ducks, chickens, dogs, and sheep
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The Resilient Farm and Homestead
An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach
BEN FALK
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The Resilient Farm and Homestead130
and abandoned arm that requires that as a oundation
we establish healthier soils and a better sward o grass
rom which to raise uture animals.
As a whole, when evaluating animal suitability or
your systems, keep in mind that the most sensible
animals in a homestead geared to be adaptable to a
rapidly changing world should be chosen based on the
criteria below. And keep in mind that trying various
animals is oten the only way to nd hidden synergies
and constraints in a specic animals interaction withyour unique system. Each sites conditions are di-
erent enough that no solution ound on another site
will be wholly adaptable to your own. Find the closest
examples, and learn rom them, then try, tweak, and
try some more. In all likelihood it will take a number
o years to establish a synergistic animal aspect to your
system. Criteria and considerations or selecting ani-
mals in a unctioning permaculture include:
Input-output ratio: The most outputs, in both
quality and quantity, relative to inputs should be a
primary determinant o an animals suitability. This
seems clear enough: We must enjoy and be invigorated
by the bulk o the work we perorm in lieno destina-
tion, just a journey.
duk, chiken, dog, an sheep
In the development o the WSRF, we have thus ar used
three species o animal consistently: two birdsducks
and chickensand one grazersheep. We tried goats
and pigs but decided that the quantity and type o oodthey require is not a good match or the resource fows
o this arm. Animals well tted to a arm ecosystem
must utilize an excess o a resource and transorm that
into a resource area that is lacking. For us that so ar
has been two things: (1) browse and orage (leaves and
some grass) into soil and more grass, and (2) slugs,
snails, and bugs into eggs and soil. This need or the
transormation o one resource into others will always
change over time and at some point here will go rom
seeking soil and more grass alone into seeking other
yields such as meat, milk, and ber. It is the system-
establishment phase and the act this land is an abused
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Fertility Harvesting and Cycling 131
human contact as they run into more problems
healthwise that require human care.
Infrastructure needs: These range rom a dry
space or the toughest grazers, which can spend all
winter out in deep snow, to goats, which do best
with some cover rom even mild, warm rainstorms.
Pairing your inrastructure with the needs o the
animal is key.
Soil needs: Are you starting with good-quality agri-
cultural soil or a beat-up subsoil slope? Vegetation needs: Do you need to grow the veg-
etation you already have on site (e.g., good pasture
orages), or do you need to change the composition
o plants radically (abandoned eld or young or-
est)? The more you need to change composition, the
greater animal and human impact youll need, the
greater the work and time rame involved.
Health needs: This aspect should be considered
under Input-output ratio above but is so crucial
and ot-missed that Ive listed it separately. I am
amazed how many people endeavoring to carry out
a sel-reliant homestead and arm (even those doing
aspect includes time, oten orgotten as a crucial
input (see below). This aspect is contextual and
requires an understanding o how the arm/home-
stead ts into its surroundings. An output such as
meat or ber, or instance, may have a huge value i
your neighbors want it, even i you do not. Or your
local community may not want or need any animal
products rom you, and their outputs are only valu-
able i they can be used on-site.
Likeability: What animals do you get along with thebest, pay most attention to, are naturally inclined to
observe and relate to? Those, all other aspects being
equal, will always do better on your site than those
you eel no connection withsimply or utilitar-
ian reasons: You cant care or someone you arent
attentive to as well as someone you are. Domestic
animals, like people, thrive based on their connec-
tions and the degree to which they are cared or.
Care means something dierent to each animal as
well. Care or a bee cow is good grass, lots o room,
and good water but does not involve tons o human
contact. Care or a milking sheep involves more
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The Resilient Farm and Homestead132
your most valuable asset in a unctional home/arm
system, and its limited, so choose to apply it wisely.
Nothing in the system short o another human being
or inrastructure emergency can suck up the kind
o time that a sick, injured, or otherwise problem
animal cannot a ruit tree, or a berry bush, or a
vegetable bed. Animals are a big commitment, and
when they have problems, the devotion needed or
that part o the system goes through the roo.
ull grass-ed and reusing to use grain) think little
o the medicinal and veterinary needs o their ani-
mals. The need or wormer, vaccines, birthing aid,
disease management, and other specialized or time-
consuming medical needs o an animal vary
enormously by species. This is a primary reason I
view sheep as transitional or my arm and not viable
at this scale or even remotely close to this scale
they need too much health maintenance inputs
One o the many happy accidents on the arm: The discovery that chickens guard sheep against y inestation, made by grazing them together. This sheep
was ound with y strike two weeks ater being separated rom these chickens ater an entire summer o y avoidance while cohabitating with the poultry.
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Fertility Harvesting and Cycling 133
Why? Maybe because it was very dry and the slug popu-
lation plummeted. Maybe. The point is just because an
animal or group o animals tend to have acted in certain
ways in the past is no reason to think they will always act
that way. They respond to conditions just the way people
do, actually probably more.
And they learn, too. Birds didnt touch our rice crop
or three years, then in year our they decimated it.When asked during tours o the property, What do you
do about birds? Id respond, They dont eat the rice.
Then they did. Thats happened a dozen times here in
all animal aspects. Take our rst chickens a ew years
ago. We put them under the orchard in June just like a
good permaculturist is told to do. Theyll eat the allen
ruit! Well, ours didnt. Why? No idea, but they didnt,
and it wasnt because they werent hungry, because they
weresubsisting on almost no grain.
Heres another: Sheep dont eat bark, only goats
will. Nope. Ours ollowed this rule or two years and
in the third year took out our oldest pear, a peach, and
some other trees. They learned that bark was good.
They broke the rule. Given enough time, most animals
seem to make similar decisions. Our most recent meat
birds, Kosher Kingswere great or rotational grazing!
I was told. Yeah, well, not ours. They never stayed inthe poultry netting. Why? No idea. They didnt fy out;
they just ound their way under and through the ence.
The birds we had the year beore did stayCornish
giantsand those are supposed to be poor choices or
ranging. A clear example o the recommended approach
not working at all. That happens a lot, so you will have to
experiment countless times with countless approaches
to nd out what is true for you in your site.
Its essential to point out at the outset o this section
that making generalizations about animals is about as
accurate as it is about people. Its pervasive, and you read
or hear such nonsense as the ollowing:
Goats eat everything! (Actually, goats are one o the
most selective grazers in the world and more picky
than most creatures when given the choice.) That heirloom chicken breed is great or pest control.
Chickens eat allen ruitput them under your
ruit trees.
That variety is such good oragers.
Why are such statements nonsense? Because they
treat an entire species or variety as though they all act
the same. Excuse my French, but when you actually
work with such animals, you see immediately that such
ideas are complete bullshit. Animals are individuals, just
as you and I are. Lets get that out o the way imme-
diately because it really retards the conversation about
animals and only comes about rom too much reading
and not enough doing.
The point here is to remember that animals act based
upon not only their instinct (breeding results) but out
o their training, environment, stimulus, what theyvelearned, and many other actors. So we need to think in
as nuanced a way about animal behavior as we do about
people behavior. The accurate way to think o it is this
individual duck does this or this particular sheep does
that. And also, like people they change rom year to
year. Our ducks never ate mature vegetation during the
growing season, just during the winter, or three years.
Then in year our they attacked my large cabbage plants.
THE AIMAL GEERALIzATIO MTH