Aust Organic Producer Autumn 2013.pdf

7/30/2019 Aust Organic Producer Autumn 2013.pdf

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In the Summer issue ofAOPwe met fourgrazierswhoare converting to certifiedorganic production. Thisissue wefocus on the dairyindustry, which is increasinglybecoming more inputdependent andgrowing largerandmore intensivefarms.Organic dairies aregoing inthe other direction. Meet twofamilies whoarecontributingto Australia's $29 milliondollar organic dairy business.

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LUNVfc r i b lU i gmmmBignell familyThe Bignell family is in the process ofconverting to an organic farm. They hada second inspection by their organiccertifying office in November 2012and in one year and ten months theyexpect to be fully organically certified.The familystarted gardening andfarming organically after their childrenexperienced health problems. They'veshare farmed and leased properties for 18years inVictoria and previously two yearsin Sou th Aus tr a li a .Karen Bignell says their organiccertification was delayed bythe 2009BlackSaturday bushfires that wentthrough their Pomborneit, SouthWestern Victoria farm. The fires affectedproduction dramatically - calves died andthe cows have had ongoing sub-clinicalhigh somatic cell counts. After the fire,th e s t re s sed cows cou ldn 't a c ce s s waterfor a period of time and calves born

during the period didn't have immunityfrom thei r mother' s colostrum.They breed their cows with stud bullsinstead of using artificial insemination(which they say results in more reliablepregnancies) so lost progeny andcompromised genetics as a result of thefire was a big setback. Karen estimatesthey lost hundreds of thousands ofdollars because of the fires and expectsto receive long-awaited compensationin 2013 .

The family leases 144 hectares, whichthey also use to grow lucerne andpasture hay. The paddocks have basaltvolcanic soils and stony rises; 40 acresare rolled. They do regular soil tests andfertilise with compost, lime, kelpandnatural minerals to improve the soil.They milk 120 cows, down from 185from when the fires happened, and ahandful of the milkingcows are around14years old. Mostof the herd isJerseyor Jersey cross with some Brown Swiss,

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Guernsey and Ayrshire. Karen says,"Jerseys are magnificent animals and wecan stock more because they're smaller;they also have higher fat and protein.The comparisons we've done show theJerseys make more money."The Bignells use homoeopathies,apple cider vinegar and kelp to maintainherd health. Karen says they don't oftenget clinicalsigns of mastitis and iftheynotice indicators of an infection they rubpeppermint cream on the udders and puthomoeopathic remedies on cows' nosesor vulvas and/or in drinking water whentreatments are needed. They also givethem cider vinegar and kelp orally and inthe water at certain times of the year.Karen says, "We used to cull cows inthe order of firstly, low production, thenlow fertility and then high cell counts.Now we hold on to cows that should'vegone because we need the milkvolume,and when we get too high a cell count wehave to cull the high cell girls, which areusually our highest producers. With a lowcell count the milk keeps longer and itmakes better cheeses. Before th e fire wehad premium quality milk."The Bignells use cider vinegar(sometimes with garlic) and kelp as adrench; however they don't have manypest problems. Cider vinegar is alsohandy to put in the water to help thecows when they're springing. Like manyorganic producers the Bignells search faran d wide fo r alternative animal healthand farming options.Karen says, "We've read Pat Coleby[holistic animal health author] books andhave found that Juliette de BaTracli Levy,Rudolf Steiner, William Albrecht and AlexPodolinsky's books are very important.We would like to be able to pract isebiodynamicsin the future. Joel Salatin'sideas are interesting and Peter Andrews'principles are very important to us aswell. Peter Cundall is an excell en t sourceof information also. We're also part of ahealthy farming group in the south west.Acouple of the members are biodynamicand organic farmers who have helped usustralian Organic Producer Autumn 2013

along the way. The farming group, whichmeets once a month, has a good library.We read magazines on organics, attends emina rs and look on th e internet aswell," Karen says.When the Bignells farmedconventionally, Karen says they treatedringworm problems successfully with teatree oil. They've avoided using penicillin,preferring to use the naturopathic andhomoeopathic treatments recommendedbyJuliette de BaTracli Levy, and now thatthey are heading for organic certificationpenicillin is not permitted unless theproblem is life threatening. They use alick developed by Pat Coleby (kelp, yellowsulphur, copper sulphate and dolomite),which they find helps with occasionallyoccurring hoof problems.Organic standards require the Bignellsto use only organic feed starting fromsi x mont hs o u t from full certification.

the farm lease allowing us to farm in anorganic manner. We've given the officialcert i f icat ion d oc um e nt t o t he own er s b utfor one reason or another they haven'tmanaged to sign them, that is, until ourcur ren t farm owners did.

"I f the certification bodies were ableto recognise the farm lease with theorganic stipulations in it, that could makeit easier f or l e as ees who w a nt to becomecertified. Our curren t farm owne ractually had the required certificationpaperwork included in our lease as wellas signing the paperwork."The Bignells haven't always had smallherds. They milked 750 cows 12years ago,but it 's not something they would do againin a hurry. Karen says, "It was more likea factory farm - not enjoyable at all.Wehad five people working for us, some notreliably, and it just wore my husband out,having to work over 80 hours a week."These days 150-200 head is morerealistic. "We can't get more stock easily;you either have to breed them yourselfor find organic cows from other farms.There is always the risk that conventional

cattle o r calves have been fe d withpenicillin milk or fed on standard milkan d we wan t t h e h e al th i es t c owspossible," Karen says.She says farming a small herd andrecovering from bushfire losses meansthey're struggling to break even but itcould get more difficult still before it getseasier. "I've heard people say the last sixmonths [ofbeing in conversion] are thehardest because six months before beingfully certified you have to start using onlyorganic certified feed so costs are higher

"We can't get more stock easily; you either have to breedthem yourself or find organic cows fromother farms.There isalways the risk that conventional cattle or calves have been fedwith penicillin milk or fed on standard milk and we want thehealthiest cows possible."

Currently Karen and Adrian useconventional grain to coax cows intothe milking shed and they hope to startsourcing local organic oats shortly.Growing their own lucerne and hay putsthem in a good position when they needto supplement feed.One of the holdups to gettingorganic certification until now wasgetting landowners to sign certificationpaperwork, which stipulates thelandowner 's role in th e certification,for example, they can't sell or claim thefarm as organic if the Bignells move on,or receive financial benefi ts from th eorganic operation. Karen says, "Eachfarm we've leased has had stipulations in

but you're only getting paid conventionalmilk prices," Karen says. "We are hopingthat, because we are only feeding acontentment ration in the bai l, it won'tbe too much of a problem though."The Bignells will supply milk toVictorian cooperative Organic DairyFarmers Australia, which has suggestedthey can expect premiums 25to 30 percent above conventional milk prices.Karen says their conventional neighboursneed 36 cents a litre to break even. As anin-conversion organic farmer she saystheir inputs are less than for conventionaldairy farms, which routinely treat cowswith penicillin and use a lot of chemicalfertilisers and other practices.


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Teresa says they initiallywent througha long audit process taking up to six hours,and keeping good records in a diary inthe months leading up to it helped. "Thepaperwork took a while but it's worth it.You just need to have an idea of where youput things. Our soiltests were fairlygood.Wedid away with conventional fertiliserssixyears before we submitted the organicapplication; however we were using foliarsprays for trace minerals."Fellow organic farmers in theGippsiand area have been importantmentors for the Porses during theirconversion. They've helped them havefaith in a l te rna t ive heal th remedies suchas homoeopathies. They used to useantibiotics to clear up mastitis but whenit wouldn' t work the vet suggested theyuse tw o antibiotics at once, which didn'tsit well with Teresa and Mark. By thenthey were aware of the importance ofd ie t a nd n ut ri ti on a nd wo nd er ed h owdairy farmers dealt with these problemsbefore the age of synthetic drugs.Changing treatments also made themface some hard choices about whichcows to keep and which ones to let go.Teresa says, "it was a relief to find wecou ld do it [treatments for masti tis] better .It was a challenge but Idid trust it becauseothers used it . We used colloidal silverand garlic. Some cows didn't respond toit well an d we ha d to cull them out of th eherd because they had recurring mastitisand high cell counts, it was hard to cullbut we knew it would happen. We allowedfor being around 10cows down but we dohave to think long term and that we willhave stronger genetics in future. Beingin organic conversion we have a highercull rate t ha n w e would have if w e w er econventional."When the herd was due to dry offin the past they used intramammaryantibiotic therapy but now they begindrying off the cows by reducing green

stralian Organic ProducerAutumn 2013

pasture and milkingfrequency. Theyare also considering using treatmentsfrom a local animal naturopath to helpdry the cows off because they still getth e odd case of masti t is . In 2012 abouthalf of the farm's 60 replacement heifercalves contracted rotavirus, causingdehydration and severe, lifethreateningdiarrhea. They used homoeopathiesand electrolytes to successfully treat it,losingjust three calves, which were weakat birth after being born prematurely.Using homoeopathies was more labourintensive than antibiotics; for a very sickcalf they were administering treatmentsevery half hour for a day.

will deal wit h wo rms on t he ir own andthey rarely have to intervene. They'vehad one or tw o cases o f f oo tr ot , wh ichthey've treated with homoeopathies,colloidal silver and hydroxide, nursingthe cows close to the milking shed. In2013 they're doing something differentand making their own compost fromhay, green waste and manure. The aimisto encourage microbes in the soiland release nutrients that might belocked up. Like other activities it's timeconsuming but they're enjoying thelearning process. They have a retiredneighbouring farmer, who is doingthe same and helping them out withequipment and they will compare recipesas time goes on.The Porses hope that introducingcompost will simplify the fertilisingprocess and reduce the cost of inputs.Teresa says composting is also aboutencouraging recycling on the farm. Inthe course of collecting these stories 1spoke to a dairy farmer in South EastGippsiandwho had just received fullorganic certification. They experienced adrop in production during the conversionprocess, mostly because they cut back onfeed inputs but, apart from culling extracows, Teresa and Mark don't think theirproduction has been affected, nor dothey expect production to suffer in thenext couple ofyears while they reach fullcert i f ica t ion.They're not interested in gettingbigger; increasing their herd over180would compromise the rotations and

"It was hard to cull but we knew it would happen. We allowedfor being around 10 cows down but we do have to think longterm and that we will have stronger genetics in future. Beinginorganic conversionwe have a highercull rate than wewouldhave if w e w ere conventional."

Forgeneral cases of calf scours or asa preventativethe Porsesuse colloidalsilver, garlicand kaolin clay. Theyfindthatmakingthe clay freelyavailableallowsthe calves to lickit when they need it andignore it when they don't. Teresa saysexperiencing rotavirus reiterated the needto look closer at prevention rather thancure. Inthis instance, being strict withisolatingsickcalvesand intervening earlyifneeded, lookingat trace elements in thesoiland making sure they have a cleanenvironment. They have had the vet ou t toadminister fluids to calves when necessary.Teresa and Mark worm the cattle onlywhen necessary and use homoeopathiesadministered with the moon cycle, whichthey were sceptical about until theysaw it work. Teresa says a lot of cat tle

pastures. Teresasays they havea greaterappreciation ofwhy organic milk pricesare higherthan conventionalpricesandwill be thankful when they are rewardedwith a premium for being organic; howeverit's not what's primarily driving them.Forthem it's about working towardsproducing healthy produce that's goodquality and that they're proud of. AOP

AOPwill follow the progress of theBignells and Porses in a future issue.In the Winter issue o f AOP we willbring you the stories of vegetablegrowers who are converting toorganics. Ifyou are one of them andwould like to share your story [email protected]


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They are looking forward to thefuture, where they can supply a good andhealthy product that can be appreciatedby people who enjoy knowing that theirfood is safe an d f re e f rom artificialchemicals, GMOs and additives.Pors familyTeresa and Mark Pors bought the familyfarm two years ago and are 12monthsinto converting to an organic dairy withtheir 13-year-oldson Oscar. They're onpredominantly red soils at Nerrena, nearLeongatha in Victoria. Their farmingphilosophy isorganic bynature so afterthey bought the farm they had farmedfor the past 12years they felt they hadmore freedom to do things the way theywanted to .

In two years, they, like the Bignells,will sell organic milkto Organic DairyFarmers Australia. They milk180mostlyHolstein cattle but are moving towardsintroducingAyrshire genetics to end upwith a predominantly Ayrshireherd. Asorganic farmers, the Porsesare lookingfor a breed that does well on a grassdiet rather than one that's bredfor highproduction that requires a high grain diet.Teresa Pors says, "The older genetics seemto be more resilient an d can do bet ter

Victoria has 60% of Australia'sorganic dairy stock, followed by SouthAustralia 18# and Queensland \$%.Pairy has 9.72% share ofthe organic mSource:Australian Organic Market Report 2012

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on a grass fed diet. The genetics supplierwe work with has the same philosophywe have. Hegoes around to Ayrshires tuds and looks around a t t he cows."The Porses want a herd that is resilient,has longevity and isgood natured, andaccept it's going to take years until they'remilking mostly Ayrshires.Teresa and Markmake their own hayand silage; however the 2012 season hasbeen difficultand they're consideringbuying hay. Theydon't feed a lot of grain,using the little they do to coax cows oryoung heifers into the milking bails andto keepthem happy. Teresasays theyuse classified listings on the AustralianOrganic and NASAA websites to findorganic hay.She says, "Oneof the biggestchallenges when converting to organics iswe're getting paid the conventional rate

for milk but we haveto source organicproducts. The conversion isgoing to costa little more when sourcing inputs such asgrain and hay in running costs - perhaps20 per cent more for hay."In the first year of conversion they arerequired to source clean grain, but in thefollowing two years they haveto sourceorganic certified feed. Fortunately forthem grain isn't a nutritional requirement.

The farm has rye,chicory and plantain togivethe herd a variety.They'vehad highprotein issues in the past and the plantainhelps to bring down protein levelsin thegrasses. Theyare investing in a grainsilo in 2013 so that they can order moreeconomically efficient loads of grain fromnorthern regions. The larger the load thecheaper it is, so havingsomewhere tostore it will help.

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Aust Organic Producer Autumn 2013.pdf