Livestock is the largest agricultural sector in South Africa, with a population of some 13.8-million cattle and 28.8-million sheep. Stock breeders concentrate on the development of breeds that are well adapted to diverse climatic and environmental conditions.
Dairy farming:
Are you an average adult American? If so, then you consume 70 pounds of beef, 60 pounds of pork, and 550 pounds of dairy (love that ice cream). Americans feel safe eating because they know the foods they eat have been monitored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
But, how safe is our food industry, really? Do the USDA and FDA really monitor our food for quality and safety? Is there anything to fear?
Melvin Fisher started raising pastured poultry on his Organic Grass Farm in 1997. In 1998, after seeing an article on the free-range system in a magazine Melvin ordered the book Free-Range Poultry Production and Marketing by Herman Beck-Chenoweth. Later he attended a workshop on range poultry production. In 1999 Melvin built six poultry skids using the plans in the book and stocked each with 400 Cornish Cross broilers. He retired the pastured poultry pens and never looked back. In 2002 he produced more than 6,000 chickens and 150 turkeys and dressed them out in America’s only U.S.D.A. Inspected non-electric poultry processing facility. This year he expects to raise, sell and process twice as many birds for sale to restaurants in Indiana and for the many customers who pick up at his scenic Park County farm.
Melvin’s operation is unique in many ways. Not only is his processing plant diesel powered, he uses horsepower to move the skids to fresh range (short-grass pasture) twice a week. A 16-year-old apprentice uses a two-horse Belgian-Percheron hitch to pull the skids. He loads the float-valve waterers and feed trays on board and pulls the skid ahead about 100 feet.