CHAFFIN, from page 11
snack on bugs throughout secured sections orchard, acting as a natural alternative to pesticides. All this snacking ultimately leads to another benefit: high nitrogen manure. The goats handle the light pruning and the weeding of the property while the cows and sheep act as the orchard’s lawn mowers. Solar-powered portable electric fences keep predators out and the animals confined to their “work area” or living area. This practice allows egg-laying hens to roam freely in and out of their coups and into the pasture whenever their feathers feel the need to roam. Specially designed yurts contain market chickens Livestock assist with light pruning, weeding and fertilizing by doing what they do naturally on the farm.
and permit the same freedom. Meanwhile guardian dogs watch out for predators in the wide expanses where the goats, sheep and cows roam. “We have plenty of predators,” Kerston said, “but we have never lost a dog or goat or other animal to a predator.” Kerston said the migratory nature of the farm’s operation helps to minimize the territorial impact on wildlife. “We are constantly moving animals,” he said. For example, after the goats are finished gobbling up all the blackberry bushes and “pruning” the lower branches of the trees in one area, the farm will relocate them to another area which needs tending. The animals’ freedom benefits everyone at the farm.
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