Monday, March 30, 2009

Missouri Man Develops Sustainable Irrigation System for Organic Vegetable Production

Dan Kuebler and his solar irrigation system. Photo by Diane La Mar.

In Ashland, MO, Dan Kuebler is creating an affordable, efficient, and sustainable irrigation system for a two acre organic vegetable operation. Since 1977, Dan Kuebler has been running a certified organic garden operation in Ashland.

Half the property is open fields and the remainder is hardwoods. Kuebler grows a wide variety of vegetables on approximately 1.5 acres of the property, which includes one heated greenhouse for starting plants and two tall tunnels which are unheated.

Kuebler has been intensively growing for over 15 years using organic methods and had been using drip irrigation on his crops for 10 of those years using expensive public county water.

In 2005, Kuebler submitted a proposal for his sustainable solar irrigation project, and was awarded $5,633 from the North Central Region Sustainable Research and Education Program’s (NCR-SARE) Farmer Rancher Grant Program.

“My goal was to irrigate my crops with water from my farm pond and to use renewable energy as the power source for pumping the water up the hill to my fields and to save money in the process,” said Kuebler. “I was familiar with SARE over the years and had tried to keep up with many of the projects. It stimulated me to also think in terms of what I could do on my farm since I had always been very interested in solar power and renewable energy projects.”

Don Day, Natural Resources Engineer, at Missouri University Extension shot the elevation that Kuebler needed from the pond's surface to the top of the hill in order to properly size the solar water pump needed for the project. Day also advised Kuebler on the proper size pipe to use to capture the rainwater from his barn roof and direct it to the pond.

The total cost of the system was $5,930.37. Kuebler estimates that it would cost $2,850 annually using county water for irrigation. He calculated that the solar irrigation system yield annual saving starting in the third year of operation.

Kuebler hosted a Demonstration Field Day in May 2007 and presented his project at the National Small Farm Today Trade Show & Conference.

“I learned that I should have acted on my idea for a solar irrigation system years ago and I would have been more profitable in my operation,” said Kuebler. “My system is very efficient and so does not really need to run for very many hours of each day. It presents a model that can be duplicated by other growers in our region and the country as well as stimulating others to refine it further for their unique situations. This project is getting me excited about the possibilities for more creative ideas for solar and wind energy on the farm.”

Read more about the Kuebler’s project online or contact the NCR-SARE office for more information at ncrsare@umn.edu.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ohio Katahdin Sheep Producer Finds a Fairly High Heritability for Resistance to Parasites in the Breed


In Wooster, Ohio, a producer of Katahdin sheep is working with producers from two other states on the heritability of parasite resistance. The group is investigating methods of identifying ewes with a reduced periparturient rise. They are comparing the fecel egg count of sheep selected for their low fecal egg counts as lambs to determine how it relates to their adult parasite resistance and that of their offspring.

Prior to 2000, Kathy and Jeff Bielek of Misty Oaks Farm wanted to diversify their tree farm and incorporate some livestock. After attending Ohio Sheep Day in Wooster in 2000, they decided on sheep. They started with Shetlands, but then switched to Katahdins in 2001, and grew to love the breed. Katahdins are a hair sheep raised for their meat.

The Bielaks, along with a group of ten Katahdin producers, submitted a proposal to the North Central Region Sustainable Research and Education Program’s (NCR-SARE) Farmer Rancher Grant Program in 2005 and were awarded $17,950 for their project, “Selecting Sheep for Parasite Resistance.” In 2007 they applied for another grant to continue their work with three producers from three states, and were awarded a subsequent grant from NCR-SARE for $14,215 for their project, “Building on Parasite Resistance Selection in Sheep.”

In their current project, David Coplen of Birch Cove Farm in Missouri, Donna Stoneback of Wade Jean Farm in Pennsylvania, and the Bielaks are raising registered Katahdin Hair Sheep. All are forage based, and all are using rotational grazing and selective deworming strategies. Flock sizes range from 25 to 32 ewes. Each farm uses at least two rams, some closely related to rams used on other farms.

“As we were monitoring the parasite levels in our flock over two years we noticed distinct differences in the resistance to parasites between offspring of different sires. We really wanted to see if these differences in the parasite resistance in lambs of different sires that we had identified on our farm could be duplicated on other Katahdin farms,” said Bielak. “SARE was the perfect source, since they have such a strong reputation of supporting farmers in looking for more sustainable yet profitable ways to farm.”

Data collected on ten farms as part of the initial SARE group producer grant was submitted to Dr. David Notter, Professor of Animal Science at Virginia Tech and head of the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP), for analysis and for use in his work on developing a fecal egg count measure of expected progeny differences (FEC EPD) in Katahdin sheep. Dr Notter reported a fairly high heritability for resistance to parasites in the Katahdin breed.

In addition, the group was able to learn and demonstrate the effects that management had on parasite levels in their flocks. All three couples learned methods they could use to better manage parasites in addition to selecting more resistant sheep.

“In our project we were able to demonstrate how different management strategies, like managed grazing, time of lambing, nutrition and genetics can impact parasite management on our farms,” said Bielak. “This will enable farmers to lessen the use of expensive and increasingly ineffective dewormers while still maintaining healthy, productive sheep.”

Read more about the Bielak’s project online or contact the NCR-SARE office for more information.