Small, Mixed Organic Farm Supports Family

by John Deitz

Cattle, grain and forages provide a mix that can support a big family on a small farm - if the farm is organic.

German-born Agabus Neuschwander farms with older equipment and a patch on his coveralls, but he's got a smile under his long beard and contentment in his voice. His 1,100-acre organic mixed farm at Gladstone, Man., supports his wife, three young children, sister, father, mother and himself. None rely on off-farm work - and things are getting better.

"I was 14 when we came to Canada from southwestern Germany," he says. "There were five children. Dad started with 320 acres in 1980." Willi Neuschwander initially tried growing corn and using conventional chemicals, the way the neighbors did. An early fall frost in 1983 set them back badly, Agabus recalls. Soon after, 'economics' forced them to cut back on herbicides. "Expenses were too high, and income was too low," he recalls. Then, about 1985, Willi and young Agabus (Gk. - 'A Locust') had a terrific crop on a field that had been fallow. The 'lights went on'. Within two years, the family had quit using any crop inputs that weren't organic.

"It started as a way we could afford to farm. Now we see it, in a deeper degree, as good stewardship," Agabus says. "Good stewardship of the land is a byproduct of our religious beliefs. We try to work the land so we keep it productive and unpolluted, as natural as possible."

Today, sales of organically-produced cattle, wheat and oats are the hub of the farm's economic activity. The Neuschwander farm was among the first farms certified by the Organic Producers Association of Manitoba (OPAM). More recently, it became a member of the Canadian Organic Livestock Association (COLA).

Certified organic cattle
Cows weren't in the plan, initially, but the big family needed a milk cow. Willi got one in 1986. Two years later, Agabus was building a cattle shelter for the first beef cows. His certified organic herd today has 70 mixed-breed beef cows.

It has been difficult, he admits, becoming established as an organic beef supplier. He has to decide in May, when the feeders are about 14 months old, to either keep them to finish for organic beef or sell them into the conventional market. He has been able to find customers in Winnipeg and Brandon for only about a dozen organic livestock a year. Those animals are fed to market weight, about 1,350 pounds, then slaughtered, hung, cut and wrapped at an inspected facility in Gladstone. The rest are sold in the conventional livestock markets, mostly as feeders.

Agabus joined COLA in 2000, hoping it would provide an organized approach to marketing organic livestock. A single agency with hundreds of members should have the steady volume to interest larger retailers and actually collect appropriate premiums. According to a COLA study, the break-even point for organic beef is 30 per cent more than the conventional cost.

Without hormones or implants, cattle take an extra two or three months to reach the kind of finish the market wants. Yields per acre for the farm's organic feed supply are lower than on a conventional farm, so feed costs are higher. "Things looked favorable, in 2001 and 2002, so we did go ahead and finish them. Then, the following October-November, that market did not materialize and we had to sell them to the conventional market!"

In November 2003, as this article was being prepared, COLA announced it was completing the sales Agabus needed. He was about to ship his first 28 cattle east to Montreal. It appeared that most of his other finished animals also would be sold, through COLA marketing, for the organic premium price.

Organic crops
The Neuschwander farm is on flat, sandy to dark sandy-loam soil. In a typical year, two of the seven quarters are set aside for a green manure crop. A third quarter provides pasture on a rotational grazing system. The remaining four quarters are in silage corn, wheat, oats and perhaps fall rye. A single quarter-section may have several fields. A typical rotation for a field may extend over eight years, including four in pasture followed alternately by grain and "green" manure.

Green manure is the primary source of fertility. Green manure is worked under in mid-summer and well-decomposed for seeding time next spring. Agabus prefers a common European legume, the fababean, for green manure. Sweet clover is an alternate. Either one can serve as backup, if the cattle are short of pasture. Agabus also is experimenting with sainfoin. It's a non-bloating legume. Cattle manure is the only other source of fertility. Corrals usually are cleaned out just before seeding. Using a front-end loader and grain trucks, they move the manure out to a field where it can compost in windrows.

"Within two days or so, it will start heating. We monitor the compost temperature with a probe, and we roll it with the front-end loader when it reaches 160-Fahrenheit. We keep on doing that until it doesn't heat up anymore or until we spread it. The composting effect shows up right away. Where you spread the manure, the crop is simply higher and thicker," Agabus says. "It certainly improves the soil tilth or friability. About 30 per cent is broken down the first year, so the benefit lasts beyond the first year."

Two fields are always available for pasture. Agabus seeds each pasture with a mixture of alfalfa and timothy grass. When the productivity of a pasture drops after three or four years, it is plowed up at the end of July to make way for a new crop the following spring. The herd is confined to a three-day supply of grazing with movable, single-strand electric wire. His father, Willi, still enjoys taking an active part in moving the herd to new pasture.

Coming out of pasture, the first crop will be oats, wheat or corn. "This year we had silage corn on a pasture that we broke up last year after we took one cut of hay," he says. "We had good results with the corn. It was a nice, healthy crop that showed good, dark green color. It wasn't suffering from lack of nutrients." He estimated the 2003 silage corn yielded 8 tonnes an acre.

Using a small tractor and cultivator - rather than pesticides -- Agabus or his father cultivate between rows of corn, wheat or oats. They have 30-inch spacing on corn and an 8-row cultivator. Rows may be cultivated as many as four times before the corn is too tall in early July.

The family works together to harvest the silage corn in September. Willi drives the tractor pulling a two-row forage harvester. Agabus builds the silage pile, which may have earlier layers of sweet clover, wild oats or even fall rye. His wife Mari and sister Margaret shuttle back and forth with grain trucks. His mother will be in the house, watching children and operating the kitchen.

Grains are seeded with a modified double-press drill on double-rowed 4"/8" spacing. "The eight-inch spacing is wide enough so that we can cultivate it with a narrow spike," Agabus says. At planting, he explains, behind the packer wheels, they attach a steel frame with two spikes to the seed drill to make two distinctive tracks. The tracks match the width of the tire spacing on the tractor used for cultivating. Then, for cultivating, the tractor is outfitted with single rib tires on the front. The ribs follow in the track; steering is required only for making turns. "It's fairly accurate, and we figure the benefits outweigh the damage," he says.

Oat yields average around 45 to 50 bushels and acre. Wheat is a little more variable, with results at 22 to 30 bushels an acre. "We've always been able to sell our wheat and oats into the organic market," he says. Their actually seeding choice depends on the market outlook for that crop year.

Each field also is evaluated for its growing condition after a crop is taken off. This year's corn field could have a green manure crop next year, if they think the soil needs a little 'building up.' Or, it could be re-seeded to oats if there seems to be enough nutrients for another crop.

Mixed farm benefits
Having a mixed farm, crops and cattle, has multiple benefits. "It would be a bit tougher without the cattle," Agabus says. The farm would be likely to require a green manure program every second year. To make it sustainable for the family, without off-farm income, they would need more land.

He points to four benefits from having cattle:

• First, cattle enable them to use alfalfa in the rotation. Alfalfa is deep rooted. He's sure of a first cut from established alfalfa, even if conditions are dry. It adds nitrogen to the soil, and the taproot loosens the soil to let in air.
• Second, cattle provide extra 'weed control' for the organic grower who turns up with a weedy field. With managed grazing, the weedy crop is never a write-off.
• Third, cattle provide economic diversity. They're in a whole different market from grains and easier to market if the farm has a sudden or unexpected need.
• Fourth, cattle spread the farm work. The farm that relies on grain production completely has much more pressure, for concentrated periods.

Things do change, he notes, even for an established organic farm. He's making adjustments for changes in certification requirements, and he's experimenting with sainfoin, and he probably will try to improve the herd genetics. Still, Agabus says, an organic mixed farming approach is his long term preference. He says, "I hope we will be able to market a substantial number of our head as organic beef in the future. Then we will definitely stay in mixed farming."

John Deitz is a consultant for the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada. Please send comments or questions by phone to 902-893-7256 or by email to oacc@nsac.ca.

Photos by John Deitz