New Mexico Farm Tours

Farm tours are usually part of agricultural conferences. They are one of the best ways to learn about agriculture in a state or region. I attended two conferences in Albuquerque (New Mexico): the AMPIC of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) in 2001 and the 3rd Annual Small Farm Conference in 2002.

You make interesting friends during farm tours.

The Small Farm Conference had a choice of 10 tours. The one we chose included what was supposedly the largest pasture-based poultry operation in the US (at least at the time). I was skeptical about pasture poultry (still am). The broilers were still in pens (just on pasture) with plenty of grain to eat. The pens were small. How's that different?  Mortality was much higher than a commercial broiler house. How's that better? Free range is different. The farm we visited had free range laying hens and turkeys. Of course, free range has its perils, too.

Peeps on "pasture"

Small, but growing

Bigger yet

Layers

Free range turkeys

Our tour also included an organic dairy called "Jersey Gold." Of course, all the cows were Jersey. Jerseys are my favorite breed of dairy cattle, maybe of all cattle. The milk we sampled was delicious. I wish I could get it here.

Jersey Gold cows

Calf hutches

Tour day is always the highlight of the AMPIC. There are always many tours to choose from, usually about 30, half day and full day. At the New Mexico conference, I chose an animal science tour (no surprise there!).  We we saw cattle: dairy and beef. 

There's a place in New Mexico called "dairy row," because there's so many dairy cows. You drive, you see cows. You drive some more. You still see cows. There aren't many farms. Only about a dozen. They are "mega" farms, with each farm having thousands upon thousands of cows. In fact, New Mexico has the largest average herd size in the US. 

That's a lot of milk!

Milking was around the clock. They had cameras on their employees, mostly Mexican (no surprise there). Dairying is different in the Southwest compared to Maryland. The cows stay outside. There are shade structures. The cows have water sprinkled on them to keep them cool while they are eating. A few years after visiting, I recall hearing about a snow storm that hit the area and devastated dairy row.

Dairy row is located between Las Cruces, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. At the time of our visit (in 2001), the dairy industry wasn't very regulated (environmentally-speaking). Probably one of the reasons these big farms chose to locate in New Mexico in the first place. I'm sure much has changed by now  (as it should).

All Holstein cows

Providing shade for the cows

Beef production ranks second behind dairy in New Mexico. Several of our tour stops pertained to beef cattle and grazing. There were issues with losing range land for grazing, due to conversion of the land to non-edible species (invasive). Stocking rates were definitely in decline. Probably need more sheep (and goats) and less cattle.

Eared cattle

Black cattle

New Mexico range - Ugh!

We went to an onion packing operation that fed cull onions to sheep. Onions are a safe feed for sheep. They contain 90 percent water and 9 to 12 percent protein. Studies show you can feed onions free choice to ewes, but you have to limit them in the diet of lambs (unless you don't want your lambs to grow).

Bags of onions

Sorting and packing onions into bags

Cull onions for the sheep