Permaculture design is supposed to create a harmonious ecosystem, and this is not limited to plants. Integrating animals into your farming system delivers added beneficial resources, protection from pests, and limits the energy farmers exert on a daily basis. Here is a list of animals farmers should consider integrating into their agricultural ecosystem:
Chickens
Chickens are incredible workers that provide many benefits to your agricultural system. Chickens will quickly turn up compacted soil and eat weeds as they dig with their talons in search of grubs and other insects. This is one way in which they can be fantastic pest controllers. Chicken manure is high in nitrogen and fertilizes the soil. The difficulty is that if let loose through the farm, they can also eat some of your healthy, leafy crops and dig up soil that you do not want disturbed. Chicken tractors are mobile pens that allows you to control where the chickens work. They are cheap and easy to construct, which makes them a valuable tool for your farm. Check out this quick video on building a chicken tractor and the benefits it has not only for a farm, but for the health of the chickens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0We2rHs_0mg
Ducks
Much like chickens, ducks reduce pest problems in your farm. Because they are different animals, they prefer to eat different insects. Snails are a common problem in farms, especially during wet periods. Even though they move slowly, they rapidly eat away healthy crops. Ducks address this problem due to their appetite for snails. Unlike chickens, ducks will not dig up your soil and eat as many leafy crops. This allows you to let them roam freely about the garden without the consequence of damaging healthy crops. Ducks also need to live near water and will add valuable nutrients from their manure into your ponds. Not only will these added nutrients find their way into the soil through irrigation, but will help plants grow along the edges of the pond.
Goats
Do you have an area of land that you want cleared for farming? Maybe it is filled with thorn bushes and other undergrowth that can be difficult to clear without machinery. Well, goats can be a solution to this problem. Goats eat many types of vegetation and they eat it very quickly. They might not clear everything out for you, but will significantly help you start the process. Many farmers across the world use the goat’s grazing expertise to manage the spread of unwanted undergrowth. Just make sure to contain them within the area you want otherwise they will eat everything in sight.
Pigs
In a similar fashion to goats, pigs can help you prepare land for use. A great example of this is exhibited on a personal property in Western Massachusetts by a man named Abdul Baki. He operates a personal organic farm in mountains and has been using his pigs to clear land in the forest. After training his pigs using a single corn hidden beneath a rock and a tree stump, the pigs now remove all stumps and rocks in their pen whilst turning the ground into fertile soil. Similar to a chicken tractor, he then moves the pig pen to another plot. He calls them his “natural bulldozers.”
To learn more about the impact work happening at Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden, feel free to visit us at www.pha-tad-ke.com. If you have particular questions you want to raise in response to this article or our work, then comment below or write to us at contact@pha-tad-ke.com.