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One of the key tenets of regenerative farming is the integration of a diversity of animals with the farm ecosystem. Every species has distinctive characteristics that define them - the rooting snout of a pig, the scratching feet of a chicken, the nibbling mouth of a sheep. Our conviction is that God is glorified most when each animal is free to express that distinctiveness. Joel Salatin calls it the pigness of the pig, the cowness of a cow, the duckness of a duck. We are also convinced that each of these diverse species can play a vital role in the regeneration of the land! Far from the current narrative being trumpeted around the world, we reject the notion that animals are the culprit in a broken agricultural system. "Cows are destroying the planet! Overgrazing causes desertification". We rather say, 'It's not the cow, it's the how.' Animals are not the problem, it is how they are managed that determines if their impact is positive or negative.
As a result we embrace several principles in our animal care and management:
Treat all animals with respect, allowing the distinctiveness of each to be expressed.
Avoid routine antibiotics, seeking to manage animal health holistically and naturally as far as possible.
Manage their activity and movement very specifically towards holistic regeneration of the land
Mimic nature as far as possible.
Cattle
Chickens
Sheep
Farmyard
We have a small dairy herd of Fleckvieh cows who rotate through our front pastures and are milked every morning. The are 100% grass-fed – no grains, no antibiotics, no hormones – resulting in delicious and rich milk. This milk we process into yoghurt and a few different cheeses. Unlike modern dairy farms, we do not take new born calves away from the moms. We rather follow a practice called calf-sharing - calves stay with their moms during the day, nursing to their heart's content, and then we pen them up nearby and we take all the milk the mom produces overnight. Yes, we get less milk, but strong calves, happy moms and overall we are just convinced it is a kinder way to go.
We also have a growing uerd of beef cattle (a Sussex/Nguni cross) that we graze on our veld areas, elpin us regenerate more of our land. Once again, it is 100% grass-fed and free range - no grain in their diet ever - putting it up in the top drawer of available beef in South Africa.
Looking after both these herds is our stately Nguni Bull, Sir Andrew of Bool - we call him Andy for short.
Our laying flock is comprised of mainly beautiful Amberlink hens wno enjoy life outside. We are beyond free range because our uens do not simply have access to a small barren outdoor area. Our eggs are raised in a pastured-poultry system where our hens are moved to fresh green grass every two days. They eat loads of greens, catch bugs, breathe fresh air and spend all of their days outside expressing their natural 'chickness', resulting in happy hens and an egg dense in nutrients, bright in colour and rich in flavour. On top of that, the hens are contributing to the ecological regeneration process on the farm!
In our early years we were running a vibrant, productive flock of hair sheep (no wool), but we encountered a number of management difficulties with them that led us to pause the sheep operation for a while. However, we will hopefully be seeing the return of sheep to Wellspring in the very near future.
In and around the farmyard there is a menagerie of animals to meet and enjoy!
We have pigs who eat all our scraps. As you would expect, the love mud, enjoy a belly scratch and will eat just about anything you throw to them.
Then we have a small flock of Muscovy ducks who hatch out the most adorable little ducklings in spring each year.
There is another batch of chickens, The Home Flock, eating garden waste, making compost, and providing eggs for the farmhouse.
We have two dogs (Brock and Lady) and three cats (Misty, Chewie and Ember), and a pair of pet rats.
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