An icy wind and some
very friendly animals welcomed us to Taranaki farm. Set in the rolling hills behind Woodend and with stunning
views to Mt Macedon, Taranaki farm is impressive to begin with.
This is a fourth
generation family farm, now run by Ben Fallon and inspired by the practices of the
famous Joel Salatin from Virginia USA, who promotes poly face farming or
regenerative agriculture. These are systems with a high diversity and are commercially
viable. You can read more about Joel Salatin’s farm here.
Ben spoke a lot about
letting animals express them selves – chickens should be able to express their
chicken-ness and also how their nature can be utilised. The farm is possibly
best known for the chicken tractor system which follow the movement of cattle. The cows are moved into a new
area each day, this is know as cell grazing, and mimics their natural movement
over grasslands, high density herds moving to fresh ground each day. This means grass has time to regenerate
and the ground doesn’t become overly compacted. The grass certainly was thick and the earth spongy underfoot. Chickens follow 4 days behind the
cows, scratching up any cow pats to get the insects underneath thereby spreading
out nutrients and sanitising the ground from parasites. The also add their
manure and so improve the quality of the pasture long term. An the
by-product? Eggs!!
At Taranaki farm everything
seems to move often. There are also meat chickens in moving shelters, a mobile
dairy, a large A frame with chickens for intensive egg production and forest pigs. Even
the fences aren’t static being made from star pickets and eclectic wires.
Dams, swales and roads
are built on contour in harmony with the existing shape of the land to maximise
water infiltration.
This is a managed ecological system. More information about Taranaki’s farming techniques are available on
their web site.
Of particular interest
to us city dwellers was that Ben mentioned the best type of eggs come from a
chicken attached to a kitchen, eating kitchen scraps and without the pressure
of productivity. Commercial chooks
need to lay around 7 eggs every 10 days, backyard chooks are more easily
forgiven for barren periods
While Taranaki farm is
totally GE free, Ben said that sometimes he thinks local is more important than
organic, he said he would rather buy local grain to feed the chooks than
organic grain from Queensland
He also spoke about
how its important to become reconnected with the land, that people in cities shouldn’t
forget they are a biological entity- they are part of the earth’s ecosystem whether its acknowledged or not. To acknowledge this Ben recommends that we patronise local farmers,
so we have a connection with our food, we know what’s in it and how it is grown
and its impact on the earth.
So for the things you
can’t produce yourself find a local farmer! Ideas for how this can be done at include
farmers market, community supported agriculture, our local Eaterprises network or setting up your own co-op
system.
Taranaki farm runs
monthly tours, host’s interns and is well worth a visit.
Words and Photos By Elspeth Brock
