FEATURES
Biodynamic Farming

by Richard Triumpho
Beyond organic at the Vedder Farm

Environmentally conscious management has always been the philosophy of the Vedder Homestead Farm in Fulton County, N.Y. Christopher and Anna Vedder raise dairy replacement heifers on 250 acres of rolling pastureland.

“Calling our land rolling is an understatement,” says Vedder, gesturing to the pastures rising to and elevation of 1,100 feet both west and east of the farm buildings. “We often have been tempted to name our place Seven Hills Farm after the city of Rome that was built on seven hills.”

Vedder Homestead, circa 1845, soon after the barn and house were built.

Because the steep terrain is subject to erosion in the production of row crops such as silage corn, Vedder’s father installed 2,500 feet of contour terraces with diversion ditches and strip cropping 50 years ago for his herd of 60 milking Holsteins. After his father passed away, Vedder continued dairying for 20 years.

The Vedders sold the dairy in 1997, and since then they have raised dairy replacement heifers using an intensified grazing system with high tensile electric fencing. “This hilly land was made for grazing,” Vedder says. “A distinct advantage of the Northeast is its dependable seasonal rainfall that supports wonderful grassland.”

The Vedders raise an average of 55 heifers every year, mostly grade Holsteins and Jersey-Holstein crossbreds. “Over the past 10 years there has been a good market from large commercial dairies for our replacement heifers,” Vedder said. “Those dairies experience a high cull rate when cows are confined to concrete, and therefore those feedlot dairies can’t raise enough of their own replacements. We are filling that need.”

In addition to 120 acres of pasture, the Vedders grow 20 acres each of soybeans and silage corn using biodynamic farming principles.

“Biodynamic farming is super-organic,” Vedder emphasizes. “Everyone by now knows that organic farming means using no chemical fertilizers, herbicides or hormones. Biodynamic farmers go one step beyond these sound, sustainable organic farming practices. We realize there are life-giving forces in the plants, animals and in the soil itself. Our goal is to cooperate and work with these forces.”

The Vedders follow biodynamic principles by planting corn and soybeans according to the phase of the moon, and even take into consideration the stars and planetary influences. “Scientists acknowledge the influence of the moon and sun on the ocean tides,” Vedder says, “but people attempt to deny that the same effects extend to the soil and plants.”

The only fertilizer used on the Vedder farm is composted manure from their own dairy animals. Vedder adds a biodynamic preparation called “horn manure” to enhance the composting of the dairy manure. For enhancing plant growth, he sprays a diluted water solution of horn silica onto the plants at the appropriate time. “We began using these biodynamic preparations in the compost five years ago,” he says. “Little by little we have seen nature being reborn. Now that we have eliminated the chemicals, the soil is living and breathing again.”

Vedder says, “I was just a 12-year-old boy when DDT was marketed as the perfect insecticide. It took 30 years to finally make it illegal.”

The influence of Hawthorne Valley Farm

A visit to Hawthorne Valley Farm 10 years ago changed the Vedders’ outlook on farming and sent it in an entirely new direction. Hawthorne Valley Farm is a 400-acre diversified biodynamic farm in the Taconic hills of Columbia County, near the village of Ghent in mid-upstate New York. “That visit really opened our eyes to what could be achieved by working in harmony with nature,” Vedder says.

The Vedder Homestead as the cows are turned out after a long winter.

“Hawthorne Valley Farm has a 60-cow dairy herd that is the focus of their retail milk and cheese operation,” Vedder explained. “In addition, the cows provide the basis for the compost essential for returning manure fertility to the soil, thus ensuring that the cycle is continuous and that the farm is self-sufficient as far as fertilizer is concerned.”

It was during the visit to Hawthorne Valley that the Vedders learned how to enrich compost with herbal tonics. They also learned methods of applying homeopathic treatments to fields to make them more healthy, by eliminating pests in a natural way, thus avoiding toxic chemicals.

Vedder explains that Hawthorne Valley Farm has for many years been certified biodynamic and organic by the Demeter Association, an international certifying agency. “There are 31 Demeter-certified farms in the United States and Mexico,” he said. (Demeter was the Greek goddess of fruitful soil, agriculture and fruitful mankind.) The Vedders have not applied for certification yet, but hope to in the near future.

“Biodynamics is often considered an eccentric way of farming,” Vedder says. “Some people even laugh and call it voodoo because we consider the sun, moon, planets and stars in our total farming practices. In reality, we strive to work in harmony with these cosmic influences. This awareness guides the day-to-day rhythms of the farm and the farmer.”

Rather than considering nature as an opponent to be fought, the Vedders work with nature. “The vision statement for our farm is to make the interaction of our agricultural practices enhance nature, and thereby enhance the native species habitat in our area,” Vedder says.

For example, when a pair of beavers moved onto their farm a year ago and built a dam across a stream, creating a pond that threatened to flood several acres of pasture meadow. The Vedders could have gotten permission from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s wildlife division to kill the beavers and destroy the dam. Instead, they chose to try to live with the beavers, by controlling the level of the beaver pond.

The author is a freelance contributor based in St. Johnsville, N.Y.

SIDEBAR 1

Living With Beavers

One evening last summer, the Vedder family stood under the trees at the edge of the pond. A dark shape rose up from the depths, dimpled the surface of the water and swam the length of the pond, trailing a V-shaped wake—a beaver (Castor canadensis).

Without beavers, there would be no pond, nor the diversity of life it supports. Water bugs skitter across its surface. Trout and minnows flourish in the deep water. A pair of wild mallard ducks are nesting on a tiny island in the pond.

Wire cage is lowered into the pond. It will be secured in place by metal fenceposts driven in alongside.

The Vedders controlled the level of the beaver pond by using a beaver control method originated by “Skip” Lisle of Grafton, Vt. Lisle was a beaver specialist and former wildlife manager for the Penobscot Nation in Maine. Lisle has gained international prominence as a beaver control expert. He has worked in Canada, Norway and Poland to successfully solve beaver problems in those countries.

The method that Lisle came up with allows humans and beavers to live peacefully in the same area. It is called a pond leveler, or “castor master” (after Castor Canadensis, the scientific name for the species.) It is a flexible, double-walled polyethylene pipe placed through the center of the beaver dam. The pipe begins a minimum of 10 feet upstream of the dam, inside a 4-foot diameter wire cage that’s anchored to the bottom of the pond. The height of the pipe inside the cage controls the level of water in the beaver pond.

This device keeps a steady, controlled amount of water flowing through the dam (via the pipe) so that the pond water does not rise and reach the nearby road. Because the intake of the pipe is at least 10 feet upstream from the dam, the beavers don’t perceive the pipe as a leak in the dam. The wire cage around the pipe prevents the beavers from piling brush and mud to plug the intake of the pipe.

The Vedder farm had to apply to the NYSDEC, Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources for a permit to alter the beaver dam using the flow control device. The farm was issued a general permit for removal or modification of recent beaver dams no more than two years old. The permit specified that “disturbance to the beaver dam shall be limited to the minimum necessary to lower the impoundment.”

At the Vedder Homestead, their involvement with the installation of a pond leveling device is just part of their landowner’s commitment of being good stewards of the land. “Our stewardship includes working for the benefit of wildlife,” they explain. They turned a potential beaver problem into an opportunity to preserve wildlife.

As a bonus, they have the opportunity of watching beavers in a natural habitat. Beavers are nocturnal, becoming active in late afternoon. On summer evenings, members of the Vedder family often go to the pond shore and sit quietly under the trees. They have earned the beavers’ trust and feel privileged to be able to watch them at work. Living side-by-side with beavers, they continue to learn more and more about the habits of these gentle, remarkable creatures.