Farming of the Future. . .Happening Today
Welcome to our sharing page, where we bring together contributions from our online community. Would you like to ask a question or share an experience (perhaps a photo or video) with everyone? Please contact us at mail@farmingwithcarnivoresnetwork.com.
ed | Farming with Carnivores Network Aldo Leopold, wildlife biologist, forester and farmer was the author of the celebrated A Sand County Almanac. His words offer a perspective of enormous significance to the farming community
Leopold often used the words the Land Ethic. He wrote: The Land Ethic simply enlarges the boundaries to include soils, waters, plants and animals. And as a result he stated that the Land Ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow members.
And that respect is expressed in one’s behavior to the members of the community. So it means moving from past behaviors of control and kill of carnivores, to creating ways to farm where carnivores are viewed as essential members of the ecosystem…they are included in the Land Ethic.
We are living in a time of Transition, of learning new and positive ways to communicate with these intelligent and sentient beings. I find it interesting to consider that carnivores also are continuing to learn about us. Native Peoples did not farm with domestic livestock, they hunted for their food. But with the arrival of the Europeans, domestic animals presented a whole new experience for the carnivores on the American continent.
I would encourage you to read A Sand County Almanac.
Rodent Patrol
Dayton Hyde was a rancher way ahead of his time. He understood that his land was an ecosystem, and so he treated all Life present there as valued – that included the Coyotes.
He understood that if the Coyotes who lived on his land had a good life….a rich environment and plenty of wild prey… they would do him only good.
Here is an excerpt from Varmints and Victims in which author Van Guys writes of Hyde’s views ~
“Dayton Hyde, in recognizing that most ranchers created predator problems through poor range management techniques, such as neglecting to remove carrion or overgrazing, chose an alternative approach.
(Quoting Dayton Hyde) “The only thing I could do was manage my land for predators instead of against them and hope that someone, someday would look over my fences and realize that I had something special going for me.”
“By giving up poisoning, restoring marshes, and generally fostering healthy land, Hyde kept Coyotes fed year round on abundant small prey species, and had no trouble. “My Coyotes are good gentlemen” he informed a Senate Hearing in 1971. They are well fed, they are happy. They have done me not one harsh thing.”
Dayton Hyde
Dayton Hyde recognized that he was sharing his land with highly intelligent, social, sentient beings and he treated them as such.
We are learning from the leaders and then trusting in self to follow his lead.
Click on this link to read about these young farmers who are following his lead.
https://coyoteyipps.com/2023/03/12/the-new-watch-dogs-by-topsy-farms/
ed | Farming with Carnivores Network Anatolian Shepherd
This is how a farmer’s relationship with carnivores shall look like in the future, as more and more enlightened farmers understand how to share the land successfully!
Alpacas Warn Guard Dogs of Coyotes’ Presence on California Farm
Story by Pandora Dewan
As well as alpacas, the farm houses chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, miniature cows and miniature horses, all of which are tasty prey for the coyotes.
“Coyotes are very common in our area,” Draper said. “Our ranch is surrounded by empty fields with high, heavy grasses where coyotes freely travel and use as denning areas. Coyotes are especially active this time of year because it is mating season…[the] coyotes are more bold and [are] expanding their territory.”
The guard dogs have learned to respond to the alpacas’ alert signals, and call to attention on hearing their alarm cries, as can be seen in the video.
“Our livestock guardian dogs keep the peace and the coyotes are happy to move on to easier prey while our animals stay safe,” Draper said. “It’s a great way for wildlife and farm animals to coexist because coyotes are risk averse and generally don’t want to suffer injury or death to take on large Anatolian Shepherds. A warning from our livestock guardian dogs is enough for coyotes to move on.”
Usually, the guard dogs will detect coyotes and other threats before the alpacas do. But, on rare occasions, the alpacas get there first. “The alpacas have an advantage with their long necks to see into the fields surrounding us and see a coyote traveling further off in the high dense grass when the livestock guardian dog may not otherwise detect it.
“The alpacas are an “early warning” system: they are seeing something far off before it is anywhere near approaching our fencing and becoming a real threat.”
This peculiar partnership has kept the Raventree Ranch’s animals safe for years.
“Our three livestock guardian dogs are Bo, Lily and Judge,” Draper said. “They are Anatolian Shepherds, a Turkish breed of livestock guardian dog. In six years, we have never lost a farm animal and no coyote has ever been harmed. They are excellent deterrents.”
Coyote ~ Apex Carnivore
Photo by: Janet Kessler
I had the opportunity to read concerns and possible remedies that our Maine Farm Bureau wrote about on their website. If you read the following carefully, you will find that the colonial world view is still very much alive and well. So the answer to wildlife that pose a concern to your farm is to kill them. It is not that these farmers wish to do this BUT that they know NO other way.
Read here some of what they wrote ~
“Many farms throughout Maine have experienced significant crop loss due to wildlife.”
“Our Farm Bureau agreed that farmers needed additional tools for effective deer management above and beyond what was presently available.”
“We gathered input from the farmers last Summer. We heard clearly again that while farmers knew they could SHOOT animals at any time they are damaging their crops, they didn’t want to be dressing out deer and cutting up meat, as required by law, in the middle of the night when they had to be back up at 4 AM to tend their crops. They also felt there was merit in leaving the deer carcasses in the fields to be cleaned up by coyotes. They didn’t believe they should have to pay to hire others to remove deer or other troublesome animals.”
“Also, they didn’t believe issuance of doe permits were very effective at managing deer populations; and they were concerned that federal protections for Canada geese, which have become a major problem, would prohibit farmers from employing LETHAL CONTROL procedures.”
“We learned there are additional avenues under present law that we could presently avail ourselves of. For example, we could simply field dress deer and the game wardens will pick them up, and we could leave the entrails to attract coyotes. “
“It turns out that many beaver control restrictions have been relaxed in Maine, allowing farmers to SHOOT them in most instances if the Wildlife Agency is notified in advance. It also turns out also that the federal restrictions on shooting Canada geese have been relaxed, allowing farmers to SHOOT them except during periods of migration.”
The Ultimate Tools available to vegetable farmers is the Coyote, bobcat, fox, and their fellow Avian predators…hawks, eagles and owls.
Note the two comments regarding Coyotes…just letting Coyotes clean things up. So this important apex predator, who is able to control populations of deer, beaver and Canada Geese on your farm…is just viewed as the cleanup crew.
The Farming of the Future is about viewing your farm as an ecosystem, where all the members need to be present. It is not about killing. It is not about controlling. It is about letting the wisdom of how the Earth works happen. ALLOW THE CARNIVORES TO DO THEIR WORK!
KateLynch Photo by: Kate Lynch
YES! You want to keep a Coyote family on your farm. When you offer them a home on your fields and forest, they will give back to you a hundred fold.
Why? Your farm is an ecosystem that needs ALL its members, and that includes the carnivores…most especially the Keystone ~ Coyote.
Dayton Hyde, author and a rancher way ahead of his time wrote:
“I thought of other species on the ranch. Without flickers, badgers, trout, deer, or chipmunks, the ranch still would have flourished. But if I took away the Coyotes, the whole system fell apart. In fact, if I were to design a kit for the beginning rancher, a pair of Coyotes would have to be included.”
I would like to introduce you now to two young farmers who continue his legacy.
I will let them speak for themselves in this short film clip ~
Coyote Family
Photo by: Janet Kessler
As a carnivore biologist in Maine, I enjoy visiting our farms and supporting our farmers in their efforts to coexist peacefully with our carnivores.
I have many stories about farmers and farmers tell me many stories. But this one is especially poignant, as it manifests the many intricacies of relationships in the ecosystem of a farm.
So during my visit to a farm in western Maine this farmer introduced me to her farm animals…chickens, ducks, horses and new piglets. She told me of a COYOTE whose territory included her farm, and a FOX who lived in the forest on the other side of her farm. She never had any issues with the Coyote, as he actually assisted her by doing rodent patrol on her farm.
The FOX was kept away from her chickens by the presence of the Coyote. So the Coyote was unknowingly protecting her chickens…just by his presence.
Then an individual from away moved in next to her farm and began killing the entire Coyote family present there. And what ensued was tragic for the farmer…. The FOX, now recognizing that Coyote was no longer present, felt safe coming to her farm and killing her chickens.
What is so significant about this whole scenario…..is that the farmer understood what happened in the relationship between Coyote and Fox and the human neighbor. Human interference by killing important carnivores can have a myriad of negative consequences.
Now that her Coyote neighbors were gone, her only alternative to protect her animals from the fox, was to purchase a Guardian Dog….which she has done. Before that……Coyote was what you might call her Guardian Dog…
Geri Vistein
Carnivore Conservation Biologist
A Wild Mother’s Little Ones
One of our Maine Farmers shared the following experience with us:
Many times on our farm we would hear coyotes and often see them hunting mice in the hayfield, when we were haying. They never threatened us but with two young sons, we were cautious. One evening my young boys and I went to our family’s blueberry field to check the crop and monitor for insect damage. I left the truck at the top of the hill and walked down to its other side. At the foot of the hill, about 800 feet from the truck, I saw movement in the tall grass. It is not uncommon to see deer in the field, so I motioned the boys closer to watch. Then only to realize they were Coyotes …six Coyote pups and their mother!
What happened next answered many questions I had of Coyotes. I instructed my boys to walk slowly back to the truck. And I would remain near the coyotes as a distraction until the boys were safe.
A Mother’s instinct is very strong, and not just in humans! Mama Coyote was doing the same thing as I. She began yipping at her pups. Listening to her calls, her pups circled around and headed for the refuge of the woods. Mama Coyote and I stood about 500 feet apart…just watching each other, and willing to do whatever to protect our babies.
When my boys were safe in the truck and her pups safe in the woods, we each backed up slowly and parted ways peacefully. I will never forget that evening; just two mothers feeling the same…..regardless in the difference in species.
Allowing experiences like this to enfold brings one into a whole new world, one that we didn’t even know existed….inside of us. But it is that willingness to let it unfold which makes it happen.
This woman farmer came to deeply understand that this mother Coyote felt just like her….when it came to her protectiveness of her little ones. But something even more was happening here…the restraint, the trust. For the mother Coyote she knew well the violence of humans. It had been passed down in her culture over the past 200 years, ever since the Europeans arrived. And for the farmer, only the fear of powerful carnivores had been passed down to her own species. Yet the two of them trusted each other, and used restraint.
And when this happens….you are never the same.
When we speak about Farming of the Future …..THIS is what we are speaking about.
Raychell and Jay of Fervor Farm
It is just so refreshing and exciting to watch how our farmers of today are taking on the Leadership of creating a farm that is a healthy, resilient ecosystem. Inherent in their perspective is the need for carnivores to be present…welcomed and undertstood and valued.
And so without further adieu …inviting you to relax and take in this marvelous conversation initiated a young farmer in Hollis, Maine, Raychell Libby of Fervor Farm.
Photo by: Tom Koerner
If there ever was an understanding of WHO Coyote is….look to the farmers who have come to know them. A number of Maine farmers have shared with me the collaborative effort both they and the coyotes have worked out together.
Families of Coyotes who live on farms KNOW the farmer very well. They understand whether the farmer respects them or not, whether the farmer welcomes them or not, and whether they can trust the farmer with their lives …or not.
Nowhere is this more fully appreciated than when the farmer turns on his tractor to mow his fields, and Coyote quickly leaves the refuge of the forest to follow in their own wild distance behind the tractor, picking off all the rodents that have now been exposed.
This only happens when there is TRUST and RESPECT in their relationship.
And Life is rich…and Life is peaceful….and Abundant for All.
Geri Vistein, carnivore biologist
www.CoyoteLivesinMaine.org
Laura Grady (Ed Robinson photo)
Two Coves Farm
By Ed Robinson, Board member of the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust in Maine
“I love the plants and the land, it is an organism to be fostered,” Laura Grady stated as she tried to explain her engagement with the 100 acres upon which Two Coves Farm rests. Laura continued “We listen to the land, we work with it by spreading compost and we try to determine the best use of each parcel.”
You need to spend only a few minutes in Laura’s company to know that her connection to the land runs very deep and that the farm business is her primary life’s work.
It is understandable that Laura enjoys working with the soil and animals since her father toiled on a small farm along with several other occupations to make ends meet, in typical Maine fashion. Growing up it was clear to Laura that her life would be lived outdoors since she is “not a four walls gal.” Her husband Joe grew up in a family with more professional backgrounds but in the mid 1990s Joe became interested in organic food, then more specifically in high nutrient foods. As the young couple thought about their lives, they focused upon how to feed their family with healthy food and decided that getting back to the land was more important to them than pursuing the material side of life.
Along with many other young adults in the late 90s, the Gradys moved back to the land trying to make a go of it on 40 acres. They found that they loved the life balance the farm offered them, but 40 acres was not large enough to support both vegetables and the cattle the Gradys wanted to manage. By good fortune, they were able to strike a long-term agricultural lease with the benevolent owner of their current home, and Two Coves Farm was born 11 years ago. Joe is also the Program Director at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment in Freeport.
As you drive down Neil’s Point Road in Harpswell, you pass a fenced in parcel with 30 pigs whom Laura says enjoy living in the open forest rather than a concrete pen. Next you see a large enclosure for chickens, part of a total flock of 350 laying hens. Across the road from the 1885 farm house is a lovely 20-acre field running down to the ocean with a fenced section for 40 ewes, 3 rams and this year’s crop of 60 lambs. A lovely Jersey cow chews her cud in the fresh spring grass. The Gradys also maintain up to 25 Belted Galloway cattle on 40 leased acres in Brunswick.
Laura talks with obvious affection about the animals in her care, although they clearly are not pets. In her experience, respecting the animals, caring for them and giving them a healthy environment is enough to ensure the animals prosper and provide healthy food products when it is time for harvest. The animals and the fields of vegetables provide produce for the Gradys’ CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) operation. The farm sells to local restaurants and shops, and currently has more than 200 CSA members. The waiting list has grown during the pandemic as people look for healthy sources of food near their homes. Laura estimated that more than 80 percent of the food she sells remains within 30 miles of the farm.
The Gradys are respectful of other wildlife that live on and around their farm, including the many birds and predator species. While they have not had problems with bald eagles, hawks sometimes decide to go for a tasty chicken dinner. Laura remembers a fisher that managed to kill five chickens, but the local foxes do not seem to cause trouble. She also recalled an incident where she fell asleep in the woods while leaning back on a tree. She awoke to find two weasels jumping over her legs but causing no harm. Laura is appreciative of neighborhood coyotes since they keep the population of mice and shrews in check, thereby lowering tick numbers. The Gradys have a 125-pound guardian dog named Tessie who spends time in the fields near the farm animals to keep an eye on potential predators and to bark at any who come too close.
Laura clearly thrives on the lifestyle offered by their farm and made it clear the Gradys are in it for the long haul. She loves living with the seasons and has a deep appreciation for the natural rhythm of life around the year. Laura is grateful for the breezes on their hilltop, since they keep the flies and mosquitoes in check. Her favorite time of year is winter when there is a bit more time to relax and enjoy the natural beauty around them.
The only downside to living on an old farm is the ongoing maintenance of buildings and equipment; it seems there is always something in need of tuning or repair.
Even her three teenage children would grudgingly admit to loving the farm life, and each of them has a special talent for certain tasks around the place.
In recent years the number of Maine acres in farm production has begun to climb after 100 years of decline. If recent trends hold true, more consumers will gravitate to the benefits of truly natural, organic foods grown near their homes instead of imported from distant countries. The Grady family will be part of the movement, cherishing life on their land and enjoying the interaction with customers who share their appreciation for local foods grown with love.
June 2020
