Farming on a small scale starts with finding right animals

GOSPORT, Ind. (AP) - After driving a little more than a mile away from his 25-acre farm, Allen Kitscher treks up a steep hill, dodging thorned trees and stepping around overgrown brush.

He turns off his battery-powered electric fence and steps over the wire to greet a white llama and woolly sheep grazing on pasture overlooking Bean Blossom Creek near Gosport.

"Come on," he calls. He lets out a sharp whistle, and the rest of the flock appears through the woodlands. Eleven sheep, three goats and a llama gather around him. Closer to home, his 14 American dairy cows munch on grass, their primary food source.

"They know who I am, and they'll come over to me," Kitscher tells The Herald-Times (http://bit.ly/1zfowuY ) while stroking the head of a brown cow. "I've had the most luck with cows. I like them the most."

Kitscher and his wife, Grace MacNeil, own Moon Valley Farm, where they raise and breed livestock and grow a variety of vegetables and herbs they use in handmade soaps. As a part of this year's Local Growers Guild Winter Gathering, Kitscher will co-lead a workshop on keeping small herds with Whitney Schlegel of Marble Hill Farm. Other workshops will discuss labor on small farms, soil health and the needs and processes of local grocers when buying local produce.

"It not only helps educate small farmers, home, garden, community gardeners, it also allows for a lot of networking and idea sharing among people," said Bobbi Boos, president of the Local Growers Guild.

The first step in starting a herd is finding the right animals. Kitscher recommends using a breeder who raises animals the same way the buyers plan to raise their livestock. And just as with fresh produce, buying local is always best.

Kitscher's 14 cows, a mix of American milking, Devon and Jersey cows, are all descendants of the first two cows he purchased. The ones that do well foraging and eating grass remain in the herd, and he sells or butchers some steer to sell at the Winter Farmers' Market.

"It's been a slow process," he said. "I'm not getting rich doing it."

The upfront costs of starting a farm, including acquiring land and purchasing expensive equipment such as a tractor, can seem daunting to new farmers. After buying animals, Kitscher advises looking for nearby empty fields for land and food sources.

"A lot of people think they need to buy land. If you can lease from someone . it's just a much better opportunity," he said. "You're not tied to a piece of land."

Kitscher leases land, or his neighbors allow his cows, sheep, goats and llama to graze on their pasture for free. The animals drink at a nearby pond. He doesn't own a tractor, and only makes or buys hay when his animals can't graze. When the weather is bad, the herd moves indoors at the farm.

"I feel like if humans weren't here and they were let go, they would survive," Kitscher said. "It seems like to let the land fully express itself, let the animals eat what they would, it's like what you have in nature."

But nature can't always compete with industrial agriculture. Kitscher has leased land that has been taken back for planting corn or soybeans.

"I can't really compete with what they get out of it," he said. "For me to turn that ground back to decent pasture takes seven to 10 years."

Kitscher rotates the pasture on which his cows graze. The cows will eat the best grass, weeds and brush, and trample the rest. Then they'll move along to a new patch, and the previously grazed spot has time to regrow before the animals return. Letting a herd stay in one place means the animals eat the same plants over and over, and they won't have time to regrow. Meanwhile, weeds will sprout and their seeds will take root.

"By giving them pieces, they know there's something to look forward to," Kitscher said. "A lot of times landowners want things to look like a golf course. If you're grazing right, that's not how it looks. It's not neat and tidy."

Not only is the grass diet healthier for the animals and the meat and dairy products they provide, but Kitscher says it's better for the environment. Kitscher works to make Moon Valley as sustainable as possible, from feeding his pigs local corn that is not genetically modified to using solar panels to power the electric fence surrounding his cows.

"A good pasture sequesters a lot of carbon," Kitscher said. "To me, having people with small flocks of grass-fed animals seems a lot more stabilized. If you have cows, eat cows and raise cows, you have more cows. It just seems like more life all around."

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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com