WHY THE ORGANIC PASTURE RULE IS A GOOD THING

1. The large “organic” (meaning “fake”) operations will have to change (and already are). One of the major issues with organic dairy was the presence of essentially confinement operations in the West that did not allow animals access to pasture, or the pasture that was available was not adequate for dairy. Essentially the animals were fed their necessary ration for milk production in confinement, and then possibly allowed out for a short time (but didn’t eat anything). These large operations supplied major chains like Wal-Mart and others. Consumers were becoming more and more aware of this, and realizing what they thought “organic” meant was not what they were buying. This was extremely bad for the organic label.

2. Ruminant livestock in general will have to have more pasture in their diets. This absolutely is a good thing. Cows, sheep and goats are geared for grazing. The resulting meat and milk from these animals will be healthier. I know there will be those that disagree, but speaking as a producer and a processor I can tell the difference in a big way through taste and the health of my family.  One doesn’t have to look far to find study after study supporting the nutritional value and quality of organic foods vs non-organic. The information that refutes this is heavily influenced by large economic interests that profit off of confinement feeding with a lot of grain.

3.  The increase in opportunity. One opportunity that I can see is a custom grazing operation that would take replacement heifers from an organic dairy for the grazing season. This would have several positive benefits: (1) the dairy would realize a decrease  in labor in regards to not having to take care of those animals, (2) a decrease in feed requirement in terms of pasture,  and (3) an increase in pasture for the money-making milking herd OR additional land on the home farm for grain production. In addition, another local farm would have a good business helping the dairy adhere to the organic pasture rule and make some additional money. The more economic activity I see happening, the better it is for the local economy. I can attest to this: I graze a local dairyman’s replacements for the summer. It works very well, as I get paid per head/per day, the dairyman brings a grain mix as a supplement and minerals, I get animal impact on my pastures, and the dairyman can increase his milking herd and actually make more money in the long run.

WHY THE ORGANIC PASTURE RULE IS A BAD THING

1. The increased paperwork. One thing that grates on organic producers is the paperwork involved. It seems backwards that an environmentally better agricultural production model has to “prove” itself, when probably the reverse should be true.  I know for certain that the increased paperwork has resulted in organic producers making the decision to give up certification.  In the dairy world the increased paperwork has put off those that are on the fence of deciding to transition. Also, on the certification end of things that increased paperwork and scrutiny has resulted in increases in costs and fees, which increase the costs of certification — which could lead to an increase of cost to the end consumer. Someone has to pay for all of that.

2. The hit to the small guy. I say this with tongue in cheek, because the small guy needs to play by the rules as well. Already there is a move afoot to modify the Pasture Rule, only because of the unintended consequences to the small producer. HOWEVER, I think that generally speaking everyone needs to move towards increasing the amount of pasture ruminant animals have under their care for their enterprise to be certified organic.

This is just a short analysis of a very impactful ruling. One thing for sure that I believe will be the short-term result, and that will be a shortage of organic milk and organic meat. I havent’ even addressed the issue of pasture or access to pasture for organic chickens. That’s another story in itself.

Grassfed dairy products are much harder to profit by than meat or eggs due to the increased complexity in production and marketing. Interest of 100% grassfed raw milk are on the rise (but a very very very small percentage of the total milk that is produced out in the marketplace). Raw milk grassfed cheese and butter are  more feasible due to the storability of the product — butter can be frozen and cheese can be aged.  The biggest issues that grass-based dairymen face is marketing and useage – typically the volume of milk from a grass-based dairy is highest in the spring and early summer, and lowest in the late fall and winter (the typical reality of when grass is growing). The problem with this is the processors that buy the milk from these dairies have a glut of milk in April, May, June and part of July — right when school lets out. School lunch milk makes up a significant portion of milk useage. Also, consumption of bottled milk falls in the summer. Whereas non-organic milk makes up the bulk of school lunch dairy, this phenomenon effects all dairy – especially fluid milk.

So what you have is all this milk right when the processor and marketer doesn’t need it. To compound matters worse, people actually like to drink milk year round. They may drink more in the winter, but by in large not having milk available all the time is a very bad play for marketers. Grassfed dairies typically either stop producing milk or reducing the volume dramatically in the winter. This just does not work — processors, stores, marketers and consumers want what they want, and they want it all  the time.  Just like people want tomatoes and bananas all the time.

What can be done? In my thinking, 100% grassfed bottled milk is not feasible now, not until the mainstream consumer dramatically changes their eating habits. When you see Wal-Mart doing anything, believe that the groundwork was laid a long time ago for acceptance in the marketplace. What I do see is the potential for 100% grassfed cultured products like butter and cheese — BUT, this requires the industry to absorb the excess of these dairies out of the goodness of their own hearts — which is not something to base a business plan on.  Farmers that are wanting to be 100% grassfed should focus on local sales if possible, and develop strong relations with normal marketing channels like local dairies that will work with them. Consumers should understand the hit that these pioneers get financially, and should work overtime to support them.

Hair sheep grazing through snow

It’s now the end of February, and I’ve fed very little hay. It’s amazing to see the sheep dig down through the snow and eat the grass. When one thinks about it, stockpiled grass (grass that was allowed to grow during the fall without cutting for hay or allowed to be grazed) is in fact “standing hay”. The idea is to have the animal go out there and harvest the feed themselves, not us humans spending a huge amount of money, time, effort and energy harvesting the hay and bringing it to the animal. Much less costly, much less effort, and the animal is healthier I believe, in the end.