Have a look at ... an alternative stock farmer
Jelle Norder is an ecological
stock farmer. His farm is in Noordlaren, a small village in the south of
Groningen. His farm shows how you can produce meat in an different way.
He keeps sheep, cows and pigs. It's not a large farm, but that's what he
had in mind, because if you have less animals, you can do more for each
animals.
Not as big but 100%
The farm contains 20 cows,
60 pigs and 150 sheep. In the yard, you can also find geese, dogs, cats,
peacocks and swallows. This looks very friendly picture. The farm is, as
he called it 'In harmony with nature' The animals are always outside. They
are not only in the yard. His cows and sheep stand in the nature reserves
around the river 'de drenthse Aa' and the lake 'Zuidlaardermeer'. The cows
are always outside and only in special cases by example if the birth of
a calf goes wrong, they stand inside. The sheep are always outside too,
except for the lambs. They are kept inside. The pigs can go in- and outside
when they want. There are little sties for them. The pigs are about 80%
of the day inside and they only come outside to eat. On the farm there
are all sorts of young animals. Calf's. Lambs and a lot of piglets. A cow
has a calf about once a year , a sheep has about 2 lambs once a year about
and a pig has piglets twice a year .
Natural feed
The animals only get natural
food and mostly food which grows around the farm. A cow eats 90% grass
and furthermore beets and barley. Sheep eat the same as cows, but they're
more particular. The pigs eat corn and morsels. The piglets eat the same
as their mothers but they prefers morsels. The farmer tries to make the
circular course in the farm as good as possible. So the dung feeds the
land and in that way the grain grows a lot better.
Barbie
Animals don't get a name,
except if they are born on a special time or date, or if they do something
special. If an animal is born during a barbecue it is called barbie.
The animals are recognized by looking at their drawing.
Selling meat
Selling the meat of the animals
isn't difficult at all, but to get known is more difficult. Because there
are a lot of rich people in the neighbourhood, the meat sells really
good. The meat is sold in 3 different ways:
*In the natural food shop
*At the farm
*To people with a subscription
The meat in the natural food
shop is best sold.
Bio-industry
When the farmer hears the
word bio-industry he gets depressive. It's pointless to do such a thing
to the animals.
The farmer doesn't want to
let his farm grow. Only the quality of the food could be a little better
and maybe the quality of the meat will be a little better then. A better
treatment will express in more baby animals.
Read on the next page about
action groups
* Have
a look at... a bio-industry farmer
* Have
a look at... a Diary cattle farmer
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