The Bovine Bugle

Planning for a conservation project

This morning Tyler Webb and Ann Fackler from NRCS--Natural Resources Conservation Service--came to the farm today to start planning a project we hope to do here on the farm. We hope to construct some better compost pads for our composting operation and to improve some of the lanes the cows travel on from the barn to the grazing paddocks. Howmars Farm applied for partial funding for these projects through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP. This program encourages farmers to pursue projects that will reduce the impact of farming practices on the environment.

Tyler and Ann spent a couple of hours shooting elevations and taking measurements to aid them in drawing up some designs for the compost pads and the cow lanes. The plans will then be used by my contractor to determine how much earthwork needs to be done, what type of materials to use in construction, and what specs to meet in the finished product.

While I'm waiting to get the plans from NRCS, I'll need to get some compost spread from the composting sites so that I will be ready to start the project . With the last two weeks of wonderfully dry weather, I should have good luck getting on the fields to spread the compost.

----Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Posted by Blogger Chris at September 22, 2004 02:58 PM