Animal or Vegetable

So why animals at all?

I have often read that we should all switch to farming plant crops for direct human consumption. We could feed many more people with a lower environmental cost.

That statement does not consider some relationships that are demonstrated on our farm.

The first is that all land is not the same. The land I work with runs from a small river to a ridge of substantial hills. Near the river the soil and moisture are such that I can reliably grow many types of crops. I don't have to travel far uphill before the soil is not suitable for cultivation or cropping. However, these areas are suited to perennial pastures or trees. By the time I am half way to the top of the hills the slope and soils restrict sustainable land use to trees and seasonal grazing. In fact the majority of the land I work with is only suitable for animals and trees (and generally not crop bearing trees).

The second is that plants and animals go together. As a trained ecologist I tend to see ecosystems not agricultural production systems. Herbivores and herbs are synergistic, as are fruit and fruigivores,  detritus and detritivores, meat and carnivores. That does not presuppose that humans need to eat animals, simply that trying to remove animals from ecosystems is likely to have a range of unwelcome and perhaps unanticipated ramifications.

The third is that animals play a management role. The land we farm is in transition (more of that in a later post). In the meantime, we have a large amount of grass that, left unchecked, would constitute a serious fire hazard. This is something that is dangerous and against the law. Some of the grass may be dealt with by controlled burning or mowing. Both these strategies have their limits. Another management function of animals is biomass and nutrient cycling. Our organic permaculture farming strategy is dependent on recycled plants (cattle, goat and poultry manure) for fertility and soil carbon.

The final relationship is that the land we farm exists in a social fabric - of markets, technologies, industries and cultural proclivities. We live in an area where everyone farms cattle and no-one farms much else. There is a cattle market, saleyards, abattoir, transport providers, farm work contractors, product distributors and suppliers, even a yearly calendar of cattle related events. By contrast we grow a small garlic crop every year. There is no local established marketing, sales or distribution systems for garlic. We have to be grower, processor, marketer, sales and delivery. We faced the same challenge with our goat dairy. There are significant inefficiencies (cost/unit production) in swimming against the tide.

I will not use any of these relationships as a justification for continuing to farm animals for slaughter. However, each does present a very real challenge.

The question is not - 'Should we farm animals or plants?' I suspect I cannot do one sustainably without the other. The question is - 'How do we influence the ecosystems we manage without precipitating suffering?'