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NOTE:
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Twenty-one years of raising sheep organically without the
use of worming medication has produced a flock with 27 lambs
on this small 18 acre farm (10 acres in pasture, and 2 acres
in organic vegetables). Organically grown animals do not get
those nasty communicable diseases. They are free to roam the
farm as they desire.
A few years ago, the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Shepherd
of the Year wrote a newspaper column advocating the feeding
of chicken manure to sheep. Yikes, I was horrified and called
her on the phone. Referred to the state government, I called
them and was told that feeding chicken manure had been advocated
since the big poultry houses were established in the 1930s.
Since I eat the high omega 3, exclusively grass-fed meat
I produce, you can be sure I am not feeding the livestock
anything I would not eat myself. But I do know people who
feed corn, soybeans and worming medication to their sheep
and still eat them. My meat does not have the "off taste"
my customers notice in other meat. The advice to "eat
local" and "know your farmer" still makes good
sense. However, I want my local food to be organically produced
by healthy people. I do not want my milk to be produced by
local cows being fed local grains from the feed mill that
puts cottonseed meal into the mix.
Since I do not want my nation's population to be poisoned
by cottonseed-meal contaminated milk, I insist that my purchases
be made on organically grown cotton. It is nice to be old,
retired, married, healthy and happy producing food for my
fellow Americans with the help of my husband. We can vote
with our dollars. My website is http://pbaer.mystarband.net.
Janet Baer
Maryland
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