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| Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture |  |
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Grazing School for Transitioning to Organic
During this all day workshop lead by Sarah Flack you will learn grazing management for transitioning and organic farms. We will learn the basic guidelines of management for intensive and rotational grazing, as well as how to use this information to design or fine tune your farms grazing system. We’ll look at fences, livestock watering systems, practice pasture dry matter estimating, and calculate paddock sizes for cows. We will discuss supplemental feeding strategies, soil fertility and plant selection. We’ll visit many types of pastures and find a wide variety of grasses, legumes and other plants. We’ll discuss areas where mob stocking can be used to transform the plant species to grasses and legumes. We’ll find and identify poisonous plants as well as many types of pasture grasses, legumes, weeds and beneficial medicinal plants in pastures and hedgerows. There will also be time set aside for a presentation from a representative from Pennsylvania Certified Organic on allowable inputs for transitioning and organic farms. In addition, a representative from Fertrell will be on hand to answer questions about available products. At Jersey Ridge Organic Farm, Todd Hackenburg and his family graze almost a hundred acres and farm 400 acres. All of their grazing fields are divided into paddocks, and in dry weather they use their hay fields to graze. The Hackenburgs grow all of their own feed and sell the surplus. They are milking 30-35 Jerseys and are just starting to cross their herd with Normandy cows. The entire farm has been certified organic by PCO for almost 10 years and the Hackenburgs have been shipping milk to CROPP for several years. Sarah Flack is an organic and biodynamic farmer who lives on the farm where she was raised in Northern Vermont. Her farming experience includes dairy, sheep, beef, pastured poultry and pigs. She is the author of Organic Dairy Production. She works with NOFA Vermont’s organic dairy and livestock technical assistance program. Peter Miller is the East
Region Pool Coordinator for Organic Valley/CROPP and will discuss
support services available to farmers interested in transitioning
to organic production.
Directions: Jersey Ridge Organic Farm is located at 829 Freeburg Road, Middleburg, PA 17842 From either Route 45
(which is an east/west road) or Route 11/15 (which is a north/south
road), merge onto Route 104. Route 104 will take you into Middleburg,
where it intersects with Route 522. At the intersection of Route
522 and 104 in Middleburg, head East on Rt 522 (aka Main Street)
for just over 4 miles. Make a right onto Freeburg Road. Follow Freeburg
Road (aka township roads 418 and 446) for about 1.5 miles to the
farm, at 829 Freeburg Road.
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