Livestock

Winter Cattle Lice

Lice infestations during winter housing represent a significant challenge for cattle producers, particularly organic operations raising cattle without chemical inputs. This series of fact sheets from University of Vermont Extension describes the life cycle of cattle lice, control strategies based on integrated pest management (IPM) principles, and the use of essential oils as alternative controls. […]

Johne’s Disease Fact Sheets

Johne’s disease is an infectious disease of ruminants that reduces profitability of infected herds and is difficult to control. These University of Vermont fact sheets (combined into a 16-page PDF) answer questions about what Johne's disease is, how it spreads and how to control the disease.

Optimizing the Economic Return of Pasture-Raised Broilers

This set of publications were developed by Cornell University and are intended to help producers of slow-growth and conventional broilers understand their costs of production and track the performance of their flocks. A third fact sheet shares guidance on breaking down a carcass into desired cuts. Calculating Costs of Production Farmers must figure out their […]

An Introduction to Honey Bee Breeding Program Design

Honey bee breeding is a long-term, labor-intensive process that is becoming more popular and accessible. This 10-page fact sheet from Penn State Extension, An Introduction to Honey Bee Breeding Program Design, introduces beekeepers to the basics of starting a honey bee breeding program.

Down by the Bay: Project Supports Safe Oyster Production

Oyster production is a key contributor to the local food economy in New Jersey’s Delaware Bay. The “merroir” of the Bay’s tide flats gives oysters their unique and desired taste. However, recent increases in illnesses caused by raw oyster consumption threaten the Bay’s oyster farming future. The culprit is Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), a bacterium commonly […]

Considerations and Recommendations When Establishing Custom Grazing Relationships

This guide and set of recommendations are intended for organic dairy farmers and other livestock graziers interested in starting a custom grazing relationship with a neighboring farmer or landowner. Successful custom grazing can provide or increase grazing acreage for those farmers who need it and can also provide opportunities for smaller, beginning, leased, and diversified […]

Managing Staph aureus on the Organic Dairy

Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that causes mastitis in dairy cattle. Staph aureus mastitis is highly contagious and can easily spread among the herd. Organic dairy farmer Katie Webb Clark conducted a Northeast SARE Farmer Grant project to test milking hygiene and preventative management protocols used in the U.S. and New Zealand, trialed Manuka honey […]

Mobile Poultry Processing Unit Farm and Food Safety Management Guide

New Entry Sustainable Farming Project and the New England Small Farm Institute prepared this guide for small-scale poultry producers and processors using a Massachusetts-inspected mobile poultry processing unit or stationary on-farm facility. It includes information and sample documentation to help producer-processors with: Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures (SSOPs) Hazard Analysis Critical Control […]

Raising Ducks on a Small Agroforestry Farm

This guide, authored by Steve and Elizabeth Gabriel, shares their experience raising ducks on their farm in Trumansburg, New York. The guide includes the following topics. Key considerations for raising ducks Breeds Basic care Infrastructure tips and tricks Duck products The Gabriels say, "This document is gathered from our experience at Wellspring Forest Farm after […]

Pastured Rabbit for Profit

Pastured Rabbit for Profit is a guide written by New York farmer Nichki Carangelo. It is a practical resource intended to guide farmers through the start-up phase of a pasture-based rabbitry. It includes a full enterprise budget along with housing plans, sample breeding schedules, feed guidelines and other rabbit husbandry basics. Chapters include:

21st Century Pastured Poultry

21st-Century Pastured Poultry is a fully illustrated and photographed management guide for new and established farmers of every scale. It was designed as a comprehensive resource for farmers seeking to develop, expand or improve a pastured poultry enterprise. Using Joel Salatin’s Pastured Poultry Profit$ as a guide, author Nickhi Carangelo set forth to produce an […]

Northeast pollinator conservation planning short courses

Because native bees are significant contributors to crop pollination, their integration into farm systems—through conservation or restoration of natural and semi-natural areas, as well as the protection of nest sites and prudent insecticide use—is essential to agricultural production over the long-term. Led by pollinator program co-director Eric Mader, the national environmental non-profit, The Xerces Society, […]

Penn State student studies poultry bedding alternatives

In the Northeast, wood shavings are the predominant bedding material on which commercial broiler chickens are raised. Because their availability and cost fluctuates and new concerns have emerged around biosecurity risks of transporting bedding to and from farms, Pennsylvania State University Master of Science student Amy Barkley used her Northeast SARE Graduate Student grant to […]

Sustainable year-round sheep milking management

The U.S. sheep dairy industry is currently a seasonal business as traditional dairy sheep breeds tend to follow an annual 180-day lactation. With her Northeast SARE Graduate Student grant, Nikola “Niko” Kochendoerfer of Cornell University, explored the possibility of year-round sheep milking management using meat breed ewes (Finn and Dorset crossbreeds). These breeds are capable […]

Geese on Pasture

Wesley Bascom of Gozzard City LLC conducted a Northeast SARE Farmer Grant project to look at pastured goose production in northern Vermont. Wesley wanted to track the impact of different levels of grain supplementation for geese on pasture. He divided the goose flock into three groups of approximately 60 each and supplemented one group with […]

Pollinator buffers improve poultry farm sustainability & neighbor relations

Like many farms across the region, Hill Farms, Inc. in Houston, Delaware has seen in increase in residential development surrounding their farm. Because maintaining positive neighbor relations is important to this poultry operation, owner Tina Hill conducted a Northeast SARE Farmer Grant project to install a mixed vegetative buffer adjacent their poultry houses. Tina was […]

Maine leads project using winter ecology to manage small ruminant parasites

For many small ruminant operations, grazing is central to farm profitability. However, grazing livestock increases risks of losses due to parasite-infested pastures. Haemonchus contortus, Barber pole worm, is a particular threat to sheep and goat farms throughout the Northeast region. Although H. contortus (as a subtropical parasite) has adapted to northern climates, Jim Weber of […]

2017 Northeast SARE Annual Report

A look back at the past 30 years of SARE and a look to the future. This edition includes a listing of 2017 project awards by state and includes a snapshot of program results.

Developing a criteria to select colostrum samples of poor quality

Good colostrum management is essential to the health of newborn replacements and life-long profit.

Minimizing the risks of Vibrio bacteria in farm-raised oysters grown in intertidal elements of the Delaware Bay

New Jersey’s oyster farms are concentrated on the extensive intertidal sand flats of the lower Delaware Bay where they are exposed twice daily during low tide. Previous studies from the Pacific Northwest indicate that intertidal exposure accelerates the proliferation of Vibrios, increasing the risk to human health.