Enhancing Health Benefits of Pasture Raised Lamb, Pork, and Chicken Utilizing Organic Fish Hydrolysate and Compost Supplementation

View the project final report

Commodities

• Agronomic: grass (misc. perennial)
• Animals: poultry, sheep, swine
• Animal Products: meat

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing - multispecies, grazing - rotational, heritage breeds, pasture renovation, pasture fertility
• Crop Production: foliar feeding, organic fertilizers, tissue analysis
• Education and Training: display, farmer to farmer
• Farm Business Management: farmers' markets/farm stands, new enterprise development
• Production Systems: integrated crop and livestock systems
• Soil Management: composting, soil analysis, soil microbiology, soil quality/health
• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, sustainability measures, values-based supply chains

Small farms face challenges in remaining economically viable and maintaining a high quality of life for their farm families while providing affordable, nutritious, high quality products for customers.  Our project seeks to improve soil health and environment through the application of biostimulants and soil amendments in organic fish hydrolysate and composted manure.  Many small farms start on abandoned, abused or neglected land and our project will provide specific means to improve the health and fertility and ultimately the productivity of the upstart new farm. We intend to enhance the nutritional components, especially Conjugated Linoleic Acid of lamb, pork and chicken pasture raised on forages supplemented with organic fish hydrolysate and composted manure and differentiate these products from conventionally or commercially raised meats. This diversity, differentiation and nutritional advantage will provide established and aspiring farmers a profitable marketing advantage in these products. We will identify the benefits in forage production, yield and quality with the implementation of fish hydrolysate and compost application versus commercial fertilizers.  We will quantify all data and examine the economic significance and environmental and societal benefit to Northeast farmers, gardeners, and the community at large from the utilization of biostimulants, organic hydrolysate and compost. MKVT Farm will additionally continue to maintain the highest degree of integrity and dedication to animal well-being that our customers have become accustomed to and legitimately expect.  We will focus our outreach to include our MKVT Farm website, Facebook page and Instagram as well as take advantage of key contacts in all media. 

This project seeks to enhance soil health and microbiome with biostimulants from organic fish hydrolysates and animal compost.

This project seeks to quantify nutritional enhancements including increased levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid of lamb, pork and chicken pasture raised on forages supplemented with fish hydrolysate and compost versus conventionally raised lamb, pork and chicken.

This project will seek to identify the economic advantages of organic fish hydrolysate amendments in Pasture raising lamb, pork and chicken.

This project will identify the advantages in forage nutritional quality and yield economics of organic fish hydrolysates versus commercial fertilizers.