on a farm. I grew up in an oldGeneral Motors manufacturing city inMichigan. I was the kid who changed whatthey wanted to be every other week, whichwas consistent through grad school comple-

tion. An internship in NortheasternPennsylvania drastically altered my world-view and kept me at that same farm foranother season, then, running my own oper-ation through a land-lease in the same coun-ty this past year.

It was incredible; the freedom that it present-ed for expression through work while learn-ing from many fields of thought, whichenabled a deeper relationship with the landand people. It was a moment-to-momentjourney requiring self-application, pullingfrom where I’d been in order to move for-ward. The result: beautiful vegetables toshare with new and old friends and a wheel-barrow full of lessons to help guide in thefuture.

My business background prior to farmingkept me open minded to comparing the suit-and-heel structures with the overalls-and-barefoot ones. This brought to mind the sim-ilarity of a corporation’s needs with those ofa small farm, with corporate back-of-the-house operations placing emphasis on hav-ing the right thing, at the right time, and atthe right place. This mantra, along with con-tinual improvement and flexibility leads theway to ensuring supply meets demand. Theprocesses in their operations can beapplied and put to good use on a smallscale, where seeds, soil, and labor all needto connect.

A procedure that I uphold highly is that ofregular review. It ensures that self-reflectionoccurs on a regular basis. Keeping up withthe fast pace of nature in the spring andsummer months can set-in place a forwardthinking mindset where the time isn’t takento truly learn from past decisions. Havingscheduled review, at least once a year, cankeep a truthful and holistic understanding ofthe operation’s current state. An exercise tohelp includes writing out on paper where youare, including the strengths and weaknessesof the different functions of your operation.This can lead into where you want toimprove, broken down in different areas, andsimple improvement steps that can be takeneach day.

Farm life is laced with fast decision-making:whether to plant before the rain since it’sforecasted to continue for the next week, totransplant a week later or to follow the biody-namic calendar, or even how you will startyour seedlings. All of these questions needto be answered by you, working in an over-arching direction towards your goal. It helpsto have what you’re working towards view-able every day. Fortune 500 companies dothis by displaying their mission statementand objectives. There is power in beingreminded every day the reasons behindwhat you are doing. That top of mind aware-ness can ease the stress of quick adjust-ments in routines, staying firm in the roots ofthe farm.

Then there’s the matter of balance. Longnights and early mornings in the late springand summer, plus a continually refreshinglist of to-do’s that, even if you never took abreak to sleep, would still multiply, create acombination of juggling and tight rope walk-ing that would make even a senior acrobatdo a double-take. This challenge, recog-nized by a wise woman who was raised inthe lifestyle, advised me, “break or be bro-ken”. It’s so important to take care of yourbody, to do what you can and then stepaway, and to ask for help when needed.Yourbody is your tool, the best one that can beapplied to the fields, which requires physi-cal, mental, and emotional health. Workingthe land offers renewal of all three of thesestates in return.

After the season and some cold winternights to review, I’ve picked out some adviceI’d like to offer for those just getting involved,a few tools to ease stress plus general tips.

Some Toolbox EssentialsThe Wave accounting app is great. Theirbasic free service makes it easy to track themoney coming in and leaving your opera-tion.You can create invoices from a standardtemplate and send professional lookingreceipts through email.

Johnny’s seed starting date calendar, avail-able on their website in the Interactive Toolssection, gives you a customizable spread-sheet.You can put your last frost date in andit automatically calculates when you shouldstart different seedlings.

Dr. Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing tech-nique, it’s a way, through deep breathing, tocalm your nervous system. Say it’s pouringand you didn’t get the carrots directed seed-ed, 4-7-8, you’ll figure out a way to make itwork.

Some Farming Tips….It really helps if you make it as easy as pos-sible to stay organized.This might mean cre-ating a system to separate papers as youpile them up in the “to-be-dealt-with-later”section.

Energy output is also required for hiringhelp. It’s one of the hats to be worn thatneeds your attention.

Slow growth. Slow growth. Slow growth. I’veheard this from so many farmers and onlynow am starting to get it. You’re workingtowards your goals a little bit everyday.

Through reading this, I hope you were ableto grab some information that will helpspring your operation forward. This seasonI’m actually taking a step back. I realizedthat the farmers that I look up to, the JerryBrunetti’s and the Arden Anderson’s, havesteadily learned and grown over time. Thatslow continuous growth presents a pacethat is sustainable to achieve life goals, itdoesn’t all have to happen over night. I’mtaking what I learned and applying it on asmaller scale to connect with the soil, theplants, and the people in my community.

Alicia Anderson has an M.B.A. from EasternMichigan University and ran a 25-personCSA at Journey’s End Farm in Sterling, PA.She is now working on community garden-ing initiatives. Alicia can be contacted atAander49@gmail.com

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 5NEW AND BEGINNING FARMERSGreasing the Farm Wheels: Tips From a Former First-Year FarmerThe day-to-days of farm life are decorated with strings of lessons, just waiting to be pulled to see the mystery thatlies on the other end.

Getting ready for the season with indoorwork

The beginning of the seed startingoperation

Appreciating the growth togetherPhotos by Alicia Anderson

by Edward DuQuette

About 8 years ago, my wife, daughter and Imade the 2500 mile trek across the UnitedStates from our East coast home that’s beenin our family for almost 100 years, to thegreat State of Utah. Our new home waslocated in a rapidly growing communitycalled Eagle Mountain. Growing up inConnecticut, we always had a family garden,green grass, fruit trees, flowers and plenty ofwater and birds. Our new home was in starkcontrast to New England living. We now livedat over 5000 feet above sea level. Greengrass was replaced with brown clay - nospontaneously growing trees, flowers, or softgrass, and very few songbirds. The annualrainfall in Utah is 8” per year as compared toConnecticut’s 50” per year and we havewater shares here. We actually arrived inUtah just as a 5 year drought ended.

It took us several years of relearning how togrow everything utilizing hard water and deal-ing with 100+ degree summers coupled withvery low humidity and high altitude. Now thebig killer of this garden party here is the soil.When people living in Eagle Mountain talkabout the soil we have to smile because it’smostly clay with a high mineral content. Doyou know what happens when water hitsclay? Well, it turns to glue. The kind of gluethat pulls your shoe off when you step in it.And it doesn’t smell like dirt. Due to the highmineral content it has a unique smell. I neverthought I would actually miss the smell of dirt.

The Stage is SetI first learned about aquaculture and hydro-ponics over 20-years ago. I dabbled with itfrom time to time, but with no serious inter-est. In Connecticut, growing was not anissue, and 20-years ago, modern aquacul-ture and hydroponics were still in their infan-cy and would have been merely a hobby formost people there. When we relocated toour new home in the Rockies, we began toexamine alternative growing methods. Wewanted to grow vegetables, fruit trees, andflowers. We looked at hydroponics and thepossibility of greenhouse growing.Hydroponics would overcome the issue ofhaving poor soil and we could start plantingearlier to help with our shorter growing sea-son. Also we have temperature drops of 10-30 degrees at night so a greenhouse couldstabilize the temperature of our growing

environment nicely. When looking into aqua-culture and hydroponics after all theseyears, I was impressed with the rate of sym-biotic development in the field and the extentof its evolution. These two proven scienceshave been transformed into a technologycurrently known as Aquaponics. Today, thisnew soil-less, urban garden growing hobbyis now one of the most discussed andsought after subjects. It is in the news every-where, in magazines, local newspapers, andacross the internet. There are new businessmodels, products, and techniques beingdeveloped weekly. Its growth is exponentialWORLDWIDE.

Looking DeeperAquaculture is the science of growing fish ina controlled environment; this controlledenvironment becomes growing tanks, nettedponds or lakes and even the ocean. Theproblem that arises in commercial produc-tion is that heavily controlled stocking densi-ties are the norm, and so the problems ofdiseases and the use of strong antibioticsand poor filtered water systems help createless than acceptable quality fish as a foodsource.

Hydroponics is the science of growing veg-etables in a soilless medium and using syn-thetic chemical nutrients to feed the plants.Hydroponics is far from being “organic”. Sothe birth of Aquaponics was quickly herald-ed as our new super hero. By definitionaquaponics is a combination of hydroponics

and aquaculture, utilizingthe very best of bothtechnologies.

Fish are grown in a con-trolled healthy environ-ment. Their waste wateris processed throughvegetable produce beds.The produce is not grownin dirt but in a medium ofexpanded clay pellets orsome other inert materi-al. No pesticides or syn-thetic chemicals areused. This method givesus the ability to growmuch more organicallywhere organic soils ororganic farming are notavailable. The vegetablesassimilate the nutrientsand filter the waste. Thewater returns, cleaned

and filtered, back to the fish tank for the fishto thrive. The process uses aerobic andnitrosomonas/ sp and nitrobacter/ sp(autotrophic) bacteria found in the wastewater to achieve this effect. This processcreates a kind of an organic waste treatmentplant, mimicking nature. Aquaponicallygrown vegetables and fish typically carry a100% organic classification.

Sweeping the WorldWhy aren’t we using aquaponics as a grow-ing system more you might ask? Well, youwould be surprised to find out that we are.Aquaponics is truly sweeping the world rightnow. There are thousands of aquaponic gar-den systems in operation, from apartmentroof tops in New York City, to large commer-cial greenhouse systems in Florida. Thereare large Airports around the world, in

places like the US, China, Japan, andEngland that are piloting aquaponic gardenswithin their buildings for travelers to see andenjoy. The food is grown and harvested foruse in the restaurants located on the prem-ises.This worldwide growing phenomenon isfeeding thousands and may one day help tofeed millions of people.

Several years ago, I started buying booksand reading everything I could on aquapon-ics. I fervently watched videos, paid attentionto YouTube aquaponic “guru’s”, and studiedinternet online courses. A large portion ofthe information out there is marketing hype,written by people that are trying to takeadvantage of this current frenzy. Once I real-ized this, I decided to offer the communitywhat I had learned from reliable readingsources and from my combined experiencesin this field.

I began teaching an Aquaponic class at sev-eral colleges here in Utah through theirextension programs.The response has beentremendous, my classes being filled a monthbefore their start dates. I’m receiving emailsfrom people throughout Utah with DIY sys-tems growing both fish and vegetables fortheir families.There are even some commer-cial growers with large greenhouses that arelooking to convert over to an aquaponicssystem. There is some interest from greenhome builders to add greenhouses withaquaponics systems as part of a new homefeature. I’m also working with several soft-ware engineer friends to develop smartphone applications so an aquaponics sys-tem can be controlled from anywhere.

Moving ForwardAquaponics can be a very profitable meansto a sustainable agricultural business model.Where is aquaponics heading? It’s thefuture! We’re seeing the increase in organicsproducts purchased by consumers not justhere in the US but worldwide. People under-stand the relationship between organic foodand good health. Aquaponics is one way tosupply this need to consumers, and it canquickly become a profitable commercialfarm endeavor.

Aquaponics conserves natural resources;we use 70% less water with aquaponicsthan soil-based systems.

The water in the system is re-circulated; aplant’s take-up and evaporation are the onlyuse of the water. Vegetable production isconservable 4-6 times more productive thensoil based systems and grows between 2-3times faster. No more weeds, composting,fertilizing, and watering. The systems can beas small or as large as needed. That’s thenice thing about aquaponics; it’s easily scal-able.

There are many articles, books, videos, andchat groups on the subject of Aquaponics.Get your feet wet by starting with a smallsystem, something easily manageable. Lookfor my next article in Small Farm QuarterlyFall, 2014 for a detailed overview of how toget started and suggested best practices.

Edward DuQuette has an engineering back-ground and is currently teaching at severalcolleges offering aquaponics classes in theirextension programs. He also offers consult-ing services for the aquaponic systemsenthusiast and can be contacted by e-mailat eduquetteut@gmail.com.

Page 6 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

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FARM TECHFishing for a New Way to FarmAquaponics — a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture — is becoming a world-wide phenomenon.

Additional sources ofinformation on aquaponics:• aquaponicsusa.com• backyardaquaponics.com• futurefoodfarms.com• channel.nationalgeograph-ic.com/ endless food• aquaponicworld.com

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800-705-6455

by Elizabeth Burrichter

One young farmer who has benefited from crop insurance isChris Simons in Oneida County, New York. He began farm-ing on his family’s dairy growing up, and has since begun hisown grain enterprise. When the dairy transitioned to organ-ic, the Simons decided to begin growing their own grainsinstead of purchasing organic corn from off the farm. Chrisshowed an interest in growing field crops, and applied for afirst time farmer loan from FSA to get started on his own. Hisbanker recommended crop insurance, so he contacted hislocal agent to begin the process.

Chris said, “My area in Remsen, NY was devastated lastyear. From May until mid-June we got 40 inches of rain, andI planted one field three times before it got establishedbecause of the rain. If it wasn’t for the crop insurance, Iwould have had to just cut my losses and give up. When allwas said and done, it was probably the best investment I’vemade.”

All farms take on the risk of failure due to unexpected weath-er events and natural disasters, and farmers have an inter-est in managing their risk in any way possible. They candiversify their farm enterprises or modes of income, andplan for the most resilient cropping systems, but crop insur-ance is another available layer of protection. Farms canincrease their resilience with crop insurance not only in therare disaster year when there is total yield loss, but also onsmall losses that occur more frequently.

Crop insurance policies are risk management tools thatmany agricultural producers can purchase from privateinsurance companies. The Risk Management Agency(RMA), part of the USDA, works with these private insur-ance agencies to create and subsidize the programs forAmerican farmers. They offer several different types of poli-cies for over 100 crops, including different types of insurancecoverage for specific commodities, as well as increasedoptions for organic and transitional acreage.

Producers can be protected from yield loss due to naturalcauses such as drought, excessive moisture, hail, wind,frost, insects, and disease under most policies. The produc-er selects a percent of a predicted price/yield to insure (50-85%), and if the return on the harvested crop is less thanwhat was insured, then the producer will receive an indem-nity payment based on the difference. Other plans insurehistorical revenues instead of yields, or revenues of thewhole farm instead of an individual crop.The producer workswith an agent from a private insurance company to decidewhat policy will work best for their farm. The key to positiveoutcomes from your insurance is good communication withyour agent.

Help for New and Beginning FarmersThe 2014 farm bill has provisions that will help new and

beginning farmers purchase crop insurance and enhance thecrop insurance that beginning farmers already have. A begin-ning farmer will be exempt from paying the $300 administra-tive fee for catastrophic coverage policies, and receive premi-um subsidy assistance for certain coverage policies. Whenestablishing the Actual Production History (APH), beginningfarmers can use the county base yields at higher rates thanother farmers. Additionally, in certain instances, a beginningfarmer may use the production history of another farm oper-ation they were previously involved with for his/her own poli-cy, if their involvement was substantial.

Chris Simons had the advantage of being able to base hispolicy on the county yield average for organic soybeans,which was 40 bushels/acre. Organic farmers often experi-ence lower yields when they first transition from convention-al forms of weed control and fertilization. The opportunity touse conventional yields to create his Actual ProductionHistory (APH) increased Simon’s chance for indemnity pay-ments. This is likely to change, as there will likely be sepa-rate T-yields (transition yields) for organic crops starting in2015. Organic corn, soy, wheat, and some other vegetablescan now be insured at actual organic pricing.

Although there is a lot of paper work, Chris worked with hisagent and found the process easier than he expected. Forestablished grain farmers that have track records from pastseasons, RMA will take your yield record average from thepast three seasons as your APH. From there, you can buycoverage for whatever percentage you and your agent figurewill be appropriate for your farm. Chris has more fallow landhe plans on cropping and insuring, and his APH will now bebased on not only county averages but also his own produc-tion history. “As I plan for the future, I will definitely cover myyields with crop insurance.”

Elizabeth Burrichter works for Cornell CooperativeExtension of Cortland County as the Program Assistant forthe Organic Dairy Initiative. She can be reached by email ateab239@cornell.edu.

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 7

The Agri-Mark dairy cooperative works

year-round for higher farm milk prices,

better markets and effective dairy

legislation on behalf of our Northeast

dairy farm families. For more information

on working with other farm families for

higher on-farm milk

prices, contact our

Membership

Department toll-free at

11-800-225-0532.

Manage Your Risk with Crop InsuranceA visit with Chris Simons reveals how crop insurance can protect your farm not only from big disasters, but alsofrom small losses over time

So what is involved for the producer?

• Report on your acreage• Meet policy deadlines and pay premiums• Report losses right away• Know the sign up dates for your policy and plantingdeadlines. These can be found at www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/cropins/ImportantDates.pdf.• For more information about crop insurance in general,visit www.agriculture.ny.gov/Ap/CropInsuranceBasics.html

The 2014 farm bill has provisions that will help new andbeginning farmers purchase crop insurance.

Crop insurance has helped Chris Simon mitigate risksof production loss on his family’s organic grain anddairy farm.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Page 8 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

by Abigail Woughter

Making energy from food waste and reduc-ing the odor of manure with one devicemight sound like science fiction, butresearch in engineering technology is mak-ing it a possibility with a structure called ananaerobic digester. An anaerobic digester isa gas-tight vessel inside which microbesconvert organic matter – manure and foodwaste, for example – into biogas that can beturned into electrical energy. For small dairyfarmers, anaerobic digesters could be thesustainable energy technology to revolution-ize manure management while cutting downfarm energy expenditures.

What is Anaerobic Digestion?Anaerobic digestion is a controlled processthat takes place in an oxygen-free environ-ment, where microbe species decomposethe organic matter in manure, food waste, orplant matter into a nutrient-rich liquid (whichis called effluent) and a mix of gases calledbiogas. The resulting liquid effluent can beused as a less odorous soil amendmentthan manure, while still providing the samenutrients as manure to the soil; the resultingbiogas is a mixture of carbon dioxide,methane, and trace gases. The compositionof the biogas differs based on the particularmicrobial species used in the digester, aswell as the substrate the microbes are feed-ing on. Different levels of different gasseswould be produced by a dairy farm’s anaer-obic digester inputting mostly manure than acomposting facility’s anaerobic digesterinputting mostly food waste. The digester,the air-tight vessel that contains the anaero-bic digestion process, can be thought of likea concrete rumen that ferments and ‘digests’organic matter into a more useful form.

Anaerobic Digestion in New York StateThere are two types of anaerobic digesterswell-suited for small farmers in New York andthe Northeast. The first is called a plug-flowsystem, which is the simpler of the two, andthe other is a mixed system. In a plug-flowset-up, there are no moving parts. Thedigester tank is divided into sections that getfilled with manure, always added from thesame end. Each addition pushes materialthrough the system, where it eventuallycomes out on the opposite side as effluent.The plug flow system is relatively inexpen-sive in terms of equipment, maintenance,and operation, but it is well suited for rawmanure only. A mixed system, on the otherhand, has moving parts for stirring and mix-ing influent as it is digested and can processa wider variety of substrates, even plantmaterial, into biogas for electrical energy. Afarmer could feed a mixed system with post-harvest plant material or leftover compost,as well as manure and food waste.

The target temperature for anaerobic diges-tion for most New York State facilities is 100degrees Fahrenheit, and there are a fewways to achieve this heating. One way is todesign the digester tank with a series ofstainless steel vessels throughout. Warmwater is pumped through the vessels to heatthe material in the digester and facilitate thework of the microbes. Other common heat-ing mechanisms include exterior heatexchangers and hot water boilers that heatthe material before it enters the mixing com-partment of the digester. How efficient adigester is at producing biogas is dependenton the ability of the system to maintain aconsistent temperature. In New York, thisposes the issue of heating costs in the win-ter and ventilation costs in the summer.

How long does biogas production take? Theanaerobic digester Hydraulic Retention

Time, or HRT, refers to how long the diges-tate material remains in the vessel. For aplug flow system operating at 100 degreesFahrenheit, the HRT is 21 days. The HRTtends to be lower for mixed systems.

Vernon Hoover, an electrical engineer nearPenn Yan, New York, partnered with his neigh-bor, a dairy farmer with a 60-head herd, to cre-ate a unique small-scale anaerobic digester100% manure-fed. The plug-flow digester isheated by tubing in the floor, or bottom, of thetub-shaped vessel, instead of the walls, and isinsulated with Styrofoam-like material. Afterexperiencing some issues with pipes freezingin the winter, Hoover now submerges somepipes in 5-gallon buckets of warm water toprevent such freezing. Insulated water pipesrun throughout the inside of the digester toheat the material. The conversion to electricalenergy takes place through a modifiedpropane carburetor engine.

It takes 3-4 weeks to fill the digester, then ithas a subsequent 23-25 day HRT. Threemechanical agitators in the digester’s bellykeep the solids from collecting. At the sys-tem’s peak run-time in 2013, Hoover wasable to use the digester to generate 58% ofhis home’s energy usage at 74% run-time ofthe digester, the anaerobic digester-pow-ered engine averaging production of about6kW per hour.

The Future of Anaerobic Digesters:Increasing Efficiency and CooperativeEffortsAdding food waste to raw manure increasesthe biogas production of an anaerobicdigester, as does adding plant matter. Youget 8 times more biogas from a systemdigesting silage than manure becausemanure has been stripped of some of itsorganic matter energy potential by the cowthat produced it. Baking wastes, wastegrease, food waste, and brewer’s grainsilage are among the substances whoseprocessing yields some of the highestpotential biogas yields. While on-farm co-digestion of manure and food waste togeth-er is currently allowed with the proper per-mits in New York State, human waste pro-cessing is not.

How much electrical energy a digester sys-tem produces is highly dependent on theefficiency of the system’s engine. An electri-cal generator is the final piece of the anaer-obic digester system puzzle, and representsthe biggest challenge for small farmersbecause big generators are more efficientthan small ones. Managing the conversion ofbiogas to electrical energy efficiently onsmall farms is currently a topic of research atCornell University’s Dairy EnvironmentalManagement Program.

Since anaerobic digesters work best on alarge scale, one creative solution to thischallenge for small farms is an integrated,cooperative model in which one or a fewanaerobic digesters could be utilized by agroup of small farmers, thus allowing thefarmers to pool their capital resources tobuild a large enough digester that enginegenerator efficiency would not be an issue.The community energy model has been suc-cessfully implemented in parts of Europe,reducing the amount of time it takes to fill thedigester and eliminating the need for asmall, custom-made electrical generator.

Norman Scott, a Professor Emeritus atCornell University who has been involved inbioengineering research for several years,has seen the equipment for anaerobicdigestion take many forms. In Brazil, farmersconstructed a swimming pool-like structureout of slate stone as the digestion vessel.The University of Minnesota bioengineerscreated digester tubing that contains themicrobes and digestate.

Scott is of the mind that creativity is the keyto the success of small-scale anaerobicdigesters: “One of the things I keep thinkingabout for small farms is taking something offthe shelf, modifying it, and using it: septictanks, grain bins. Maybe you can even con-vert an existing silo into a digester!”

There is also a need to draw more publicattention to the benefits of anaerobicdigesters, particularly for dairy farmers, whocould enjoy less odorous manure amend-ments, decreased energy and beddingcosts, all while reducing greenhousegasses.

“Anaerobic digestion is a scalable technolo-gy,” Scott assured. “Future opportunities arein the incorporation into integrated energysystems, both small and large.”

Abigail Woughter served as Cornell SmallFarms Program summer intern in 2013. Sheis an undergraduate student studying agri-cultural sciences.

ENERGY ON THE FARMAnaerobic Digesters: Up and Coming for Small Farms?

Anaerobic Digesters Resources:• Cornell Manure Management:www.manuremanagement.cornell.edu/• USDA Small Farm Anaerobic DigestionWhite Paper: www.manuremanagement.cornell.edu/Pages/General_Docs/Reports/Small_Farm_AD_report_final_12_11_12.pdf• Anaerobic Digester WorkforceDevelopment Program: www.manurem-anagement.cornell.edu/Pages/Funded_Projects/AD_Workforce_Development_Project.html• Small Business Finance Tools forAnaerobic Digesters: http://agfinance.dyson.cornell.edu/ad-systems.html

Organic matter in manure can be ‘digest-ed’ by microbes and converted intobiogas. Photo by William Cain

Construction of a dairy farm’s anaerobicdigester. Photo by Cornell PRO-DAIRY

The simplified anaerobic digestionprocess Photo by Elizabeth Newbold

Digested liquid fraction for land applica-tion. Photo by Cornell PRO-DAIRY

by Rachel Whiteheart

With its rich loamy soil, plentiful water, andflat basin land, it’s unsurprising that StephenWinkler and his family settled down inJefferson County, New York. The Winklerspurchased the original 100 acres, house,and barn of what would soon become Lucki7 Farms in 1997, becoming the third familyto farm the land. Their primary predecessor,the Gates family, was well known for theirgenerosity with land and resources and theirdedication to employing local farmers. Each

Gates property had beautiful rustic farm-houses, several of which the Winklers haverefurbished since purchasing the land.

The Winkler family started off from muchhumbler beginnings than their forebearers.The Winklers began with a single flock oflaying hens to sustain the homestead, but inthe years to come they would build the foun-dation for a multi-species livestock farm,adding pigs, chickens, turkeys, and beefcows.

In 2000, Lucki 7 Farms began selling toneighbors and through local farmers mar-kets, grossing a little over $20,000 annually.The Winkler family purchased another farmthe same year, adding 220 acres to theirproperty and enabling them to keep up withthe heightened demand for their products.

Then, in the mid-2000s, Stephen Winklersays consumers began to desire “farm prod-ucts with a story and closer to their home.”The rising demand for locally produced food

enabled Lucki 7 Farms to start selling towhite tablecloth distributors in 2007. Soonafter, they expanded their market channelsto include direct marketing to retailers. Theysold their first livestock to Whole Foods in2008 and began selling to Wegmans justtwo years later.

Today Lucki 7 Farms is a full-time enterprisethat grosses over $1.5 million. The Winklerfamily currently owns 320 acres and hopesto purchase another 280 acres, effectivelydoubling the size of their farm. Annually, thefarm now sells 800-1000 hogs, 35 head ofbeef, 700 meat chickens, and 7000 dozeneggs a year and Stephen now has plans toexpand into high tunnels for vegetable pro-duction. To accommodate these livestockadditions, the Winklers have built 2 sustain-able hog farms and a laying farm for hens.The family aims to build their own beef facil-ity in the near future. Although the Winklerfamily has shifted from using local chopshops to USDA processors for the majorityof their meat cutting needs, they still uselocal feed dealers, local equipment dealers,and even a local trucking service based outof Ithaca, NY called Regional Access. Seethe sidebar for a full list of Stephen’s localexpenditures.

Stephen Winkler would still consider Lucki 7Farms a small livestock farm because, in hiswords, “if we use only dollar amounts todefine the size of farms it is misleading.”Lucki 7 Farms, despite the huge successthat it has seen, is still owned and primarilyoperated by Stephen, his wife Lisa, and theirfive children. Lucki 7 Farms is a family farmthat uses local inputs to feed a regional com-munity which, to Stephen, is what reallydefines a small farm.

For information on Lucki 7 Farms, visit theirwebsite: www.lucki7livestock.com/

Rachel Whiteheart was a student intern withthe Cornell Small Farms Program from 2012- 2014. She recently graduated with an envi-ronmental engineering degree.

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 9LOCAL FOODS AND MARKETINGSmall Livestock Farm Reaches Big MarketsLucki 7 Farms in Rodman, NY

Breakdown of the Winkler’s Expenditures • Feed purchases - $85,000• Seed/Fert - $55,000• Machinery upgrades - $36,000• Building Supplies (new barn) -$120,000• Livestock purchases (cows, sows, feed-er pigs) - $210,000• Hired labor - $285,000• Processing - $73,000• Trucking - $54,000

Graph reflects current marketing channelmix

This timeline shows that transitioning towholesale markets has enabled theWinklers to expand production andincrease revenue.

The farm now sells 800-1000 hogs/year

Dinner time for chickens

One of the refurbished Gates familybarns

The Winklers sell 35 head of beef peryear

Page 10 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

GROWERGROWERWine& Grape

Your connection to the wine and grape industryApril 2014 www.wineandgrapegrower.com Volume 3 Number 3

In this issue

Apple wines fromWisconsin

Oliver Winery:A midwest

success foundedon customer

focus

Craft Brewers • Distillers • Cider & Other Beverage MakersApril 2014 www craftbeveragenews.com Volume 1 Number 2

Nelson’s Green Brier Distilleryreadies to re-open

Craft Beverage News

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marketing opportunities to this important segment of the beverageindustry. You can reach us at P.O. Box 121, Palatine Bridge, NY 13428or call 800-218-5586 • Fax 518-673-2381 • Email: dwren@leepub.com

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Wineriess •• CideriessCraftt Brewingg •• Craftt Distilling

by Stephen E. Hadcock

This Spring, I visited with Tom and Jen Yozzoand Chris Moyer of Hudson Valley Distillers— the newest distillery to open in the HudsonValley region of New York State. The tastingroom doors of Hudson Valley Distillersopened for business in March, 2014, butmuch work had taken place prior to the suc-cessful public launch of the company.

From Dreams to Brick and MortarThe process to start the distillery was a longone. Tom and Chris had talked about part-nering on various business ventures formany years. Once they agreed to pursue theidea of starting a distillery, they began theresearch to learn what is entailed to operatea farm distillery. The two families searched afairly large geographic area looking for agood place to start the business. TheHudson Valley ranked near the top becauseof all the states and locations they wereinterested in, they felt there was “room togrow” in New York State. In their estimation,competition is higher in some other states,since those states have a more developedlocally produced spirits and alcohol busi-ness.

The two families settled upon purchasing afarm consisting of almost 12 acres inClermont, NY. They already had in mind themix of spirits they would like to produce andsell, and this property met their needs. Oneof the products they intended to produce

(and have started selling) is vodka madefrom apples. One of the appealing featuresof the property they purchased was thatthere was already an established orchard ofapproximately 4 1/2 acres there. Theorchard had been let go, but Tom and Chrishave been working slowly to do what isneeded to bring the orchard back.

Although not subscribing completely to theconcept of terroir, the parties involved dotake very seriously either growing as muchof the raw ingredients to make spirits them-selves or purchasing them from localsources. Tom used the term “dirt to glass” asthe philosophy he has in producing the spir-its the distillery makes and sells. The appleorchard is one example of this, but Tom stat-ed that this summer they are going to begrowing heritage corn in another section ofthe property to use in making whiskey. Theyare planning to use the greenhousesalready located on the property to growsugar cane in order to make rum.The green-houses will also be used to grow botanicals

needed for producing gin and other spirits.The partners even want to obtain barrelsmade from New York white oak. It is current-ly difficult to source barrels crafted in NewYork, so right now, they are sourcing barrelsfrom the Midwest.

One of the limiting ingredients for them isbarley. Right now, malting barley is in shortsupply in the Hudson Valley. However, thepotential to produce the right type of barleyhere is promising. Cornell CooperativeExtension and other organizations areexploring how to successfully grow maltingbarley once again in New York State. Theother constraint is a facility to malt barleyand other grains. These facilities are called“malting houses” and are rare in New YorkState. However, other entrepreneurs areinterested in investing and starting maltinghouses. Therefore, it is hoped in the next fewyears more malting grains will be availableas an ingredient for beer and spirits.

Chris and Tom mentioned it is not easy tostart a distillery in New York State. A farm dis-tillery is a capital intensive business. Not onlydo you need land and buildings for a farm,but also need all of the capital items (still,wooden barrels, fermenting tanks, supplies,etc.) for making the spirits. All of thisequipemnt needs to be in place prior toapplying for the necessary permits andlicenses from New York State and the feder-al government. Significant investments havebeen made to develop the business over 1

1/2 years without any income. They havedeveloped a plan to start and grow the busi-ness. To start with, their distillery is smallerthan some others.They sized the business towhat they felt they could successfully investin and not become too heavily leveraged.

One word of advice that the partners have

A Spirited Discussion with Hudson Valley DistillersLongtime friends Chris Moyer and Tom Yozzo open Hudson Valley distillery featuring spirits made with localingredients.

LOCAL FOODS AND MARKETING

Thomas Yozzo and Chris Moyer met in1990 as fraternity brothers atBloomsburg University

Photo by Dave Ashby

Eleven acre farm in Clermont, NY

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 11for those who are considering starting a dis-tillery is that unexpected issues will arise. Aswith many value added agricultural busi-nesses, there is a variety of machinery thatis needed to process spirits. The mostimportant piece of machinery is the still.Once installed, there have been “glitches” inproper operation of the still and othermachinery. The glitches have been mostlyresolved but Chris and Tom continue to pro-ceed with production.

To better appreciate what is entailed in pro-ducing a spirit, here is a brief overview of theprocess. One key component of making spir-its or any other alcoholic product is yeast. Acritical nutrient that yeast need to grow issugar or starch. A wide variety of differentagricultural products can be used to providestarch and sugar for the yeast. If grains areused, some types of grain are allowed tosprout and then dried. This is the maltingprocess. Whole malted grains, or other foodproducts for the yeast, are added to a tubalong with water. The mixture is heated torelease the sugars and starches and thegrains are removed. Yeast is added to themixture and the magic begins. Two byprod-ucts produced from the yeast eating andgrowing in this liquid are carbon dioxide andalcohol. Once the process is completed, thefermented liquid is transferred to a kettle andis heated. Since the boiling point of alcohol isdifferent than water, a distillation process(still) is used to capture the alcohol.Depending on what spirit is made, it may bedistilled actually several times to obtain thedesired qualities. Tom mentions that this iswhere the art of making a spirit comes in. It isknowing when the good part of the distillationprocess starts and how much of it to capture.Aged spirits are then placed in oak barrelsand aged until ready for sale. Tom empha-sizes it takes a trained pallet to recognizewhen a spirit is ready and can be bottled.

All involved in the distillery have giventhought to their marketing plan. The part-ners are relying on social and print media tolet consumers know about the business.Chris and Tom have joined the HudsonBerkshire Beverage Trail and are also pro-

moting the business by participating in festi-vals. The partners continue to look for newmarketing opportunities. Tom and Chrisacknowledge that they and their wives bringa variety of skill sets that will help the busi-ness be successful. Tom has produced hisown wine and beer and is focusing on theproduction of the spirit. Chris has talent andexperience in financial and business man-agement. They are not only focused onestablishing the business but are also think-ing strategically on how to grow the busi-ness. Plans are already in place to use larg-er barrels for aging and possibly upgradingthe still.

With careful planning theright mix of products andgood marketing, the futurelooks bright for these twolongtime friends in theHudson Valley to produceand sell a variety spirits pro-duced from locally growncrops.

Stephen Hadcock is aSenior Resource Educatorwith Cornell CooperativeExtension Capital AreaAgricultural and HorticulturalProgram. He can bereached at 518-380-1497 orseh11@cornell.edu

The (almost) Finished Product.

A complete picture of the still at Hudson ValleyDistillers. The still separates the alcohol from water andother components in the fermented product.

For those interested inlearning more about whatit takes to establish a farmdistillery, brewery or win-ery in NYS, here is infor-mation from NYS:http://esd.ny.gov/NYSBeverageBiz/faq.html

To learn more aboutHudson Valley Distillers,visit their website atwww.hudsonvalleydis-tillers.com

by Liz Martin

The spring of 2011 was

extremely wet in New York

State. Local farmers shared

stories of being delayed by

five weeks in getting out to

prepare the soil for planting.

A sense of desperation filled

the air - don't try to keep

farmer's from their fields

when the normally appoint-

ed time for planting arrives!

The first plantings of many

of our early spring crops

such as beets, spinach or

lettuce got skipped because

of the constant rain. As we

start to realize the effects of

climate change, extreme

weather patterns like this

are anticipated to become

more common. As the rain

was falling and falling, we

were busily seeding crops

into trays in the greenhouse

and wishing that we could

be planting our early crops

in there, as well. General

knowledge says that it is not

cost effective to fill many

trays with those crops and

then spend hours trans-

planting them. If a simple

cost effective way could be

found to do it, there would

be many benefits to starting

traditionally direct seeded

crops in pots and then plant-

ing them out as small plants,

rather than as seeds.

Having seen videos of this

cool tool called the

Japanese paperpot trans-

planter that puts plants in

the ground jaw droppingly

fast, we wondered if a tool

like that could have saved

spring 2011 for us. We wrote

a SARE farmer grant to

study if the paper pot trans-

planter (lets call it the PPT,

for brevity's sake) could be a

profitable way to transplant

traditionally direct seeded

crops while also mitigating

the risks of wet weather that

makes working the soil

impossible. We anticipated

that there also could be a

reduction in labor and culti-

vation associated with these

crops as the transplanted

seedlings will have a head

start on the weeds. As an

added bonus, the PPT is

used standing up, so wear

and tear could be reduced

on the transplanter's body.

Who We AreMuddy Fingers Farm is a

two-person small-scale veg-

etable farm. The farmers are

Liz Martin and Matthew

Glenn. We raise over 100

different varieties of vegeta-

bles on our 3 acre farm. We

focus on fertility by creating

a healthy soil ecosystem

through crop rotation, cover

cropping, the use of com-

post, and a reduced tillage

system that uses permanent

growing beds and perma-

nent sod paths between

them. While we are not certi-

fied organic, we do not use

any herbicides. On the rare

occasion when we have

needed to use a pesticide,

we only use products

approved for use by certified

organic growers. All of this

helps us to grow healthy,

Page 12 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

Welcome to Northeast SARE Spotlight! SARE offers sustainable agriculture grants, bulletins, books, an online events calendar and many otherresources. Learn more about the Northeast SARE program by visiting www.nesare.org or by contacting Northeast SARE, 655 Spear Street Universityof Vermont, Burlington VT 05405. Phone: 802-656-0471. Fax: 802-656-0500. E-mail: nesare@uvm.edu.

Investigating the Profitability of the Paper Pot Transplanteron a Small Scale Vegetable Farm

NORTHEAST SARE SPOTLIGHT

Poorly planted greens that did not “seat” well into the soil

Germination of PPT traysrear with perlite covering,front with potting mix

Well planted lettuce mix, properly seated into the soil,spacing of six inches

vibrant crops. Produce is marketed through an 80 memberCommunity Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, threeweekly farmers' markets and sales to fine local restaurants.2014 will be our twelth season growing vegetables. We areglad that our small farm provides full time employment forboth of us.

Our farm is well suited to doing research on the profitabilityof different cropping methods because we have spent thelast four seasons tracking the relative profitability of ourforty-some crops. We have developed an efficient systemfor recording labor and harvest data for separate crops andanalyzing that data when we have time in the fall and winter.(Our record keeping system was covered in an article inGrowing for Market in February 2011.)

How did the study work? Our farm is small and land-limited, so we carefully considerwhich crops will return us a certain minimum amount perbed of growing space ($400 per 100 foot bed) while also bal-ancing a diverse crop base to satisfy our CSA members. Inour studies of crop profitability, we have noticed a trend thatcrops that are direct-seeded tend to take more labor to keepthem weed free than transplanted crops, and thus direct-seeded crops on average have been less profitable for usthan crops that we transplant. (Because of this, we try totransplant as many crops as possible and we hoped the PPTwould allow us to expand our transplantable crop list.)

We regularly direct seed 12 crops on our farm: beets, car-rots, cilantro, radishes, turnips, lettuce mix, parsnips, arugu-la, spicy greens mix, spinach, rutabagas, and beans. Wetransplant head lettuce, but we thought it would be a candi-date for use with the paper pot transplanter. The paper potscome in linked chains at 2, 4, or 6 inch spacing which makesthem suited only for fairly closely spaced crops. Head lettuceis normally transplanted at one foot spacing, but for thestudy we used the PPT 6 inch spacing. Our plan was to har-vest every other one as small heads.

For ease of record-keeping, we chose 5 crops that were rep-resentative of the types of direct-seeded crops based on thespacing and harvest patterns. They were: beets, spinach,lettuce heads, lettuce mix, and beans. Because the majorityof farms are not already transplanting beets, spinach andother greens using the PPT for them is actually creatingmore work - the PPT must give some big advantages to earnits keep.

One flaw in our study is that we did not study the profitabili-ty of onions, scallions or leeks with the PPT. These are thevegetables most commonly associated with the PPT as peo-ple are already transplanting them at a close spacing, so thePPT could reduce transplanting labor on these. We havefound that we are not good at tractor cultivation on our farm,and therefore use a lot of mulch (hay, weed mat, and biode-gradible). In trying to avoid growing on bare soil, we found amethod of growing alliums - transplanted into weed mat, thatgets reused- that has worked very well for us. Hand weedingis needed once or twice just in the holes around the onions.Since we are very happy with this method, we did notinclude any alliums as study crops.

We chose not to do any tap rooted crops such as parsnips,carrots and daikon radishes which have been reported to beunsaleable as they have too many forked roots as a result ofbeing started in the small paper pots. Cilantro was also notchosen, as it resents being transplanted, and so is not agood candidate.

We did three planting times for each crop that we studied.With the exception of head lettuce which we already trans-plant, for each planting we compared the direct seeded bedto PPT bed. We recorded how much we earned and howmuch time spent on producing each crop. In the first plant-ing of the year, we also compared earliness – would the PPTallow for earlier harvest?

How did the PPT do at giving earlier spring harvests?By transplanting 2-3 week old plants as soon as the groundcan be worked could we harvest earlier in the spring?

The only problem with this is that we are still guessing whenit is 2-3 weeks before the ground can be worked! This seemslike it would be the biggest help in a late, wet spring,

because it would allow seeds to be started even while theground is wet. Then 2-3 week old plants will be ready to betransplanted when the soil dries.

Neither 2012 or 2013 was a wet spring. In fact 2012 was anextremely early, dry spring, with plants going in the ground 5weeks earlier than we might have expected! It was hard torealize that we needed to start our earliest plants, becauseit is not a time we nomally would be getting ready for fieldwork!

The results from these two springs showed beans were oneweek earlier, but due to the plants lacking vigor, we did getless yield overall. (We have had excellent success trans-planting our first beans from 50s.)

Spinach was also earlier - 1 week earlier the first year and12 days earlier the second year. Beets were not earlier inthese two trial years, though in 2012, due to not being sooth-sayers, we did not start plants early enough to beat the out-side planting window which was exremely early! And in 2013the earliest planting failed to germinate well and was unus-able. We believe earlier harvests should be attainable withthe PPT, especially in a wet spring.

Lettuce heads were not earlier, as both were transplanted.Lettuce mix was not earlier, but we strongly suspect it couldbe! The earliest plantings both years failed, showing howdicey it can be to get early plantings just right! One year thetrays didn't germinate; one year the direct seeded compari-son bed was lost to weeds, but looked like it would havebeen ready several days later.

On the side, we tried several other crops with the PPT. Whilerecords were not kept for the trial for these crops, we hadgood success with the following: Parsley, Spicy Greens mix,Arugula, Chard (harvested for baby leaves), Rutabagas, andMustard Greens.

This study showed that despite the initial cost of the PPTand the on going cost of buying paper pots each year, it ispossible that on certain small farms the PPT would be aworthwhile tool. Farms that could exploit the PPT best arebusinesses that grow lots of cut and come again greens,have finely textured, non-rocky soil, grow greens in hoop-houses, and/or already transplant beets, spinach, lettucemix or other greens.

Drawbacks to the PPT Consider carefully before deciding to buy one. Here are

some that we found problematic.• Soil conditions are key. The PPT does not work well inrocky or “trashy” soil. Soil must be well prepared, dry, withno “trash” and minimal rocks. This was our biggest problem! • We found in-row cultivation to be impossible due to theclose spacing and the paper chains between the plants.• There are small bits of paper left in the field which take awhile to decompose.• If trays germinate poorly, there is money wasted. Trays costbetween $2.40-$3.80 each; losing a ten tray planting is aloss of $24-$38. Excellent potting mix is essential. The traystake up valuable greenhouse space in the spring.Because good quality potting mix is needed, either time tomix or money to buy is needed to have a good supply of fine-ly screened potting mix.• There can be a re-establishment period for after transplant-ing with the PPT. Direct-seeded crops may acutally growfaster, depending on the weather, since they do not experi-ence a transplant set back.• PPT trays are not a standard 10x20 size. They are a stan-dard rice tray size (12 by 24 inches) so greenhouse tablesmust be sized to fit a true two foot tray.• The PPT does not work well when plants are overgrown inthe cells, and roots are growing together at the bottom of thetray. Also if plants are too top-heavy (bean plants were tootall and tipped over as they were planted), they do not plantout nicely with the PPT. After about 3 weeks, paper chainsbegin to decompose in the trays. The small cell size meansthat the plants can begin to start to run out of nutrients aftera few weeks.• Another drawback is that there are not many crops on ourfarm currently that are already being transplanted at 2, 4, or6 inch spacing. This limits the usefullness of the tool. (Againalliums are the exception and where this tool seems likely tomost quickly pay for its keep.)• In hot, dry weather PPT plants need to be watered every dayafter transplant until their roots are well established. This isespecially true of any plants that are poorly seated in the soil.

Benefits to the PPT • The ability to get a head start on weeds by cultivating justprior to planting the small plants, not having to stoop or bendto transplant, and ability to closely schedule plantings.

Q&AHere are the questions we wanted to have answered:

Does the tool pay for itself? It depends on the crops thatit is used for, on the growing conditions, and the soil type andcleanliness. In our study, we found its most likely to pay foritself in growing cut and come again greens.Does it save cultivating/weeding time and labor? If bedis empty for several weeks before planting, it provides moretime for stale seed-bedding. It is easier to hoe or tractor cul-tivate an empty bed than to work around small plants.Does the PPT increase earliness? Timing is tricky. It canprovide earlier harvests, but there is a guessing element towhen the earliest planting date will be for the year.Did it allow us to grow more in the same space? This canalso be tricky to accomplish. Beds must be very tightly man-aged. Farms that already do this well should find that the

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 13

So what did we learn? Lettuce:Earned the same $/bed, same $/minPPT - $355/bed, $1.44/minHand-transplant - $352/bed,$1.39/minConclusion: no significant difference,though it was a difficult to measurebecause there was a fair amount ofbolting. PPT lettuce had more bolting.

Lettuce Mix:Produced more lbs/bed with PPTTook more mins/bed for the PPT, soearned less per minutePPT: $631/bed, $1.93/minDS: $308/bed, $2.64/minConclusion: PPT worthwhile for let-tuce mix due to increased yield, eventhough it was less efficient to produce.

Spinach:Produced more lbs per bed with PPTLess time spent harvesting on PPTbeds (perhaps bigger plants due tothe wider spacing)PPT: $230/bed, $1.43/minDS: $234/bed, $1.37/minConclusion: PPT spinach faster toharvest, and in 2013 more productive(102 vs 77 lbs) so it seems worthwhilefor spinach

Beets:Produced more lbs per bed with PPTEach bed grew more in the space withPPTPPT: $338/bed, $1.23/minDS: $176/bed, $1.43/minPPT Beets had more tapered tap

roots coming off the bulb, were aes-thetically less pleasingConclusion: PPT beets slightly fasterto harvest, and in 2013 more produc-tive (204 bunches vs 167 bunches) soit seems worthwhile for beets

Beans:Performed poorly with PPT, cells toosmall - poor plant vigor. Tall plants didnot seat into soil well with PPT.The PPT plants were poorly rootedand not as productive.PPT: $154/bed, $.52/minDS: $196/bed, $.53/minConclusion: PPT beans were slightlyfaster to harvest, but less productive(154 lbs vs 196 lbs). The PPT is notworthwhile for beans.

Transplanter in use

See SARE page 15

by Elizabeth Henderson

Food Justice Certification is thefirst social justice labeling programto launch in the U.S. and Canada.So far, a cooperative of organicgrain growers in Canada and afamily farm in Florida have beencertified. In January 2014,Swanton Berry Farm and PieRanch became the first farms to beFood Justice certified in California.And in May, the Agricultural JusticeProject (AJP) announced the firstthree certifications in New YorkState – West Haven Farm, GreenStar Coop and The Piggery Eateryand Butcher Shop, all in Ithaca.Leah Cohen, AJP ProgramDirector, confirms that the farmand both stores meet the rigorousAJP standards for respectful treat-ment of farm and store employees,living wages, safe working condi-tions, and commitment to continualimprovement, and have earned theright to display the Food JusticeCertified label.

AJP is a program jointly sponsoredby four not-for-profits that work onbehalf of farmers and farm work-ers. Since 1999, the NortheastOrganic Farming Association(NOFA), CATA (the FarmworkerSupport Committee, Comite deapoyo a los trabajadores agrico-las), Florida Organic Growers(FOG) and Rural AdvancementFoundation International (RAFI-USA), have been engaged in astakeholder process to write stan-dards for fairness in the food sys-tem. The program is designed forall agricultural production systems,fiber, and cosmetics, as well asfood. Candidates must meet highbar standards that have beennegotiated among food systemstakeholders including both farm-ers and farm workers. The stan-dards (which can apply to farms,buyers, distributors, processorsand retailers — every link in thesupply chain from farm to table)include:• Fair pricing for farmers• Fair wages and treatment ofworkers

• Safe working conditions• Fair and equitable contracts forfarmers and buyers• Workers’ and farmers’ right tofreedom of association and collec-tive bargaining• Clear conflict resolution policiesfor all throughout the food chain• Clean and safe farmworker hous-ing• Learning contracts for Internsand apprentices• A ban on full-time child labortogether with full protection for chil-dren on farms• Environmental stewardshipthrough organic certification

West Haven Farm, GreenStar Coop and ThePiggery Eatery andButcher Shop will be car-rying this new label –Food Justice Certified.They filled out applica-tions in late summer andinspections took place inearly November as partof an AJP training for cer-tifiers and worker inspec-tors held in Binghamtonand Ithaca. To qualify asan AJP certifier orinspector, a staff memberof an organic certificationprogram or a member of aworker organization muststudy AJP standards andpolicies, participate in 3inspections, observingthe first, helping with thesecond and doing the third underthe watchful eye of a trainer, andthen pass an exam. Among fairtrade market claims, including aninspector from a farm workerorganization is unique to AJP.

West Haven Farm which rents 10acres from the Eco-Village inIthaca, NY, has been providing cer-tified organic vegetables, herbsand fruit to the Ithaca area for over20 years through a CSA and apopular stand at the IthacaFarmers’ Market. Farmer JohnBokaer-Smith employs 5 workersbut has also made the farm a cen-ter for new farmer training as partof the Groundswell Program. John

says, “The success of West HavenFarm depends on the hard work ofthe terrific, dedicated people whohelp make it run.”

Green Star Coop, one of NYS’soutstanding retail stores, has beena pioneer in food justice, initiatingan array of programs to provideaccess to high quality food for lowincome people and to diversifystaff. Operating two stores and awarehouse/community center,Green Star has over 200 employ-ees. The store is committed tocooperative principles and to man-agement by a team that makes

decisions by consensus and wel-comes the creative contributions ofall staff members and owner-vol-unteers. “Providing fair and sup-portive treatment of our ownemployees, and being sensitive tothe working and living conditions ofthose whose labor produces thegoods we sell,” are top priorities forGreen Star.

Joe Romano, Marketing Manager,says: “Green Star is thrilled to part-ner with the Agricultural JusticeProgram by receiving their FoodJustice Certification. We arepleased not only to receive FoodJustice Certification ourselves, butto promote the fair business prac-

tices it represents to our members,shoppers and to our community asa whole. Having a standard that“measures what matters” ensuresthat workers and producers arefairly treated. This type of certifica-tion is long overdue, and we arehappy to be one of the first of whatwill hopefully be many businessescommitted to this kind of objectiveevaluation, so that “Food Justicefor All” becomes the standard forbusinesses, communities, andindividuals.

The Piggery Eatery and ButcherShop in Ithaca sells meat from its

own farm’s heritagebreeds of pasture raisedpork as well as providingan outlet for other arealivestock farms thatadhere to its rigorousstandards for humanetreatment of the animalsand sustainable growingpractices. Guided byowners HeatherSandford and BradMarshall, the staff ofseven makes gourmetcharcuterie andsausages as well asbutchery, and is expand-ing into wholesale mar-kets. Heather Sanford,co-owner and managerexplains their decision toapply for AJP certifica-tion: “The Piggery haslong been interested in

supporting and recognizing thefaces behind agricultural work.There have been many wonderfuldiscussions and actions centeredaround the treatment of our landsand livestock, but we strongly feelthat more needs to be done tohonor the people behind agricul-ture. Food Justice Certification hasbeen integral in helping us worktoward that goal.”

Growing numbers of the cus-tomers in NY who are enthusiasticshoppers for local foods want toknow how the people who grow,wash, process and serve that food

are treated. By adopting AJP stan-dards, West Haven Farm, GreenStar and the Piggery are providingthis kind of transparency with theassurance that a third party hasverified compliance.

If the local food movement beginsdemanding that farmers, farmworkers and all food workers makeliving wages with full benefits,(health care, compensation forinjuries and unemployment, andretirement) from a 40 hour week,we may start moving towards anagriculture that will sustain us intoa future worth living. And that iswhat the Agricultural JusticeProject is all about – a set of toolsto help build value chains, chang-ing relationships to bring into prac-tical everyday life the Principle ofFairness that is basic to organicagriculture all over the world.

For the full standards in Englishand Spanish, and more informa-tion about the Agricultural JusticeProject and Food JusticeCertification, visit www.agricultur-aljusticeproject.org

Elizabeth Henderson, an organicfarmer and member of the Board ofNOFA-NY, is the representative ofNOFA to the Board of theAgricultural Justice Project. Shecan be reached at 585-764-8471,elizabethhenderson13@gmail.com

Page 14 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

First Food Justice Certified Farm and Food Stores in New YorkLong overdue, Food Justice Certified “measures what matters,” ensuring that workers on farms and the farmerswho hire them are fairly treated and paid.

Confused about the labels you see on food? In recent years there has been a proliferation of social justice and fair trade mar-ket claims leading to consumer confusion. Consumers are bombarded with claims,many of which are not applied consistently, lack relevant meaning, or do not tell thewhole story of a product or program. At the same time, many organizations andcompanies are making tremendous progress in setting standards for fair trade andsocial justice or implementing fair business practices. There is a danger that theselegitimate programs and practices will become indistinguishable from false or mis-leading claims without a more objective consumer education and outreach cam-paign.

To address the need, the Domestic Fair Trade Association created an evaluationprogram using its own principles as criteria for distinguishing between claims. Thusfar the DFTA has evaluated six prominent fair trade and social justice certificationprograms to help consumers identify programs that reflect the DFTA’s vision ofjust, healthy, and sustainable food system. Food Justice Certified received high rat-ings. To view the evaluations please visit www.fairfacts.thedfta.org

LOCAL FOODS AND MARKETING

Heather Sanford, one of the owners of ThePiggery, answers questions surrounded bytrainees Lou Battalen, Marion McBride andMichael Monahan, and certificationinspector/trainer Denise Aguero.

Photos by Elizabeth Henderson

Joe Romano, MarketingManager at Green Star Coop,greets inspection team, includ-ing 10 trainees.

Denise Aguero from QualityCertification Services andJessica Culley from theFarmworker Support Committee(CATA) interview farmer JonBokaer-Smith during the audit ofWest Haven Farm for FoodJustice Certification.

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by Ulf Kintzel

Colostrum is the first milk that sheep (as wellas other mammals) produce when they givebirth. This first milk is very high in nutrients.However, the most important factor is that itcontains numerous antibodies, which pro-tect the new born lambs from diseases.Without these antibodies rather minor dis-eases can weaken a lamb, make it sick or letit die, even later on and not just immediatelyafter birth.

This colostrum must be consumed by thelamb ideally within the first 12 to 18 hoursbut no later than 24 hours after it was born.There are two reasons for this time limit.Firstly, the ewe stops producing colostrumafter about 24 hours, give or take. Thatmeans the amount of antibodies in the milkdeclines rapidly after that time period.Secondly, the lamb is, physiologically speak-ing, only able to absorb these antibodies fora little more than a day. Antibodies are largeproteins. The building blocks of a protein arethe amino acids. When proteins are con-sumed and end up in the stomach, enzymesbreak down these proteins into these aminoacids, which are then absorbed. Theseenzymes, which also would digest antibod-ies, are notably absent during the first day ofa lamb’s life and therefore the antibodies canbe absorbed as a whole. While antibodiesalso have protective mechanisms that hin-der enzymes to digest them, they are most-ly still not getting into the blood stream afterthe stomach starts digesting proteins. What

is the practical relevance of this? You can’tdelay giving a lamb colostrum if the motherdoesn’t have any by another day or two. Itmust happen on day one.

Why would a lamb not get its share ofcolostrum? The cause could be the ewe.Perhaps she doesn’t have any milk or shehas too little for two lambs, perhaps becauseshe is too young or perhaps she had masti-tis and one side of the udder is not produc-ing any milk. The other cause could be thelamb itself. It could be too weak to nurse orit could get lost and because of cold weath-er it may have hypothermia by the time youfind it and can no longer nurse. If the ewe isthe problem, a substitute should be given. Ifthe lamb is weak or cold, make sure youwarm it up first with a heat pad or heat lampbefore you give any milk. Cold and weaklambs do not have their physiological func-tions operating properly and therefore don’thave a fully functioning digestive system.Giving it milk in this condition would kill it.

If you raise sheep on a somewhat largerscale, a helpful and in my view necessarytool for feeding lambs that have problemswhen born is the tube feeder.This is the eas-iest way to make sure that the lamb gets itsshare of colostrum. It also requires little timeand little patience compared to bottle feed-ing. When you use the tube feeder, makesure that you indeed insert the tube into thestomach and not into the lungs. The lambwill not survive when you drain the milk intothe lungs. Also, each feeding should be

reduced to about fiveounces, less if the lamb isvery small. If you give toomuch colostrum, sayupward of eight ounces, atany one feeding with a stom-ach that doesn’t have the

capacity for that much yet, the remainder ofthe milk will stay in the rumen which has thehigh probability of killing the lamb.

Where do you get your colostrum? If you arelucky you will have another ewe that haslambed at the same time and has plentifulmilk that you can milk out five ounces foryour problem lamb. You can also milk outsome colostrum if you feel there is extra andfreeze it. A second option would be to buy acontainer of colostrum at a farm store to mixwith milk replacer when you need it. A thirdoption and the one I want to share with youin detail is the colostrum from cows. A cow’scolostrum can be used as a substitute and Ihave done so successfully for years. I amlucky to have an organic dairy farmer as aneighbor for a few years now. A few monthsbefore lambing I put him on alert that I needa gallon of colostrum.Very often, a dairy cowproduces it in excess of what is needed forher own calf. Since the remainder doesn’t goin the bulk tank anyway, I am able to pur-chase some, usually a gallon. At home I fillthe milk in eight-ounce water bottles, leavinga little room for the milk to expand whenfrozen. I get these small empty bottles frommy dentist who offers that size of drink to hiscustomers. I then freeze the colostrum. Eachbottle provides me about two feedings for asingle lamb or one feeding for a set of twins.When the need arises, I take a bottle andput it in a pot with very warm water.You wantto remember that you can’t boil ormicrowave the milk to defrost it. So a warmwater bath will need to do the trick.

In addition to my frozen colostrum I have acontainer of powdered colostrum in thefreezer in the event I run out of the one Igleaned from a cow. Also in addition I alwayshave some milk replacer around, which isneeded to mix in the powdered colostrum or

which is needed if the lamb needs some sup-plemental feeding beyond day one of its life.

While you may have finished lambing thisseason, you may want to start thinking aboutwhere to get some cows’ colostrum for thenext season, so that you are ready for thefirst lambs that need it without having toworry about diseases killing your lamb lateron. And if you haven’t done so already, getthat tube feeder, will ya?

Ulf owns and operates White Clover SheepFarm and breeds and raises grass-fed WhiteDorper Sheep without any grain feeding andoffers breeding stock suitable for grazing. Heis a native of Germany and lives in the U.S.since 1995. He farms in the Finger Lakesarea in upstate New York. His websiteaddress is www.whitecloversheepfarm.com.He can be reached by e-mail at ulf@white-cloversheepfarm.com or by phone at 585-554-3313.

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 15

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Colostrum

Colostrum given via tube feederPhotos by Ulf Kintzel

Portion-sized frozen cows’ colostrum

PPT helps do it better.Does it reduce labor for transplanting? Well, not really. Ittakes time (not a lot, but some) to fill the trays, then seedthem with the greens and beets. Then it takes time to trans-plant the trays. If the same crop was just direct seeded, itwould take less time to put the seed in the ground.That said,the tool does seem like it could pay for itself on the followingtypes of small-scale vegetable farms:• An “Elliot Coleman style” farm where every inch is alwaystightly managed.• Any farm that is already paying people to transplant close-ly spaced crops (beets, spinach).• A farm that has soil that is neither “trashy” or very rocky.• A farm that grows greens in hoophouses.Even after two seasons of using the system, it still feels likethere is lots of tweaking that could be done to make it aneven more useful tool on our small vegetable farm. Farmswho choose to try this tool should be prepared to experimentwith different spacing, seed sizes, and planting timeframesbefore they feel that the PPT has been mastered.

Here are a few tips and techniques we picked up inusing the system.• For head lettuce use pelleted seed, but for lettuce mix usenon-pelleted seed with several seeds/cell.

• Cover small seeds with perlite for better germination.• By running the wheel in the wheel track from the previousrow, we were able to get rows spaced six inches apart. Thiswas the closest we found we were able to transplant.• Small brassicas seeds can get stuck between the two lay-ers of plexiglass due to static electricity especially in thespring when cold air can be dry.Assembly instructions are in Japanese, follow pictures care-fully!• Teeny plants need well prepared soil and very shallowplanting.• Quality of potting media makes a big difference. Use goodquality, finely sifted mix!• Good germination is key. If a tray is only half full of plants,it is a poor filler of greenhouse space, and will be a waste offield space, too!

Funding for this project was provided by NE SARE. A fullwrite up of the report is at the website. www.sare.org proj-ect number is FNE12-758

Liz Martin and her husband Matthew Glenn own and oper-ate Muddy Fingers Farm a two person vegetable farm inHector NY. They can be reached at 607-546-4535 or mar-tin25@juno.com.

Videos of the PPT at work on Muddy Fingers Farm canbe seen at :• Tray filling video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IlF6liHNC8 • Seeding video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=InOEJWrQM44 • Transplanting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D25uR_wVVw4 • A great overview of transplanting with some of the troubleswith seating of the plants visible: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydG_xJ7DQ70

SARE from page 13

LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

by Kimberly Hagen

Sharing is almost always a good practice. It’s just not cool totake the last cookie on the plate, or the last beer in the six-pack (especially after a day of haying) without offering toshare it with others. The generosity of the gesture will oftenreturn tenfold. And that is the general rule of those systemsin place outside the door of the house and the barn too.Ignore the rules of those systems and you will pay – some-day, somehow, somewhere.

Far too many folks have the mindset of taking all that naturehas to offer in how they manage their farm, without a thoughtabout sharing. And then it comes back to bite them.

It’s such a simple rule, yet so difficult a concept to accept,and so absolutely necessary to keep a farm successful. So,on a practical level, what do we mean when we say farmingneeds to be in sync with natural systems and mindful ofsharing the bounty? Here are two great examples of howand why it works to the betterment of both the farm, and theworld outside the farm.

Example One: GrazingI wish I had a nickel for every time a farmer told me the ani-mals were staying out on the pasture until it was “all cleanedup” meaning, of course, that it was all eaten down to a uni-form 2 or 3 inches. Most likely many of the plants in that pas-ture were munched, not just once, or twice, but three, oreven more times. It’s a mindset of taking it all, because it’swhat’s needed in the immediate. Instead, ideally what shouldhappen is, the plant is grazed once, and more than half of itleft remaining there on the pasture floor, the residue left tophotosynthesize and feed the plant roots for it to regrow, andthen slowly decompose, and add organic matter to the soil.

“But I can’t do that. It’s too expensive I have to get all thefeed I can off that ground,” is what I typically hear.Overgrazing leaves the plant with no option for regrowth, butto draw on reserves in its roots, for the energy it needs to getgoing again. There is a cost to that and it is expensive. Oncethe reserves are all used up, there isn’t anything to drawfrom, and the plant pulls into itself and literally shrinks.

Walk into an overgrazed pasture and you find miniature ver-sions of plants, and not much available for a mouthful. Withconsistent over-grazing, the bounce back and regrowthbecome more and more feeble, turning the pasture intonothing more than a holding pen or exercise yard. The ani-mals find a nibble here and there, but for all practical purpos-es, the pasture is not a viable functioning food source andcontinues to decline. Even worse, the soil becomes a com-pacted, impermeable piece of adobe hardpan, directing allrain and nutrients elsewhere, starving the plants on top ofovergrazing them. The costs grow exponentially, to the soil,the water, the air, the animal health, the financial health andthe whole farm and its community. And the expense to ren-ovate grows exponentially as well.

The greater the natural fertility in your soil, the longer youcan continue with this disregard for the natural systems onyour farm, but eventually the plants will give up and, lackingthe energy or reserves to replenish, remain stunted in theirgrowth. Eventually the only viable grazing period is May and

June, the first flush of the year.You could bring in purchasedfeed – for a price. Or pasture can be rented at another farm– for a price. Plus the inconvenience of transporting the ani-mals either by walking, or trucking them.

Pushing to the edge and taking all there is, will only leaveless and less for the farm’s future wealth. With incrementaladditions, i.e., leaving plenty of residue for feeding the plantand the soil, the general health and wealth of the farm growstoo, with soil that can feed the forage, and forage that canfeed the livestock, and livestock that can feed us. Farm man-agement really is all about sharing – taking only just enoughto keep the farm healthy and productive, and leaving the restfor replenishing the systems that supply the farm. But it alsomeans feeding – which is a form of giving back or sharingthe nutrients. Like all living things, soil and plants need foodif they are to grow. Animals can provide these nutrients in theform of their manure when they graze in the pastures, butthey can also provide this manure to hayfields, if those areworked into the grazing management system, to be grazedat some point after a hay crop has been removed.

In nature, everything strives for equilibrium, so that within anecosystem, somebody’s junk is treasure for another – thewaste product from one species is the food of another, andeveryone shares. When something moves out of balance, acorrectional shift will evolve. Here in the northeast, we needonly think of the inter-related boom and bust cycles of pinecones, squirrels and coyotes. The pines have a boom pro-duction in cone production, and in the following year, thesquirrel population explodes with the plentiful supply of goodfood. The year after that, the coyote population explodeswith the plentiful supply of a furry hot breakfast every day.And all of the scat and urine dropped on the ground feedsthe roots of the pine trees. There’s a lot of sharing going on

as the system fluctuates, stretches out, and pulls back in tokeep it healthy and functioning.

All of this requires lots and lots of observation, and getting toknow your farm’s ecosystem in the deepest sense, from thesoil and microbes therein, to the animals and their yields interms of milk production, or pounds of weight, and what ittakes from the farm to get that yield. The rules are the same,but because the variables of soil, temperature, water supply,etc. can be so radically different, every farmer really mustfind his/her own way and every farm will be different.

Example Two: Internal Parasites They aren’t going away. In the world of small ruminants,internal parasites tend to play a role larger than theAbominable Snowman or even the Cookie Monster. Afterseveral decades of rigorous, full-on attack with chemicaldewormers, we are back to square one, or even further backin some cases, since many animals now have little, if any,resistance, and our pockets are empty. It’s been an expen-sive effort.

The first step in this issue is to admit the internal parasitesare here to stay. Eradication through chemical dewormers isnot going to happen. We can’t beat the natural ecologicalsystems, and as in the case with grazing, working with thenatural systems might get us ahead. So how does this lookon a practical level? Good management practices.

Page 16 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

Keeping Farming Practices in Sync with Natural Systems Will Always KeepYou in the Green

See Keeping page 17

Overgrazing of plants leads to unhealthy plants, poorproductivity and a degraded ecosystem.

“No golf course here! Just thick lush pasture forage -the goal.”

Multi levels of species for brief grazing

STEWARDSHIP AND NATURE

by David Aman

Are you the owner of an old empty dairy barn? Have younoticed some deterioration on the hill side of the foundation?It turns out that the heat from the long-time bovine residentsprevented the water from freezing between the ramp and thefoundation for the previous 100 years. With the cows gone,freeze-thaw cycles started working magic on your once stur-dy building. It probably started with the rot in the sill beamthat goes across the entrance to the upper floor which madethe roof droop a little over where the doors used to be. Thiscaused the gutter to drain in the same spot. The waterworked its way between the foundation and your ramp andnow you have a problem.

Don’t Panic! Don’t be tempted into making a form and pour-ing a concrete face against the crumbling part of the founda-tion. This would look good for a while until the concrete getspushed also. This will either end up with your repair crum-bling apart or the entire slab of heavy concrete fallinginwards breaking pipes and posts and maybe your toes.

First, you should solve the problem. Stop the water fromdestroying your barn. You can fix the sill and raise the barn

in this area to try to get the gutter to drain properly or youcould take the gutter right off. Usually the gutter is no longerfunctioning anyway. Taking it off or having it replaced by aprofessional gutter company will take away the problem ofthe old gutter dumping all of the water from the roof rightonto the area where your foundation is crumbling.

You could go a step further and install a drain tile across thearea at the top of the ramp so that the water goes left andright instead of against your foundation. You could also digthe top of the ramp away and make a bridge going up intoyour barn.

One way to repair the foundation is to rebuild the damagedarea with the same rocks. A second option is to form andpour a one foot thick concrete foundation or a third possibil-ity is to build a block wall which you can then fill with con-crete and rebar.

Since all three methods usually cost the same, rebuildingthe damaged area with the same rocks makes a better look-ing repair. Remove the old, loose rocks until only the goodand strong part of the foundation remains. Then, rebuild thewall in the same style and strength as the original. The orig-inal foundations were usually about two feet thick and veryrugged. Often the wall was built upon giant boulders whichcan be used to build off of. The object is to have a stable,strong repair that will last another 100 years.

There are people out there that see barns in this conditionevery day and are experts at fixing this exact problem. Thereare also people who build brand new house foundationsdaily and are not used to this type of repair. Don’t allow amason to talk you into just having a block wall put in to solvethe problem. A block wall that has not been filled with rebarand concrete has a lot of vertical strength but almost nostrength to hold back the pressure from the dirt ramp. Therepair will look great to begin with but it almost certainly willbuckle if there is any pressure against it.

You may also be tempted to just place lumber under the floorjoists and against the crumbling wall. This, you think, willhave the double effect of holding up the floor joists so youcan continue to drive in upstairs and it would hold the crum-bling wall in place. This would be a temporary fix at best andwill not hold back the pressure from the dirt ramp.

If you end up having a good repair done and stop the waterfrom doing any more damage then you should be able to getanother 100 years out of your barn.

Boy, they sure don’t make barns like they used to! You maynot know it but you are the owner of an architectural treas-ure. Do you think a brand new pole barn will still be around100 years from now?

David Aman owns Stone Works and has been repairingfoundations and framing in old barns for 30 years. He worksin western New York and can be reached at 585-905-0998or stoneworks14@yahoo.com.

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 17

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Looking to Restore Your Historic Barn?The Barn Restoration program was created in 2000 tohelp preserve historic barns and protect agriculturallandscapes throughout New York. In order to qualify foran income tax credit equal to 25% of the cost of rehabil-itating historic barns the following rules apply:• it must be a barn (defined as being built to house farmequipment, livestock or agricultural products). Buildingsbuilt for or converted to residential use are not eligible.the barn must meet the tax definition of income-produc-ing (farming, rental, office, commercial).• it must have been built or placed in agricultural servicebefore 1936. Please note that Register-listed barns builtafter 1936 do not qualify for the New York State HistoricBarns Tax Credit, even though they are officially desig-nated as historic.• the rehabilitation cannot "materially alter the historicappearance" of the barn. That is it cannot change ordestroy the important characteristics that make the build-ing identifiable as a historic barn.• only costs incurred after January 1, 1997 are eligible.Learn more at: http://nysparks.com/shpo/technical-assistance/histor ic-barns/defaul t .aspx#sthash.g5NlWmkT.dpuf

At one time these animals were alwayson the move, and early shepherds kepta nomadic existence, following theirfood and fiber on the hoof. By confiningthem to the same ground/pasture,we’ve brought on these parasite issuesand the animals can’t get away fromthem. Instead we should move them -they need intensive rotational grazingsince the larval stage of these internalparasites live in the water dropletsclose to the ground – so moving theanimals once they have grazed the topfew inches, keeps them from the likeli-hood of ingesting these larvae.

Ruminants also need forage variety,and not a monoculture pasture.Different plants have a variety of nutri-ents and minerals. When these animalshad a nomadic existence, they nibbledon all kinds of green living tissue,acquiring what they needed throughthe different plants. Some of theseplants contain substances that aretoxic and naturally repel these internalparasites – most noticeably higher lev-els of tannins. By giving the grazinganimal periodic access to plants thathave these high levels of tannins,

research has shown that these para-sites tend to not stick around and exitfairly quickly – right out the back end.

Spending hours and hours runningmechanical equipment, and using fuelto eradicate pastures of “undesirable”forage species, makes very little sense– nutritionally, economically or for theenvironment. By taking the time toobserve the interactions of the plantsand animals on your farm, and theresponse of the local environment tothem, and then changing managementpractices to work within and/or comple-mentary to those systems, everythingcomes out ahead. The farmer spendsless time “in battle” using fuel and laborto beat “back the jungle” that will mostlikely reappear as it wants, the animalsgraze and balance out the plants’needs for being pruned for healthyregrowth, and the animals acquire thenutrients and energy they need to growand produce.

So, make a plan of action. For example,schedule a time – perhaps one or twomornings a week – when you visit thepasture with your animals, or walk your

fields, hedgerows and woods and real-ly spend the time to observe. What dothe animals eat, and how do they eat?Do they take one bite and move on, ordo they stay in one place and eateverything around them? Do they con-centrate on one plant species, or nibblea mixture? What plants are growing onyour farm? What keeps coming backand seems to like it there? Is there agood mixture of plants in your pasture?How do the plants respond to beinggrazed? Is that response different inthe early part of the season versusmid-season or late in the season?What insects are flying around or scut-tling along in the forage? Do their num-bers change with the grazing regimen?

You get the idea, pay attention to whatsystems are already in place and work-ing on your farm, and work with themthe best you can. It is probably the wis-est investment you can make.

Kimberly Hagen is the GrazingOutreach Specialist at UVM Extension.She can be reached at kimberly.hagen@uvm.edu.

Keeping from page 16

Dairy barn in Waterloo, NY originally built around 1881

Don’t be tempted into making a form and pouring a con-crete face against the crumbling part of the foundation

Photograph by Victoria Aman

SMALL FARM SPOTLIGHT

Page 18 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

by Rachel Carter

Water supply, soil quality, harvesting procedures, andadding livestock are early stage considerations in develop-ing a small farm. Often some of the most appealing in agri-cultural planning due to the concrete nature of their applica-tions can cause food contamination and other health haz-ards when met with the lack of incorporating food safety intothese and other areas of farming - even at a small scale.

Food safety refers to preventing foodborne illness through aset of procedures to handle, prepare, and store food. Safepreparation of food for market and from market to consumerare both included in food safety practices, and small farmersalso must consider farm to consumer direct.

Food contamination can happen when disease producingpathogens spread from people, animals, and insects.Bacteria found in raw food can contaminate cooked foodsand other surfaces and can remain active if not cooked orprepared properly. Storage temperature, water, soil, andmaterials can also be causes for contaminating food.

Hand washing may be one of the simplest yet most impor-tant facets of good food safety protocol. “Have a separateplace to wash hands that is not the same sink or tank whereyou wash produce, but where you and workers will remem-ber to use it. Preferably in the washing and packing area andif not, where you will pass by it frequently while working. Thefarmhouse bathroom is too far away!” shares GingerNickerson, GAPs (USDA Good Agricultural Practices) out-reach coordinator at the University of Vermont Center forSustainable Agriculture, part of UVM Extension.

Christine Kubacz, a new farmer/owner of Foggy Brook Farmin Fairfield, Vermont found the abundance of informationregarding food safety to be overwhelming at first. “Take yourtime with decisions, work with a mentor, ask questions, anddo your research,” she advises other new farmers. “Be pre-pared to make mistakes and that is part of learning. I foundhaving the support of other farmers and working with a larg-er, more experienced farm to be crucial. Rolling with whatMother Nature hands us is a humbling experience.”

Foggy Brook Farm grows greens through an extended grow-ing season, raises eggs, and supports a growing assortmentof value-added products for market-direct sales. Kubaczfound the logistics around washing produce and solelypreparing one value-added product at a time to be first areasof research and learning to implement on her farm.

“I also didn’t think about all of the different reasoning behindproper labeling – for safety, allergies, tracking and being ableto think about the whole picture – from farm to plate inessence – has allowed me to understand how to implement,”shares Kubacz.

Like many new farmers, the to-do list requirements and real-ity of finances tug on the purse strings and can be inhibitingto growth. “Learning I needed different boots for the green-house from the chicken coop – now that was a quick fix!”

State Extension offices like those at the University ofVermont, provide the resources, details, and support as well

as training and practical education for farmers at manystages. Online resources like those on food safety are avail-able for download and are some of the materials farmers likeChristine Kubacz can use to conduct research as a newfarmer. Staying current with food safety procedures is alsoimportant, as changes are made as new research and lawscome into effect.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is a federal foodsafety law that currently has two sets of proposed rules thatauthorize new regulations for produce production and foodsafety measures for facilities that process food for human con-sumption. “FSMA grants the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) broad new power to enforce food safety standards onfarms. The draft proposed rules lacked flexibility and scale-and supply- appropriate regulations, and could negativelyimpact produce growers, farms that aggregate product withother farms, and farms that even minimally process what theyproduce,” comments Erica Campbell, program director ofVermont’s Farm to Plate Initiative. We are hoping that FDA’sfinal rules will be more flexible to small and medium sizedfarmers so it won’t financially overburden them.”

Farm to Plate is Vermont’s statewide initiative to increaseeconomic development and jobs in Vermont’s farm and foodsector and improve access to healthy local food for allVermonters. Dozens of UVM Extension and other Universityprofessionals and researchers as well as Vermont farmersare actively engaged in Farm to Plate’s work to strengthenthe working landscape, build the resilience of farms and foodenterprises, improve environmental quality, and increaselocal food access for all Vermonters.

Rachel Carter is the communications director at the VermontSustainable Jobs Fund, a non-profit organization created bythe State of Vermont to help develop Vermont’s sustainableagriculture, renewable energy, and forest product business-es. She can be reached at 802-318-5527 or rachel@vsjf.org.

Switch the Boots, Wash the Hands, and Keep Farm RecordsFood safety planning tips from Vermont for new farmers and a refresher for all.

According to the UVM Practical ProduceSafety Model, the following are key consid-erations when it comes to preparing forfood safety on the farm.• Conduct a risk assessment of your farm’sland history to identify potential sources ofcontamination.• Take proper precautions when usingmanure and compost to avoid producecontamination. A four month rotation issuggested between raw manure or live-stock and produce fields/harvest. If makingyour own compost, keep at 131 degreesfor at least 3 days as well as turning. TheFDA is considering revisions to this, sostay informed.• Mitigate the potential for pathogens inyour water supply by planning out the irri-gation system, beginning with water quali-ty testing, which should be done before thestart of each season. Use drip irrigation ifpulling from surface water to reduce poten-tial for microbial contamination – especial-ly on leafy greens.

• Plan for reducing potential field contami-nation such as wild animals, flooding, farmequipment spills, domestic animals andlivestock.• Develop policies for sick and injuredworkers as well as protocol for hygiene.Convenient hand washing stations are amust! • Consider precautions when harvestingproduce as activity can stir up pathogens.- Implement good hygiene and cleaningproduce practices which can improve qual-ity and shelf life, as well as safety. Triplewash those greens! • Keep storage surfaces and facilitiesclean, organized, and use proper temper-atures for storage procedures.• Label produce so it can be tracked back-wards in cases of recalls and prepareinvoices and harvest logs.• If engaging in agritourism, or on-farm vis-its, additional precautions are needed toreduce pathogens spread between ani-mals and humans.

Learn more and connectUVM Extension - www.uvm.edu/extension/Foggy Brook Farm - www.facebook.com/foggybrookfarmVermont Farm to Plate - www.vtfoodatlas.com/

Foggy Brook Farm began as a small chicken farmproducing farm fresh eggs.

Hoop house grows greens at Foggy Brook Farm in Fairfield, VT.

An assortment of spicy greens are Foggy Brook Farm'sspecialty, grown in their greenhouse in Fairfield,Vermont.

Bagged greens from Foggy Brook Farm are sold at thelocal farmers' market, at area stores and restaurants,and at the farmstand.

by Sam Anderson

It has been many decades since broilers (chickens bred andraised specifically for meat) were a big business in NewEngland. Broiler enterprises have started making a come-back in the region in recent years, but they tend to look verydifferent from the standard broiler operations you'd find inMaryland or Georgia. Scale is the most obvious difference:A typical broiler producer in New England might marketsomewhere between 500 and 5,000 chickens per year,whereas a middle-of-the-road Southern broiler operationmay grow upwards of half a million birds. Large-scaleSouthern and Midwestern operations raise batches of thou-sands of broilers in long metal broiler houses, while in theNortheast you're more likely to find farmers moving groupsof 50 to 100 broilers across fields in open-bottomed mobilecoops or "chicken tractors."

Despite these differences – or, perhaps more accurately,because of them – it is possible for a Massachusetts farmerto make more money raising 1,000 broilers on pasture thanwhat a conventional broiler grower nets for 50,000 broilers.There is a strong market in New England for locally raisedmeat, and pasture-raised broilers commonly demand $4 to$7 per pound at farmers markets. While very few producersare able to grow and market enough pasture-raised broilersto make a full-time living at it, with niche marketing andsmart management, a few pens of broilers can be a prof-itable enterprise with minimal startup cost as part of a diver-sified farm operation or as a supplement for off-farm income.

So, why isn't everyone already doing this? With support froma Northeast SARE Partnership Grant, we worked with sev-

eral small-scale poultry growers to track best practices andbuild enterprise budgets for alternative poultry enterprises inNew England. Compiled from producer experiences, hereare some of the common challenges for small-scale broilerenterprises in New England:

ProcessingThis could be a whole article in itself, but in short, the rec-ommendation is: Before you start sinking too much moneyand time into starting a small-scale broiler enterprise, figureout how you're going to get the birds processed. Legal,affordable slaughter and processing options are limited formany New England producers. There are a few USDA-inspected poultry processors in the region, and for those liv-ing within driving distance of one of these, it is probably thesimplest option: Schedule with the slaughterhouse, drop offthe birds, and pick up bagged, ready-to-sell product.However, the cost of processing can be an issue – the goingrate is around $5 per chicken, not including the cost of mak-ing two trips to the slaughterhouse – and for some growers,hauling live birds to the nearest USDA-inspected facility justisn't feasible. For those growers, and for those looking toreduce processing expenses and to have more control overthe quality of their final product, there are special USDAexemptions that allow farmers to process their own poultryusing a mobile poultry processing unit or by building theirown licensed on-farm facility. This can save the producer asignificant amount of money, and can even be a great mar-keting tool, but it can also open a regulatory can of worms(depending in large part on your state's laws). It also meansquite a bit of additional work, especially in the first year.Understanding the available processing options and whichone is the best fit for you is an essential part – according tosome of the producers we spoke with, the most essentialpart – of running a successful small-scale broiler enterprisein New England.

Managing Production RisksThe process of actually raising the birds isn't a cakewalk, butthe learning curve isn't particularly steep – at least in termsof keeping most of the birds alive and bringing them to mar-ket at a reasonable size in a reasonable amount of time(depending on genetics, preferences, and productionapproach, usually somewhere between 4 to 7 pounds in 6 to11 weeks). The most-cited production challenges relate topreventing catastrophe, particularly in the form of predatorsand disease losses. For non-vaccinated birds, coccidiosiswas the most noticeable disease problem. Growers alsoobserved a general tendency for fast-growing "CornishCross" broilers to have health problems as they approached

a market weight of 7 pounds – or, especially, if they sur-passed it – including a higher rate of mortality compared toslower-growing broiler varieties (e.g. "Freedom Rangers").However, all growers agreed that the Cornish Cross birdslived up to their billing as efficient converters of feed to meat,dwarfing other varieties (literally, in some cases). Whichbrings us to the next challenge…

Feed CostsFor all of the broiler enterprises in this project, feed was thebiggest cost. For those buying organic grain, feed costs areespecially steep. Depending on a wide range of factors, pro-ducers purchased 3 to 6 lbs of feed for every 1 lb of meatmarketed. Some feed was lost to spillage around feeders,and nutritional value can be lost when feed is kept for toolong or not stored properly, but a large part of reducing feedcosts appears to revolve around improving feed conversionrates – that is, the efficiency at which the birds convert feedinto meat. Genetics plays a large role in feed efficiency; forexample, a Cornish Cross and a slower-growing broiler canboth be raised to produce a 5 lb roasting bird, but the slow-er-growing broiler will probably need an additional 1-4weeks – and, in the process, several more pounds of feed –to get there. Management factors also play an importantrole; for example, in cold temperatures, feed efficiency maybe reduced because more feed is being used for body heatrather than growth.

These certainly aren't the only challenges, of course, just theones we heard most often. Keep an eye out later in June fora guide which will cover the results of this Northeast SAREgrant, including more keys to small-scale poultry profitability.The guide will be published, among other places, on NewEntry Sustainable Farming Project's website(www.nesfp.org).

Sam Anderson is the Livestock Program Coordinator andOutreach Coordinator at New Entry Sustainable FarmingProject in Lowell, Massachusetts.

July 7, 2014 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 19LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

Profitable Broiler Enterprises in New England

Slow and fast-growing varieties of broilers raisedtogether in a mobile coop.

Bagging and weighing the final product, whole roastingchickens.

Two types of “chicken tractor” for pasture-raised poul-try, part of a pilot project at New Entry SustainableFarming Project’s training farms.

Page 20 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY July 7, 2014

by Nancy Glazier

Grazing sheep in vineyards hasbeen an idea we have tossedaround for a while. This springHans Walter-Peterson and MikeColizzi with the Finger LakesGrape Program and I sat down toactually talk about it. This practiceis done on the West Coast withbaby doll sheep, but none of ushas ever heard of it in the FingerLakes region or New York. We hadan interesting discussion minglinggrape and grass lingo.

Since this was a new idea to theregion, we needed a guinea pigvineyard to test the idea. It neededto be someone that had their vine-yard fenced in, or partially fencedand lots of temporary fencing. Thenext step was locating someonethat had sheep, ideally with nolambs, to keep it simple.

Mike volunteered his own vine-yard, Kashong Glen Vineyards inBellona, Yates County. He hasenergized deer fence on three

sides with temporary fence alongthe road. The sheep came fromsome of his wife’s aunt flock. Theywere a group of ten ewes that hadlambed early for Easter. Water tubswere set out on the headlandsnear the road for easy filling.

The ideal time to start spring graz-ing of sheep in the vineyards isprior to bud break. We had con-cerns about the sheep biting offthe tender buds and leaves, espe-cially after the hard winter we hadjust finished. The vines couldn’twithstand any further damage frombud loss. I had estimated therewas plenty of ‘pasture’ available forthe ewes for more than a month onthe small acreage. We were hesi-tant to get too many sheep sincewe didn’t know if they woulddestroy the vines.

The sheep were delivered to thevineyard on Mother’s Day. Theewes hit the ground running sinceit was their first opportunity to getout on pasture this spring.Pastures had gotten off to a slowstart so moving them to the vine-yard was a great opportunity. Mikewas hoping the ewes would grazein some targeted areas – theareas at the base of the vines, andthe grassy rows in between the

rows of vines, thus reducing theneed for mowing. Plant growth atthe vine bases can compete forwater in dry years. There weresome weeds but since they wereflush with spring growth it wasvery palatable. Mike spent quite abit of time watching the sheep thatfirst day making sure they weren’tdestructive.

Some work has been done to trainsheep to graze vineyard floors andnot grape leaves. To deter sheepfrom grazing the grape leaves,they were fed grape leaves thenadministered a small dose of lithi-um chloride. The sheep got a bit ofan upset stomach and associatedthe discomfort with the grapeleaves. We couldn’t start with thatpractice since the vines hadn’t yetleafed out and the sheep mightpossibly be used for leaf pull laterin the season. This practiceremoves a few leaves in the grapezone to allow for more air circula-tion. This can help reduce diseaserisk.

The sheep had a short stay withinthe vines. Bud break occurredquickly with the warm tempera-tures in mid-May. They weremoved to the headlands wherethere was plenty of grazing for a

few weeks. The goal is to put themback in the vineyard possibly afterharvest to graze the grassy areasdown before winter.

Nancy Glazier is the Small FarmsSpecialist with Cornell CooperativeExtension’s Northwest New YorkDairy, Livestock and Field CropsTeam. Her office is in Penn Yan andcan be reached at 585.536.5123and nig3@cornell.edu.

Ovines in the Vines? A New Idea for the Finger Lakes Region of New York

GRAZING

Sheep grazing in the vineyard.

Sheep grazing weeds at thebases of the grape vines.

Photos by Mike Colizzi