Woodlands Wild Ethical Farming

Woodlands Wild ethical farming: Organic and traditional farming combined for free range livestock care, improved land care, environmentally friendly food yield, and efficient stewardship of resources.

Livestock: Free range, grass fed livestock provided with the best possible care.

Landcare: Regenerate the land, care for the soil structure, control invasive weeds, and preserve the natural beauty and bio diversity of the landscape.

Food: Responsible use of resources to ensure ongoing food supply with lower impact on the environment.

ETHICAL FARMING - Organic and Traditional farming combined: Farming is a continuous battle to deal with seasonal or unexpected challenges. Ethical farming embraces some but not all, of both organic farming and traditional farming methods. A holistic flexible response to the constant challenges allows better outcomes for livestock care, land care, use of resources and food yield. We don’t pretend to be fully organic when we’re not. We are happy to evaluate new technology for improvement in farming practice and more efficient food yield in a world which is already short of food.

Below are some examples of how we balance organic and traditional farming methods to ensure ethical farming outcomes. We welcome comments or questions from customers on how we operate our beautiful farm.

WEED CONTROL: Our sheep are conditioned to eat ragwort, an extremely invasive weed. This avoids the need to spray ragwort and reduces the use of chemicals.

Blackberries however, have no practical organic method for control in our hilly landscape, exposed to winter weather straight off the cold southern ocean. The number of goats required would displace our sheep and lamb flock; and goats suffer terribly from the rain and cold. It would be unkind to keep them on our property.

Blackberries strangle pasture, replace native vegetation, choke streams and gullies, and if left unchecked would overrun the farm, making it unusable for food production. The blackberry canes can also get tangled in a sheep’s fleece, making it painfully difficult for a sheep to lie down.

As part of a farming community, leaving blackberries untouched and free to spread is akin to agricultural vandalism or environmental neglect, and is not an option. The ethical solution is to spray or paint blackberries on a cyclical schedule during peak growing time after the paddock has been grazed and the livestock moved to another paddock. The weed is more visible after grazing and better controlled on a cyclical schedule.

Using good farming practice to eliminate invasive weeds in their most active annual growing period, while keeping livestock well clear is the best way to preserve the natural beauty of the landscape, increase pasture yield, and care for livestock.

GRAZING MANAGEMENT: Managing the grazing cycle so pasture is not overgrazed is also a priority. A fuller more lush pasture means longer root systems, which gives greater soil retention. Overlapping the grazing cycle with beef and sheep together in the same paddock is an organic method of reducing parasitic worm count in livestock while also managing the grazing cycle for better land care.

The life cycle for worms effecting sheep is more prolific in longer pasture. This is partly controlled by putting cattle in the paddock which preferentially graze on the longer pasture. Conversely, the life cycle for worms effecting cattle is more prolific in a shorter length pasture.This is controlled by putting sheep in the paddock which preferentially graze on the shorter pasture. Then in a timely manner moving the cattle into another well fenced paddock, followed by sheep a week or two later, delivers the best outcomes for reducing worm count.

However, this organic method of grazing management reduces but does not eliminate the discomfort and poor health that worms can cause in stock. Our livestock suffer less than they might otherwise if different grazing cycles were in place, but to ensure optimal health our livestock are still treated seasonally with non-organic livestock care products (eg cydectin) to eliminate parasitic worms.

ANIMAL HEALTH CARE: Our livestock are well cared for. Pasture is carefully managed and stock are rotated through the paddocks. Fencing has been replaced across the whole property to ensure livestock are kept in the optimum paddocks without disrupting the grazing cycle in other paddocks.

A new shearing shed and additional yards were built in 2016 helping to reduce stress and improve the speed and comfort for the sheep in the shearing process. Shearing is in November so sheep are more comfortable in Summer. Crutching is in May, six weeks before lambing, to ensure a cleaner birth and easier access for the lamb to suckle.