Bees
love it here at the farm! Because many
of the forages cows like are the same things bees like we have no shortage of
pollinators around here!
White
clover is a natural favorite of our striped friends, but they can be found on
alfalfa, hairy vetch, red clover and a myriad of other seasonal, blooming
forages.
Since
we have moved to organic pasture based practices we have seen a sharp increase
in pollinators that are particularly sensitive to pesticides, bees
included. Many people think this
increase in population is solely due to the lack of pesticides sprayed on the
crops, but just as damaging are the pesticides applied to the cattle. When we were conventional, we used a pour-on
pesticide (meaning it was poured on the cow’s back and absorbed through her
skin, much like Advantage for pets) to keep lice, ticks, flies and other pests
off the cows. While the pesticide didn’t
seem to bother her much, she would be shedding them wherever she defecated, on
and off the barn lot. This, in effect
meant that all of our pastures and fields were having low doses of pesticide
applied to them daily via the cows.
In
the organic system we use alternative methods to control these pests, including
(but not limited to) dung beetles to carry away nesting places for fly larvae,
predator wasps who lay their eggs in fly larvae and essential oil sprays on the
cows. While it took time for the ground
to recover and for these natural methods to take effect, we now have efficient
pest control without sacrificing our ‘bee’autiful pollinators!
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