By Heather Retberg, Quills End Farm
There are times, months, years when there is loss. Most of Maine is in a state of drought. For farmers, this means all kinds of different things, but none of them are easy, or pleasant, and certainly not welcome.
Every adversity, it seems, teaches; but in the moment, sometimes just sucks. The best we can do….proverbial lemonade.
Here at Quill’s End, we purchase all of our “off-season forage” from a couple of retired dairy farmers whom we count as friends. They make sure we have top-quality hay and baleage, and we make sure they stay nice and busy during the growing season. This affords an opportunity during drought to add fertility to land that needs it.
We practice what is called holistic or ultra-high density grazing. We try to mimic what large ruminants would naturally do by moving our cows twice a day to fresh grass. Leaving behind the trampled and manured paddocks for a long rest encourages microbial, plant, and insect activity above and below ground. This leads to the creation of more organic matter, better fertility, and more desirable grazing plants. When we are experiencing a drought, the microbial and plant activities slow down but stand ready to resume their work at full speed once they get a drink or two.
Therefore, when a drought hands you a grass shortage, we get to prime the least fertile places we graze by feeding hay in much the same way we graze. The drawbacks are: Hot and on stored feed, cows give less milk. Stored feed must be purchased, trucked, and fed, requiring more money, muscle, and time. Investments, if you will, in topsoil, fertility, and the future. Investments that will allow this farm to feed the community. Investments that we believe (and farmers live by faith) will make a stronger, more resilient community… above and below ground.
Editor’s note: Phil continues to write “View from the Farm” while Heather recovers from her recent surgery. Send her a card/note at Quill’s End Farm, 192 Front Ridge Road, North Penobscot ME 04476
Heather and Phil Retberg together with their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously given us permission to share some of her columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.