LAS LOMAS (May 2009) -- On a sunny spring afternoon, TLC Ranch in Las Lomas looks like a storybook farm. Glossy red hens chase after bugs, and spotted pigs root contentedly in a grassy pasture. A huge white dog named Angel follows, watchfully, as four-year-old Fiona strides the fields in a stylish pair of pink wellies.
TLC Ranch is exactly the kind of small farm that local-food advocates crave as an alternative to industrial meat production. Animal welfare is paramount here, production is organic, and the food is sold locally. There is an eager market for TLC’s pasture-raised pork and eggs, despite the premium price.
But the cost of farming in the Pajaro Valley is high, and livestock producers are few and far between. If TLC is going to expand, its next move may be to a less-expensive community elsewhere in California.
TLC owner Jim Dunlop currently raises 5,000 laying hens and about 200 pigs per year on 20 rented acres in Las Lomas, Monterey County, just south of the Santa Cruz County line. Dunlop makes the most of his acreage with a meticulous system of pasture rotation. But the land is nearly maxed out, and Dunlop and his wife, Rebecca Thistlethwaite, would like to expand the business enough to afford, say, health insurance.
And as ardent advocates of humane farming, they would also like pasture-raised eggs and meat to become more mainstream - not just rare and tasty gourmet items.
“I’d really like to make a dent in the market, I’d like to make pasture-raised eggs more available,” Dunlop said. “I’d like to have 100 acres. But I don’t think we’re going to find that anywhere around here. It may have to be somewhere in the Central Valley. I’m looking.”
In some ways the Pajaro Valley is ideal for pasture-raised livestock. Temperate coastal weather is kind to man and beast, and grass grows year-round with moderate irrigation. The region is also home to large numbers of “motivated eaters” who will pay extra for humanely-raised, chemical-free food.
Raising animals can be rough on pasture land. If left in place too long, pigs and chickens will graze a field bare, loosening the soil and causing erosion. But a careful system of rotation provides food for the livestock, eliminates pests, and improves the soil.
At TLC Ranch, the pigs go into a pasture first, knocking down the chest-high grasses and routing the ground squirrels by plowing up their burrows. When the grass is chewed down to a reasonable height, the chickens are moved onto the field. The hens eat the remaining grass, and the bugs and larvae attracted by the pig manure, breaking up insect and parasite populations.
The pigs and chickens are also given blemished and unsaleable vegetables from local organic farms.
When the grass is nibbled to the ground, the chickens are moved off, and the grass is allowed to recover, fertilized by the chicken manure, composted bedding and uneaten vegetable scraps.
Even the farm’s dead animals are composted on-site, layered with straw into a heap that Dunlop calls a “biological oven,” where high levels of soil bacteria quickly decompose the creatures’ bodies. Driving a pitchfork into the soil near the foot of the curiously non-stinky compost pile, Dunlop turns over a wedge of soil thickly laced with fat earthworms.
“The soil was just hard clay when we started here,” he said.“It’s really improved over the last couple of years.”
Protection from predators is provided by guard dog Angel, a large and wary Italian Maremma bred to work with livestock.
Angel drives the coyotes away, and will leap at the owls and redtail hawks that swoop low over the chicken yard. But even Angel’s vigilance has been foiled by human predators. A recent burglary netted the farm’s ATV,which was used for moving the chicken coops, hauling feed and dozens of other chores. The theft was a painful financial setback.
“I don’t know what she was doing that night,” said Dunlop, looking askance at Angel, who in turn stared intently at her flock. “I’m thinking of getting a second dog, and just letting him out at night.”
TLC Ranch benefits from being one of the few local farms to pasture-raise organic meat and eggs, and can charge more for their products. But the costs of doing business are disproportionately high, meaning that less of that premium price ends up in the farmer’s pocket.
“There are a ton of costs that make up a piece of meat,” said Thistlethwaite. “We pay $500 per acre (per year), whereas normal pastureland elsewhere costs about $100 per acre. We pay more for water and electricity, and we buy certified organic feed, which is two to three times the cost of conventional.
“Some may say “why bother?’, but we don’t want to support the GMO industry, nor the massive use of herbicides, chemical fertilizers,etc., that go into conventional grain production,” she said.
Because there are few livestock farms in the area, basic supplies have to be brought in at extra cost. TLC’s feed is trucked in from Modesto, and its egg-cartons from Crows Landing, near Turlock. Their slaughterhouse is in Orland, outside of Chico.
Dunlop has worked this land since 2004, and TLC Ranch is a local success story. TLC meats are served in a number of fine restaurants, and sold at farmers markets. Dunlop also sells his eggs to several Whole Foods Markets in the area.
Best of all, the success of the ranch validates Dunlop and Thistlethwaite’s holistic approach to farming.
“We wanted a niche for our farm, to produce something that was not already fiercely competitive,” Thistlethwaite said. “We wanted to fit our production with the land that was available to us … (and) we wanted to show people a way that animals could be produced that is humane, healthy, and that is restorative to the land.”
Done, done, and done. TLC Ranch is in full swing for the 2009 season, and as for the future, it just depends.
“We’re stoked with what we have here,” Dunlop said, gesturing at the beautiful scene around him. “But we’re not exactly where we want to be.”
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