PERFORMANCE HORSES MEAT GOATS PASTURED POULTRY
LEUNEN FARMS is located in Schuyler County in North East Missouri. Known as the “Missouri Badlands”, this area is the watershed for the North Fabious River. The region is known for it’s abundant wildlife and native timber.
Unlike the flat, fertile farmlands in all directions, this unique landscape is rolling hills and river bottoms.
North East Missouri is a birder's paradise. Each year migratory waterfowl rest over in nearby fields and waterways. Bald eagles are common winter residents and songbirds abound.
Schuyler County is famous for the large whitetail buck deer which find their way into record books each year, and for the plentiful wild turkeys. Here, John and Debra raise registered performance horses, purebred dogs, Boer meat goats and Day Range poultry in a farming method known as “Sustainable Agriculture”.
Farm Description
Our farm consists of less than 40 acres. We raise registered performance horses, registered dogs, pastured poultry and registered Boer meat goats on a small farm in Northern Missouri.
Goal
Our goal is to reestablish a grass-legume pasture, to restore balance to the plant community on the farm, improve pastures, and increase the stocking rate using multi-species Management-intensive Grazing. My husband and I would like our small farm to be profitable, to support our lifestyle choice, and to function without causing permanent damage to the ecosystem. We wish to be sustainable.
Project Description
In 1998, we received a SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) Grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture to explore biological weed control using meat goats. Our weed-choked, eroded pastures will not support enough livestock for our farm to be profitable. The pastures must be improved and Management-intensive Grazing (MiG) with goats, horses, and poultry appears to be the best way to do it. Current challenges to improving pastures include: a tree-shaded bottom; an impenetrable thicket of multiflora roses, berry brambles, and creeping vines; steep, eroded land overgrown with thorny locust, scrub cedar, sumac, buckbrush, and hardwood sprouts; and hay ground choked with thistle, cocklebur, milkweed, ragweed, and other noxious weeds.
Common methods of weed control include using herbicides or burning. Both methods have long-term consequences such as groundwater and air pollution, and provide only a short-term solution to the problem of unwanted plant species. Mechanical removal is expensive due to fossil fuel and labor costs and is impractical or impossible on our steep pasture and soft bottom ground. My husband and I prefer biological weed control.
The Project
Initially, we conducted a weed survey and created a map that showed where palatable forages existed. To start restoring their pastures, we began building MiG paddocks and portable shelters for our goats. We also reinforced our perimeter fences to securely contain all of our livestock. The goats were used intensively on target areas and were kept where they were needed with electric fencing. After dividing the farm into four equal sections with electric fencing we then cleared the weeds and brush though MiG of meat goats. After the goats had cleared the paddock of undesirable growth we moved the goats into the next paddock and released our horses into the previously grazed section. The MiG increased the stocking rate of the farm and produced desirable changes in plant populations and soil conditions.
Measuring Success
As a result of this three year study, we determined that our farm benefited in three major ways:
Ecologically: Using goats to clear and control weeds will return pastures to productive use without using herbicides, fossil fuels or burning. Manure from the goats will be spread over the ground as the animals are rotated from paddock to paddock, adding nutrients to the soil.
Economically: Improving unproductive pastures will allow a higher stocking rate for horses and pasture poultry, and will provide the potential for increased income. The meat goats can be used for weed control, and then sold to provide additional income for the farm.
Socially: Grazing weedy pastures with goats will reduce noxious weed populations on the farm and prevent weeds from spreading to neighboring farms. Neighbors will not have to worry about herbicide drift or nitrate runoff. The community will gain a local source of pastured poultry, goats, and horses.
Outreach
In an effort to promote the use of goats for weed control and to share information with other producers, we sponsored farm walks each year of our project. We cooked and served goat meat to introduce the community to a novel meat. We continue to take visitors through our operation and advise them on the duplication of similar MiG operations on their farms.
We continue to participate in goat field days, sponsored by the University Extension, by providing animals and giving demonstrations. I was a featured speaker at the National Small Farm Trade Show and Conference held in Columbia, Missouri in 2000 where I spoke about using meat goats to control weeds. In 2005, I was awarded a seat at the Sheep & Meat Goat Training Program at the Missouri Livestock Symposium. I maintain a library of materials on the subject of meat goats and share this information with others.
Results
In the first year of this project, we took soil samples and surveyed the weeds and grasses growing in the pastures. The initial soil sample results were better than they anticipated. In the past, the land had been overgrazed and mismanaged, however, the soil had not suffered severe deficiencies and there was no serious erosion. However, the initial weed and grass survey was very discouraging. The main grass present was fescue and the survey found many species of weeds dominating the pasture, including poisonous species. In the wooded areas, little or no valuable timber was discovered. Existing undergrowth was crowding and stunting desired species.”
By using MiG, we gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about goats and managing our pastures. We learned that goats eat weeds first, then leafy brush and only consume grass when there is no preferred browsing available. By utilizing this knowledge, we have been able to profit from previously undesirable plant growth. Instead of completely eliminating the unwanted species, we have learned to manage it and turn it into a profitable food source for our animals. We allow the goats to graze first, letting them eat weeds and brush and then remove them before the growth is killed out. Then we turn the horses into the paddock and allow them to eat the remaining choice grasses. They are removed before the grass is cropped too closely, and then the goats are returned to finish off the weeds that have been exposed by the selective grazing of the horses. The pastured poultry is used to control parasites and distribute manure in the paddocks.
Conclusion
After MiG of goats, we have seen a definite reduction of weeds and undergrowth. Overall pasture condition has improved; undergrowth has been reduced or entirely removed. We see increased vigor in the pasture grasses and additional, palatable species are now present due to the reduced competition. We have tripled the stocking rate of goats on this farm and have doubled the stocking rate of the horses and introduced day range poultry for added diversity. Our use of anthelmentics (de-wormers) has decreased and we believe this is due to rotational grazing and the reduction of parasite re-infestation through multi-species grazing. Farm revenue has increased annually since the onset of this project. Debra Leunen 2006
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LEUNEN FARMS
PO Box 189, Lancaster, MO 63548
Home: 660-457-2125 Barn: 660-216-0231