Today I went to Silva Star Farms with my brother, Milo and his friend and colleague Colin. Just west of Sebastopol, Silva Star Farms has an excellent model of sustainable, healthy and happy livestock farming. Sarah Silva met us there and gave us a tour, explaining how they farm in rotation. First they graze the sheep, then the chickens, which benefit from the parasites in the sheep feces and keep the parasites from becoming too prolific. The final animal to use the land is the pig, which turns up the soil. Currently they have hogs in a relatively uncleared area to dig up the root balls of the blackberries. Sarah Silva also has milking goats, whose milk she turns into yogurt and curd for the pigs; and an apple orchard, whose apples she feeds to the pigs as well.
Sarah Silva has an ingenious system for watering her chickens; she has set up pvc pipe that is connected to nipples which the chickens peck at to release clean water. The system is fed by a gravity system of buckets filled with water. This system keeps the water clean which helps reduce health problems like parasites.
My brother and Colin are making u-tube videos of Sarah Silva's farm. I will be posting these as soon as they are added.
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