2014 SSAWG Conference

In January I was blessed to win a scholarship to the 2014 SSAWG Conference in Mobile, Alabama. SSAWG is an acronym for Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group.  The conference location rotates to different locations in the South. This is my third time to attend, having attended two conferences in Chattanooga, Tennessee in addition to this one in Mobile, Alabama.  Tricia attended two SSAWG conferences in Little Rock, Arkansas.  If you are interested in SSAWG, click here.

Image Credit

It was held at the Mobile, Alabama Convention Center on Water Street and as the name suggests, it is right on the water.  While I was gone, Tricia and Benjamin "held down the fort," milking 3 cows and a goat and taking care of 99 meat birds and a flock of laying hens and tending to the garden, among other things.  What a team!!

View from the Mobile Convention Center

Our hotel was right across the street and it was a convenient walk to the conference events.  The conference activities began on Thursday, January 16th and closed Saturday night.  I always anticipate the event as I get to learn about what other small farmers are doing on their farms.  I take lots of notes and then make a "knock-out list" of things that I'll attempt to incorporate at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm when I get home.

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the cornfield." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

View from my Hotel Room

On Thursday at noon, I elected to go on a field trip to Hastings Farms, a local Organic Beef, Lamb and Pork farm operated by Mr. Randall Hastings.  Mr. Hastings was a chemical and fertilizer salesman before having a change of direction.  He got interested in Grass Fed Beef and never looked back.

Several Take-aways from Hastings Farms:

• Rather than worm cattle, he takes a fecal sample first, as indiscriminate use of wormer kills beneficial bugs in soil.
• He uses a Refractometer to test brix levels (sugar concentration) in grass.  Nutrition of grass is key.
• His mineral program is vital and he uses a 'cafeteria plan,' with 12 stone minerals by choice are presented to his animals.
• Success of his program is the health of his grass and genetics of his animals.
• He uses Katahdin sheep to clean up after cows - they'll eat stuff that the cows won't.
• He also uses apple cider vinegar to worm his cattle, chickens, and pigs at a 1 cup apple cider vinegar to 4 gallon water ratio.

Friday and Saturday were filled with General Conference Sessions which were concurrent sessions covering many items of interest to the Homestead Farmer and were presented in a classroom setting.

The first one I attended was about Composting and learned some of the science surrounding the degradation of organic matter by microbes and the benefits of microorganisms to your soil and ultimately plant health. This sort of dove-tailed with the worming comments from the Hastings Farm field trip as Ivermectin and most other parasite control applications will kill beneficial organisms in your soil which adversely affect the health of your soil and consequently, your farm.

Components of Compost

I then attended a Pastured Poultry Problem Solving Forum where other producers discussed, commiserated, and solved common problems that we all experience.

Take-aways from this session:

• Look into the Freedom Ranger breed of meat bird that forages more than the Cornish Cross.
• Use a bug light placed around your chicken tractor to attract and kill bugs for free chicken food supplements!
• Use Diatomaceous Earth in nesting boxes to keep fire ants out.
• Push chicken tractor first, then feed them.  Allow chickens to eat grass before feeding them feed.
• Introduce new birds to flock by placing them on roost by other birds at night

Some things you just learn by talking to other people.  For example, some friends of ours in Scott, Louisiana run Gotreaux Farms.  I was talking to some of their kids about their jobs on the farm and they told me a couple of items that I plan on implementing at our place:

• They use wood shavings instead of hay for their hens' nesting boxes and they change it out once a week with fresh shavings.  This keeps things clean and cuts down significantly on the number of eggs that they have to clean, thus saving time.
• At 3 months of age, the pullets are placed in an Egg Mobile chicken tractor and are left there for 1 week before opening the door.  This allows the pullets to get into a routine of where to roost.

Sharing Solutions for common Chicken problems

The next session was entitled Producing and Processing Livestock and was put on by the Blanchets, a Family from Abbeville, Louisiana who operate Brookshire Farm. They don't worm their animals, but use rotational grazing to keep them on fresh, tall grass and they have high quality green stuff all year for their animals to eat.

• March - August: Cowpeas
• Summer - Fall: Browntop millet
• Fall: Sorghum/Sudangrass
• Winter - Spring: Rye and Clover

Their objective is an 1,100 - 1,200 lb steer at 17 - 19 months of age with a finishing average weight gain of 2 lbs per day.

The next class taught about Building the Soil Organically and encouraged rotating crops and growing cover crops and incorporating them into your soil.  It was very helpful in teaching how to convert conventional recommendations from a soil test to an organic amendment recipe.  (I knew Algebra would come in handy somewhere!)  I learned to use compost and mulch and amendments to the soil.

Principle: Feed the Soil and let the soil feed the crop.

The Law of Return: Replenish nutrients removed in Harvest

Book Learnin' for Farmers

A keynote speaker on Saturday morning told us the following startling statistics:

• Half of our population lives within 3 minutes of a McDonald's
• Since 1987 corn sweetener and obesity has increased substantially resulting in an average calorie intake that has increased by 25% since 1970

His goal was to communicate passion and engage young people into having a love of the land.  He closed by saying, "Find people who love their food, and they'll love the farmers who are raising it."

I attended a very interesting presentation on Capturing and Managing Water on your Farm.  I try to capture rainwater and learned the following formula to help me gauge water catchment capacity around our place:

During a 1 inch rain, each square foot of collection area yields 0.6 gallons of water.

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

I attended a session on Predators and Predation Management and learned the importance of livestock guardian dogs and which breeds are best.  The final session I attended taught about Producing Pasture Raised Eggs for Market.  I learned that you cannot feed poultry 100% on pasture.  You must supplement with grain.  I was taught that a hen will eat 90 pounds of feed in a year.  That equates to 4 ounces of feed per day.  Very helpful information!

I almost forgot to mention that there was a Trade Show going on during the entire conference in which you could stop by, browse, pick up samples, get on mailing lists and purchase products.  There is also a Seed Swap in which you can bring seeds from home that you save and swap with other attendees.  I've picked up an interesting assortment of heirloom seeds over the years.  One other helpful thing is that one evening after the general sessions, there is a State Networking session in which you get an opportunity to meet and talk with other producers in your State that are like-minded.  The Louisiana contingent has really grown over the past several years and is encouraging.

To close out the conference, on Saturday night, attendees were invited to a banquet meal called "Taste of Alabama," which is made up of locally produced food and drink and we were able to visit at the table with friends, both new and old.

Taste of Alabama Banquet

SSAWG is a great conference from which we have gained great insight over the years. I am so grateful to LA SARE (Louisiana Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education) for giving me the opportunity to attend. Click here to learn about LA SARE.  I intend to share the information I learned with family members, friends, and customers in an effort to teach others what I learned.  I also appreciate the support we all get from LSU, Southern University, and LSU AgCenter professionals who are all doing good work.

I always leave inspired and invigorated and full of great ideas to try.  It re-energizes me with passion and makes me appreciate the opportunity to do what we do and value the knowledge we gain at each conference.  I'm ready to get out there and get my hands dirty.  C'mon Spring!