{"id":16334,"date":"2020-12-28T04:18:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T08:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/grow-organic\/organic-how-tos\/how-to-grow-organic-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T15:31:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T19:31:33","slug":"organic-livestock","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/learn\/organic-how-tos\/organic-livestock\/","title":{"rendered":"Livestock"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Organic Livestock<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Why raise organic livestock?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Organic refers to an agricultural system that is founded on the natural world. Organic farming is at the core of MOFGA’s work, and this includes raising organic livestock. Livestock are animals that are raised on a farm including cattle, pigs, chickens, cows, horses, sheep, goats and other domestic animals. Livestock can be raised for meat, milk, eggs, fiber, land management, breeding stock or a combination of these things. <\/span>Raising livestock organically promotes humane production of livestock, without synthetic antibiotics, added growth hormones, such as recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), or feed made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Additionally, organic livestock farmers ensure that animals have access to the outdoors and room to move, graze and develop according to their natural behaviors. Organic livestock cannot be fed GMO grains.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Organic livestock needs<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In order to start raising organic livestock, there are few things you need. The obvious one is livestock! We’ll cover getting animals in the next section.<\/p>

You’ll need land to raise your livestock. Smaller landholdings might be more suitable for raising a flock of chickens or starting a small apiary. Having access to 3 to 5 acres of mostly open, fairly dry grassland opens up other possibilities, including sheep, goats and cattle. Learn more about\u00a0land considerations<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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To plot out how much pasture you’ll need for grazing cattle,\u00a0the Natural Resources Conservation Service poses\u00a0two questions<\/a>\u00a0for you to answer:\u00a0How many animals should be on your pasture?\u00a0And how many acres of pasture do your animals need?\u00a0If you have a limited amount of land but a flexible herd size, you probably want to know the maximum number of animals that you can graze on your pasture. And\u00a0if you have a lot of land but you want to keep a fixed number of livestock, you probably want to know the minimum amount of land your animals need to graze.<\/p>

The NRCS continues to go into detail with an equation that can help figure out the exact number of animals you can have per acre. Your goal is to maximize the amount of livestock on minimal land without overusing the land. Without\u00a0proper land rotation<\/a>, you can run into myriad issues.<\/p>

MOFGA has comprised a very comprehensive list of the\u00a0accepted health practices, products and ingredients<\/a>\u00a0that you can use for raising organic livestock in Maine.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pasture care for organic livestock<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Raising livestock on pasture is\u00a0beneficial<\/a>\u00a0for many reasons. Pasture-based systems produce healthy livestock. The meat, milk and eggs from pasture-based livestock is also nutrient dense for consumers. Maintaining livestock pasture offers environmental benefits, as grasslands can also reduce CO2 in the air. Lastly, pasture-based livestock can be more\u00a0profitable<\/a>\u00a0for farmers.<\/p>

In order to raise certified organic livestock, there are a few requirements for your pasture.<\/p>

To qualify for organic certification, livestock producers must follow guidelines, including those for pasture, set out by the USDA’s National Organic Program.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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One pasture rule outlined by MOFGA Certification Services is that \u201cruminant livestock must receive a minimum of 30% dry matter from pasture averaged over the entire grazing season.\u201d<\/p>

What this means in a practical sense varies from farm to farm; however, some basic best practices can be followed to optimize pasture:\u00a0<\/p>