Recently I was able to take a trip to Cricket Creek Farm, a diversified livestock operation in the Berkshires. This farm raises pigs, rose veal, beef, a flock of pastured laying hens, and dairy cows that produce milk for sale and cheese making. I was able to talk to Suzy Konecky, one of the farm managers and cheese makers, about the farm and what it is like to manage such a diverse operation (check out the video below!).
An interesting concept Suzy spoke about is that of a “farm organism:”
“I think of this farm as a living organism with different parts that all work together in order to make something whole. Each part of the organism needs to be healthy, satisfied, and well-functioning in order for the whole farm to be successful.” –Suzy
One of the things that struck me is how everything on the farm is working together to form a happy, healthy whole. This idea of the “whole” includes everything from animals, infrastructure, soil, crops, equipment, and humans. Everything has a role and when one of those parts is not working correctly or not healthy other things on the farm can be affected. For instance, at Cricket Creek the cheese making allows the farm to have pigs that are entirely whey fed. The pigs provide an outlet for the by-products of the cheese making process, but also are producing a high value product for sale. Without the pigs, there would be the difficulty of finding another use for the whey by-product and without the whey by-product the pigs would be much more expensive to feed and may not be economically viable.
The concept of a farm organism and having everything in balance is not limited to diversified livestock operations. If you are a single commodity farm, you still will have opportunities to fine tune your balance in areas such as soil, crop rotations, human resources, equipment, etc.
If you have thought about diversifying your farm and think it may be in your future, check out these fact sheets from Penn State available at http://extension.psu.edu/business/ag-alternatives. As they say on the site, these fact sheets are
“… designed to help you select crop or livestock enterprises for your farm. Whether you are a full-time farmer looking to diversify or a part-time farmer looking to generate additional income from your property, there are many important issues to consider when selecting a new enterprise.”
When (and if) you select a new enterprise to get started in, remember the whole and try to keep everything in balance!
If you would like Ashley to provide you with any additional information or answer any questions, she can be contacted at arp253@cornell.edu or (518) 272-4210.
