In 2009 my weed-eating herd chose to eat lots of cutleaf nightshade, a plant that I wouldn't have chosen to train them to eat.
William “Willie” Gibson, a board member of the Vermont Grass Farmers Association, and a dairy and livestock farm advisor for the Northeast Organic Farming Association wrote me a question in response to one of my recent newsletters (“Cows Like Musk Thistles”):
“This surely is fascinating, Kathy. One question that popped into my head when reading your theory “the more new things they eat, the more new things they eat” is:
Could training these animals to eat many kinds of plants that we generally consider undesirable (‘weeds’) go ‘too far’ and break (some of) them away from their natural instincts (and I believe, herd- and peer-training) to avoid certain plants that can have acute, serious negative effects (i.e., ‘poisoning’)?”
Willie continued, “This is coming from one who has been directly involved with dairy and livestock farming in the Northeast for all of my nearly 50 years (especially Vermont, where I was born and raised and still live, farm, and work as farm advisor). I am an avid student, practitioner, and teacher/advisor of rational intensive grazing/MIG. I also have not studied your work in depth , but was most intrigued (and entertained) by your presentation at the VT Grass Farmer’s Association Grazing Conference in January 2010.”
Since I get this question a lot, I thought it might be helpful to share my answer. (more…)
