Joel Salatin (Polyface Farm) preaches many things but he continually stresses two major points for organic sustainable farming, and that is he is nothing more than a grass farmer. He'll tell you that if you pay attention to the grass, knowing when to move the animals on or off a pasture, nature will do the rest. He believes that farming is about rotating your pastures of closely herded animals, mimicking a grazer's movement in the wild, at just the right time, not too soon and not too late, and that's all there is to it; not letting the pigs or cows over graze any one area, and letting the chickens follow behind when the grass shoots are only a few days old (when they're the tastiest to the chickens). He says embrace the pigness of the pig or the chickness of the chicken, or in other words let the animals be themselves and not what "man" has turned them into; fat sickly corn fed animals that are doing something far greater than feeding a nation, their killing a nation!
If the cow was designed, biologically speaking (its digestive system), to graze pastures then don't pack them in overcrowded feedlots standing in their own feces feeding them grains (corn and soy) and ground up meat!
If the chicken was designed to be natures clean-up crew, eating bugs hiding within that jungle beneath the blades of grass, as well as eating the grass, then don't clip their beaks, pack them in dark overcrowded warehouses feeding them grains (corn and soy) and bone meal!
If the pig was meant to forage like any well designed omnivore, then respect the pigness of the pig instead of clipping off their tails, packing them into overcrowded warehouses and feeding them... well you get the picture.
One thing he mentioned during our tour was that pork is not suppose to be "the other white meat", instead a healthy pig has dark meat, and like all grass fed animals far less fat and much higher levels of healthy omega-3s than their corn fed counterparts.
So taste the difference for yourself; eat locally raised organic grass fed meats and taste what you've been missing!
No comments:
Post a Comment