Holistic Sustainable Agriculture from the Soil Up:
Interview with Dr. Paul Dettloff
on NOFA/Mass Advanced Growers' Winter Seminar
(Forthcoming article for Winter 2009-10 Edition of The Natural Farmer)
by Ben Grosscup
NOFA/Mass Extension Events Organizer
On February 2 and 3, 2010, NOFA/Mass will host a seminar for two full days at the Barre Congregational Church in Barre, MA, called "Holistic Sustainable Agriculture from the Soil Up." The presenter this year is veterinarian and biological agriculture expert, Dr. Paul Dettloff. The event is NOFA/Mass' second annual Advanced Growers' Winter Seminar, which was taught in 2009 by the influential agronomist and medical doctor, Arden Andersen.
Dettloff will present a holistic approach to soil fertility, focusing on the nutritional needs of soil microbes, plants, and animals. He'll teach techniques for raising the nutritional quality of forage, a full range of organically certifiable veterinary tools, management strategies for livestock, and soil fertility principles for growing fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Paul Dettloff received his DVM degree from the University of Minnesota and has conducted a large animal veterinary practice in Western Wisconsin for 35 years. He authored, Alternative Treatments for Ruminant Animals, a premier resource for organic dairy producers. He has pioneered the use of homeopathics and nosodes in the holistic treatment of dairy animals. His focus on the whole system, from the soil to sustainable management, is the result of years of personal study and practical experience. Dr. Dettloff is a consultant and staff veterinarian for Organic Valley Cooperative, consultant to Lancaster Agriculture Products, and owner of Dr. Paul's Lab.
Interview with Dr. Dettoff
Grosscup: How is the health of livestock related to the health of the soil?
Dettloff: Healthy, balanced soil produces a healthy full-stemmed plant that is well-mineralized and has a lot of energy. This will fulfill animals' - particularly ruminants' -- nutritional needs. Unbalanced soils or soils lacking minerals or humus produce sick, hollow-stemmed, low-mineralized, low-energy plants. It's a no-brainer: health starts in the soil.
How can you tell the difference between high quality forage and low quality forage?
First, a refractometer measures the plant's brix, which is the total dissolved solids in the plant's sap. Second, leaf analysis can measure the protein, the calcium, the sulfur, and the sugar. In the last 10 years, we've expanded our parameters to include many more nutrients in our analysis.
What are the differences for growing vegetables and fruit crops as compared to forage?
The same balanced soil grows good fruits and vegetables as it does seed crops. The vegetable and fruit world will spend more on foliar sprays, which are used to maximize photosynthesis and help make nutrients more available, because the crops are higher value. We're also seeing a trend in the dairy world to do more foliar as our land has gotten more expensive. The same basic principles apply whether you're growing grapes, broccoli, cabbage, or alfalfa.
In the Northeast, we don't raise soy and corn very economically, so much of it is bought-in for non-ruminant feed. What alternative feed sources can we produce locally, while providing proper nutrition?
The United States is probably the only nation that has the corn, soy, and alfalfa paradigm for growing everything. We need to go to the small grains: wheat, barley, oats, and even Japanese millet. Australia and New Zeeland feed their animals small grains, but not corn or soy beans. Goats and sheep do really well on small grains, and sustainable dairy farmers are increasingly feeding calves whole oats and doing very well. For animals like pigs and chickens that use forage for just part of their diet, better quality forage means you need less seeds.
Biodiversity in the diet is also important. A ruminant would like to eat 100 different plants every five days. But with monoculture agriculture, the majority of the herds I visited when I was in practice were getting only three or four plants: corn, soy, and alfalfa, and sometimes cottonseed.
What are your concerns specifically about the use of soy in animal feeds?
If you feed soy-based milk replacer to a calf, sheep, or goat, it actually acts like an antigen; the protein in the soy bean will irritate the animal to the point that it forms antibodies. It's like it's an invasive protein. You can draw a blood sample on a calf to see if it has been fed a soy-based milk replacer. Soy is loaded with estrogens. A dairy cow that's getting slammed with pounds of soy beans is also ingesting high levels of estrogen, and it's a wonder we can get her bred! Although we don't deal with it in organics, in the conventional world, the milk replacer industry has been slowly taking all of the soy lecithin and soy products out of milk, and now they're touting the all-dairy milk replacer. They're changing because of feedback from people who don't want soybeans fed to young calves.
Have you worked with any innovations for providing backyard poultry with proper nutrition?
Backyard poultry often lacks calcium, which causes leg problems. A simple and inexpensive thing to do is put out calcium carbonate, which is finely ground hydrate limestone, alongside kelp, and humates in three separate pans, and let the birds free choice it. Those animals will gorge on it for a while, and problems with legs, going down, and cannibalism straighten out.
Besides nutrition, what veterinary tools do you use for immediately addressing animal diseases?
In 1988, when I saw my first organic cow, I had no organic tools. But in the last 20 years, we've developed 10 tools in our tool chest, which I'll cover in detail in the seminar. These are all things that we threw away in the early 1900s, but they're made by Mother Nature so we don't have nasty side effects. For example, sustainable and organic farmers have become huge users of tinctures, which are very effective. Another tool is botanicals; here, there's a uterine pill, a product for respiratory issues a treatment for udder edema and swelling. Another tool, essential oils, have been reinvented in the organic world, but entirely dropped from any conventional treatments. Mastering these tools is the easiest part of going sustainable.
What would you say to a farmer who says that the conventional veterinary tools that they have used are more reliable than the alternatives you teach?
Once you learn how to use the tools and feed the animal, they work very well. There is a lot of science on this. Condemnation without prior investigation keeps one ignorant, and that's what we're hearing when they say, "Well, that doesn't work."
What skills do you offer small-scale producers for achieving greater success and self-sufficiency?
I want to empower them with knowledge on soils, animal nutrition, and alternative veterinary tools so that they can understand the principles of health and be able to make sound decisions. It's a matter of gaining knowledge and being able to figure out new situations, and it doesn't take long. The conventional paradigm is to follow the recommendations and not ask questions. But when you teach a sustainable farmer a few basic and practical principles, they really grab a hold and dig deeper into the ecosystem, and it gets to be fun. I've had a lot of people tell me years later that, "Man, I feel like I'm in control."
Is it a matter of knowing what the signs are - what the soil, plants, and weeds indicate?
Yes, and also the animal! I'll show slides on reading the hair of livestock. I've been a veterinarian for over 42 years, and for 35 years, I blindly ignored the hair. I saw it, but I didn't have a clue. Once you learn how to read the hair as an indicator of production, health, and how the glands are, you think, "Wow! How come this isn't known?"
Tell me about your presentation style.
I combine science with observations from years of practice. I use plain talk, and keep it simple. I like interaction with the crowd, and I answer questions as we go. I tend to have a little humor and fun.
What's your message to the farming community?
As one of my close friends, Dr. Arden Andersen, says, "food is medicine." But our food has got some nasty things in it. To be healthy, we've got to clean up our food and learn how to eat right. We're not only talking about food production; we're also talking about personal health.
More on the Seminar
Logistics for the event will be run same as last year's seminar where NOFA/Mass organizes local members to host out-of-town farmers at their homes for the duration of the two days and where seminar participants are invited to bring a food contribution.
Seminar registration is $165. There's a $15 discount for NOFA membership and a $10 discount for registration by January 16, 2010. There is a $50 food fee, which is waved if you bring a food item worth roughly that amount; see registration form at the link below for details on food and homestays. Pre-registration is required and seminar enrollment is capped at 100 -- first come, first served. Contact: Ben Grosscup, ben.grosscup@nofamass.org, 413-658-5374. All information for the event is available on the website, including a registration form, technical bulletins by Dr. Dettloff, and a link to an MP3 audio recording of the above interview:
www.nofamass.org/seminars/winterseminar.php
The seminar provides a great marketing opportunity for sponsors to exhibit before those attending. Because of space limitations, we will be selling only a handful of sponsorships. For more information, contact bob@nofamass.org.
This page was last modified on November 18, 2009 at 8:24:50 AM.
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