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I was impressed with the horse operation that produced work for 28 people using sustainable and renewable horsepower vs how they operate today with 5 people and expensive non-sustainable gas guzzling, polluting equipment.  If you would like to learn more about horse powered small sustainable farming, I can help you.  Visit my website at www.GrapeLanePoultryFarm.org.  You can learn more about the transition of my life from the 7000 acre cattle ranch to my small, certified organic sustainable and profitable cattle farming operation in my book, “Keeper Of The Wheat”.

posted 1 year, 10 months ago
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During the 50's and before market America's push on chemical usage, I grew up on our families 7000-acre cattle ranch (we ran 1k of cattle & 2k acres of grain) here in Or. I still raise cattle today and since the 50's have seen a rise of corporate or partnership "ranches" and poor State Agriculture policymaking. Families hold a vested interest in home owned ranches that supersedes corporate or partner run ranches. Their lives and the health of their herds depends on the health of the land, something corporations far to often overlook in lieu of money. We worked with Nature. Old Cougars were our best friend, making sure the herbivore moved and left plenty for our cattle to graze.  We did rotational grazing.  Daily we worked closely with our cattle, more so than ranchers today who as a result of a turnkey operation and gun hunting clubs, have more predator issues.  We lost cattle to hunters, poachers and rustlers, but none to natural predators. We gave 200 acres of grain to the deer, as it was cheaper than killing them or using chemicals for the lower species animals the top predators took care of. When my brother was 12 he joined my Dad bringing in the grain (as an adult he became President of Pendleton Flour Mill and advisor to President Clinton).  Yes WE did the work.  Work was normal to us.  This is not the case in today’s America as we continue to rely on imported labor (and deal with the policy making issues concerning this labor) and not labor by our own hands.  The biggest detriment I see to ranching today is poor policy making and a lack of connection to the land and the species living there for a sustainable and healthy operation that contributes to watersheds, soil and vegetation health;  putting more emphasis on the value of these issues rather than raping the land and all it contains for money; and then when worn out, developing the land into subdivisions. 

posted 1 year, 10 months ago
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I  grew up on my families 7000 acre cattle ranch before the heavy usage of chemicals that promised to stop world hunger.  Now I have lived to see the results of this abuse on our soil, food chain, and ecosystems such as the colony collapse of bees.  So, GMO is now the “answer” to feed the world.  No, it is not.  It is merely a money making hostel takeover of our small sustainable farms or large family farming operations.  It is putting honest family farms out of business,  wrongfully suing farmers who’s crops become contaminated  by the pollen of Monsanto’s and others GMO’s.  As usual, GMO’s have been released into our food chain before any true, substantiated, honest good science was performed, instead, we are feed lies that support the marketing of this poison into our foods.  Farming use to harm no one.  Now, it can kill 10's of thousands and cripple millions as it does the pests these GMO's were designed for.  This food will highly likely destroy human DNA, mental capacities and much more.  A true dumbing down of Americans will happen and we will never know or remember what good food was all about or even how it once tasted.  Babies may be born with 3 legs and 2 heads like the frogs found in ponds near these GMO’s.  Sound crazy? Not really.  If someone had told me 50 years ago that GMO’s would take precedence over God made foods and we would all be forced to eat the chemicals these plants contained, I would have thought THEY were crazy.  If this food is so safe, WHY DID MONSANTO PASS A LAW PROHIBITING LABELING OF GMO FOODS IN ALL OUR FOOD STORES?  WHY HIDE IT?

posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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