(Review from previous edition)

Llama guarding sheep. Please see Guard LLamas

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The basic farming operation will provide food for the relocated family. That includes cereals, eggs, flour, fruits, grain, meat, milk, vegetables, and so forth. It will take several years to get the basic farming plan into full operation. Therefore, the United States government will have to provide food for the relocated Katrina victims until the basic farming operation is fully developed.

Most of the Hurricane Katrina displaced victims do not have any farming experience or training. That means that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will have to provide on the job training and an ample supply of agriculture extension agents to help the relocated Katrina victims get their farming operations going.

This could be a good opportunity for retired ag teachers, retired ag extension agents, and retired farmers to pitch in and to help. It also could provide some great internship opportunities for agriculture students during the summer of 2006.

The U.S. Government owns millions of acres of land in the Western United States and Alaska. The actual site(s) chosen for the Katrina Refugees Relocation plan, should be where the growing season is ample, the soils provide good agriculture support, there is sufficient rainfall to support agriculture and the climate supports the widest variety of fruits, grains, livestock, vegetables, and so forth.

Two of the forty acres should be more than enough to provide all the fruits and vegetables needed to feed a relocated family. However, vegetable production in most locations would not be in operation until spring and summer 2006. After the homes and barns have been built the relocated victims can start and should start working on getting the vegetable patch ready for early spring planting.

The relocated Katrina victims will have to learn how to can, dry, freeze, and otherwise preserve vegetables and fruits for the off-season months. Depending on the locations of the farms, hothouses could be constructed to provide fresh vegetables during the late fall, winter, and early spring months.

Depending on the varieties of fruit and nut trees and vines, it could take from five to ten years or more to get fruit and nut production. Once the houses are completed, it would be good to try to get as many fruit and nut tress planted as possible, if they are plantable in the fall. Likewise for grape vines and the various berry plants such a blueberries, raspberries, and so forth.

As soon as the barns are completed, the livestock operation can be and should be started. We are  going to leave cattle out of the basic livestock program. They are a little much for novice farmers to handle, there are the mad cow risks, they consume huge amounts of food, and they are not as efficient food producers as are other livestock choices.

The initial complement of livestock should  focus on  providing breeding stock and some food production too. During the first year and until the Katrina relocation plan farms start producing sufficient feed, the U. S. Department of Agriculture will provide grain, hay, and other livestock feeds.

Goats give great milk, better than cow's milk when the milking does are feed an exclusive diet of alfalfa hay and corn and kept away from the male goats (bucks). The Nubian breed does give the sweetest milk but Saanens give the most milk.

Goat meat is excellent when finished properly. It tastes somewhat like a cross between very lean beef and venison. Hint: finish the meat goats with corn and high protein hay (15% or better) for about a month before slaughter.

Mature, milking  dairy goats each take about 0.5 acres of good alfalfa hay production. You can support about five to six growing kids with about an acre of good alfalfa hay production. Thus, figure about five acres of the forty-acre farm to support a goat heard mix of adults and kids of about 25 goats altogether. (That's figuring a high-yield alfalfa management program producing about six tons per acre of 15% protein or better alfalfa hay per year.)

The suggestion here would be to have the Department of Agriculture provide each Katrina relocation farm with one yearling buck goat, one mature doe goat, and three yearling doe goats. That should provide at least one milking goat in early spring 2006 and three more milking does by late spring 2006. It also should provide an average of six kid goats born into the the heard the first year to start growing the heard and provide some meat. (The new bucks would be used for meat production and the new does would become part of the breeding heard.)

Sheep provide meat and wool. The wool can be sold as a cash crop or spun into yarn for knitting. As with the goat heard, the Department of Agriculture could furnish each relocation farm one ram (adult male sheep) and four ewes (adult female sheep) for starters. The sheep heard could then be built up to about 25 sheep. That would take about five acres of the 40 acres to feed the heard of 25 sheep.

So far we have used about 13 of the 40 acres -- one acre for the home and barn, two acres for fruits, nuts, and vegetables, five acres for the goats and five acres for the sheep. That leaves 27 acres for more livestock, cash crops, and a woodlot.

In upcoming issues we will look further at getting the farm operation started, building communities and infrastructure, educating the kids, and lots more. Other livestock for the relocation farms will include chickens and hogs.

References

Goats: Sustainable Production Overview
Raising Goats
Goats 
Sustainable Sheep Production
Small Farm Connections - Animals

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