812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 24, 1996
Woman Farmer Finds Solutions
To Problems Created
By Machin
Candace S. Burke
Burke’s Little Twenty
Sheep Farm
FREEPORT (Armstrong
Co.) —My mother, a dairy far
mer’s daughter who hated farm
life, ran away to the city, married,
and raised her daughters happily
in suburban Pittsburgh. Much to
my mother’s dismay, I dreamed of
the country life and wanted to
farm more than anything else in
the world.
Thirteen years ago, I talked my
very city-bred husband and two
small sons into buying a small
farm in Armstrong County. They
didn’t realize at the time I had
every intention of farming. My
husband Jim figured I would get a
few animals and that would be it
When I told Jim one day that I
could see the land covered with
sheep, he replied, “You never told
me you wanted to farm!” I did tell
him many times he was just not
listening or believing.
Jim had a very demanding job
as a data processing manager,
sometimes working long hours
into the evening and on weekends.
So, as far as Jim was concerned,
he did not need another job. Jim
felt that a large, comfortable, rid
ing mower was all this farm
needed.
My uncle, who owned the fami
ly dairy farm in Bedford, knew my
Jim was going to be a little prob
lem with this farming idea. So my
uncle urged me to go to my county
Soil Conservation Service office
and ask for help.
I walked into Armstrong Coun
ty’s Soil Conservation Service and
proudly announced I had 30 ewes
and I wanted to farm. Despite that
introduction, a young understand
ing woman technician greeted me
eagerly with news of an exciting
new program called “rotational
grazing.” She urged me to attend
an upcoming meeting.
I went to my first “Project
Grass” quarterly meeting in
Somerset the fall of 1995. I was
fascinated over the concept of
rotational grazing and felt then
and there this would be the solu
tion to my problem.
During the previous years, I had
been making hay mostly myself.
This was very hard because I
could afford only old machinery
that loved to constantly break
Raised In the city, Candace Burke longed to farm.
Although her city-bred husband purchased the farm for her,
he was too busy to assist her with hay making and machin
ery repairs. By using rotational grazing and nutrient man
agement, Candace found a solution.'
Thirteen years after purchasing the farm, Candace built a
successful farm business by running 100 show ewes and
lambs through paddocks on the farm and by marketing
fresh lamb, lamb kolbasa, and lamb salami.
Water Quality Benefits Of Rotational Grazing
Pennsylvania Association Of Conservation Districts
By converting cropland into pastureland, the Potential for soil ero
sion is reduced. Row crops like com are most prone to erosion since
more soil is exposed year round.
Reduced pesticide use on pastures means less chance of pesticides
reaching groundwater surface waters.
Manure spread by grazing animals on pastureland provides nitro
gen phosphorus and potassium for new grass growth. Additional fer
tilizers may not be necessary depending on soil conditions, animals
numbers, and location of watering points.
Properly designed, rotational grazing systems encourage a fairly
even distribution of manure, thereby aiding soil fertility throughout
the paddocks.
down in the middle of hay season,
usually when I had a field to cut.
My sons were too young to be of
much help loading and unloading
hay, and Jim was, of course at
work.
Frustrated with me and tired of
fixing the baler late at night, Jim
would say, “M.ake believe that
baler is your sewing machine
you can fix that!”
To me, that big red baler with
the bad notter was a pain I could
do without The idea of running
animals on the land through pad
docks, letting them cut the grass
instead of me, grew more and
more enticing. Rotational grazing
seemed like a great idea.
Ten years later, that great idea
has become reality. I run 100 large
show ewes and lambs through the
d M
paddocks while they mow and fer
tilize the pastures as they go. The
sheep are grazing the paddocks
starting sometimes as early as
April 15 to as late as December 1.
This size of farm could never
produce enough storage hay to
feed that number of ewes, but
seven to eight months out of the
year, I do not have to make hay or
buy it. And running sheep on the
land will yield me more profit
(pounds of meat) at the end of the
year per acre than hay. Even in dry
spells, I may have to feed hay to
SO percent of the flock, but finan
cially, I am still ahead of the game
because I do not have to feed 100
percent of the flock.
Over the last couple of years,
another problem arose with the
increase in my flock size. Manure.
All of our ewes would come into
the bam to water, rest, and just
loaf around, depositing more man
ure with each visit they made. The
wet, mucky buildup of manure in
the barnyard caused hoof prob
lems and made disease control a
challenge. As an associate director
af Armstrong County Conserva
tion District, I also understood the
danger of water pollution from the
buildup of nitrates around the bam
and barnyard.
The solution was relatively
simple. Keep the sheep where you
can use the manure’s nutrients
in the grassy paddocks. With the
watering systems placed in each
paddock, the sheep spread their
manure throughout, virtually eli
minating the need to add commer
cial fertilizers to the fields, and
putting my manure spreader into
semi retirement. I found that the
marriage of rotational grazing and
nutrient management was benefi
cial for both my sheep and my
business.
re
(Turn to Pago BIS)
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