Why Not Go Organic?

Hi All,

We're getting all geared up for calving season. A couple of the girls are getting a bit uncomfortable. Making sure the calf sheds are all clean, tidy, warm and comfortable for the new arrivals is priority number one for me at the moment. As nasty as it sounds, we do take the calves away from the cows every 24hours as they are being born. The calves are born outside, usually in the early morning. As they are little and a bit clumsy, they often can't find their mothers milk soon enough after they hit the ground. To get good immunity, they need fresh warm colostrum six to twelve hours after birth. If they were to be left to their own devises, about a quarter of the calves born would die of exposure. Collecting them up and me feeding them their mothers milk ensures they get a good feed of fresh, warm colostrum soon after birth. They are protected from the elements in the shed and survive much better. The mums also, need to get "relief" as soon as possible and they usually have far too much milk for just one calf. Hence, milking them out helps take the pressure off the mammary glands and makes them more comfortable.
Someone asked me the other day why we don't farm our animals organically. They were of the belief we would most certainly get a premium for our milk and that our input costs would be considerably lower. They had read somewhere that you get the same level of production from organic farming as you do conventional farming.
We have actually looked into organic farming quite extensively and after giving significant consideration, decided against it for a number of reasons.
The big number one, animal health and welfare. In an certified organic situation, the use of antibiotic is not allowed except in extreme circumstances. If they are used, the animal must be removed from the farm and can not return. Therefore, practically speaking, you really need to have two farms, one organic and one conventional.
I'm sure people think I'm a bit strange. Even though we are quite large scale farmers, I call all the calves I look after "my baby's" and the cows are all "my girls". Out of 590 of the "girls", about 100 or so of them have names. In other words, this is not a factory and the cows are not viewed as milk machines. I can not stand to see any of these lady's suffering because of what I believe or don't believe. It isn't fair to them. I have worked on farms where animals have been left "lingering" while the operator tried different homeopathic treatments. After considerable time and stress, the animal was either destroyed or treated conventionally anyway. After witnessing this, I have a strong desire to treat animals as quickly and effectively as possible so they suffer the bare minimum. If your child had an infection, you would take them to the doctor and they would most likely receive an antibiotic for the infection and an analgesic for the pain. Organics allow neither without consequences.
The second reason is practicality. We sell our milk to Fonterra. Fonterra do have organic milk suppliers, but they are all in the North Islands province of Waikato, about 1000kms and a ferry ride from here. There are two organic dairy farms in our province of Southland. As far as I know, one sells some milk via a mobile milk truck to farmers markets and private customers and the remaining milk to Fonterra, and the other sells to a company that has just started, Dairy Trust. To my knowledge, except for the milk that goes through the truck, neither one receives a premium because there are not enough organic farmers down here to warrant separating the milk.
Our third reason is waste. Waste? Yes waste. Currently, I think the World Health Organization has the total amount of food in the world at about enough for 50 to 60 days. About ten years ago this figure was about 150 days. I'm not sure of the exact figures, but I think these are pretty ball park. Anyway, you get the idea. Without having a detrimental effect on the environment, I believe that agriculture should use fertile land as efficiently as possible to produce as much food as possible to feed as many people as possible. Unfortunately, organic farming requires a larger land mass to produce less food. I know there are people who will argue this point and that's OK, I welcome debate. However, no one can deny that there are currently people starving, even with surplus food. As the world population grows and productive farm land either gets swallowed up by suburbia or tangled up in red tape and bureaucracy, the simple fact is a greater proportion of people will starve.
There is no easy answer, but why not use the best ideas from all types of agriculture? I think we should use modern technology as tools, not band aids.
For example, take fertilizer. We rely heavily on the land and if we don't take care of it, it won't take care of us. Therefore, we monitor our land very closely. We do what is called a nutrient budget. This is just like a financial budget only instead of money, it is with nutrients. The basic ones,pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium, some of the sort of mid range ones, Magnesium, Sodium, Calcium and a few of what they call micro or trace elements, copper, zinc, molybdenum. We do test for others as well, but its late and my brain is a bit mush. Anyway, you get the idea. We monitor these very closely and the budget must balance. What goes out must come in and, based on soil and herbage tests, we try to maintain optimum levels for both stock health and pasture health. What is toxic to the environment is also toxic to the stock. So, over use of fertilizer is just plain dumb. You end up with sick animals (which is costly) and wasted money (because most of your fertilizer has washed down the ditch). The golden rule for us is little and often and monitor, monitor, monitor.
Another good example is pesticides. Yes, pesticides can be a good thing when used responsibly. Here in New Zealand there are several introduced pest plants that have devastated large tracts of land causing native flora and fauna to all but disappear from some areas. We have several patches of native bush on the farm where some of these pest plants have taken over. One of our long term projects is to tidy up the weeds so the natives can find their feet again. We are doing this in a number of ways. Because this is a working farm, no one has the time to spend 24/7 in these patches of bush to sort them out. So, we've got a couple of our "girls" boyfriends (the bulls)doing it for us. Some of the weeds invading our native bush are Old Mans Beard, Gorse, and Broom. While our ten big surly bulls are on holiday from the cows, they are doing a lovely job knocking down, scratching, digging and eating all those nasty weeds. When they come out of the bush, any regrowth will be dealt to with, yes, weed killer. We also use sprays to keep Ragwort (which causes liver failure in cattle), Thistles, and Deadly Nightshade (as the name suggests) under control. Though we are vigilant to use only a licensed spraying contractor under optimal conditions, others are not so careful. Those that use less then best practise, again, give us all a bad name. Believe me, those guys are few and far between. If you think they are disliked by the general public, they are absolutely dispised by their peers.
Hopefully this has given you an insight into an alternative but sustainable form of agriculture. Again, I welcome comments and would love to answer any questions anyone may have.
Take Care, 4cowgirls