A lot of people ask us why we farm the way we do… and what’s regenerative farming?
It seems like a lot of work moving chickens, sheep, and turkeys every day. When we started, I agreed.
Do we really need to move them after just one day? Why can’t we give them more space and move them less often?
Chris was the driving force for “regenerative farming” and I have to say, I’m so thankful he pushed for it. There is a really good reason to move them so often.
Here’s the skinny:
The process of putting sheep (or any other livestock) together in a smaller space is called “mob stocking”. There are lots of reasons to do this.
Reason #1 – When they are in a small space, animals are forced to eat all of the grass in that area.
Did you know that there is “ice cream grass”? Different types of grass have different nutritional values. Some are sweet (ice cream grass) and some grasses are more nutrient-dense, “veggie grass” if you will.
By giving them a smaller area of grass they eat the sweeter grass first, but then they are still hungry so they move onto the more nutritious grass. This ensures that the sheep get a balanced nutritional diet.
If they have an entire pasture to choose from, they will walk around and eat all of the ice cream and no veggies.
Reason #2 – Daily rotation also prevents over-foraging of the grass.
If left in one space for too long, the livestock will eat too much of the greenery and kill the grass. The soil needs the grass to get carbon from the air (carbon sequestration is how the soil “lives” a healthy life).
Reason #3 – POOP- yep, I said poop.
It’s an important part of the regenerative process. There are two reasons to move your livestock when it comes to number 2. No one wants to stand around in their own poop. It’s not good for the health of your animals.
When you mob stock and practice daily rotation, the livestock gets a fresh, clean patch of grass every day.
The second benefit of rotation is that the whole pasture gets naturally fertilized.
Reason #4 – These practices grow healthier animals.
And healthy animals make for more nutritious protein for us to eat.
This is one of the reasons we do what we do. Our focus is always to serve the LAND, the ANIMALS and our COMMUNITY.
