I had the good fortune to again attend the Organic Farming Conference on Feb 27 in LaCrosse,WI. After a delightful early morning drive on a clear and vibrant morning, I arrived at the LaCrosse  Center to join 3000 other like-minded souls. The diversity of the crowd is apparent but the belief in good food, healthy people and animals and preserving and sustaining our environment was shared by all. I am thrilled to share in the optimism and excitement of this crowd!

     The Conference, in its 41st year , includes a wide variety of workshops on topics ranging from soils to gardening to livestock to marketing to health to crops. These are presented by folks that share both their knowledge and their passion. I attended  a seminar on Organic Pork Production put on by James Franzen,who is the Pool Coordinator for Organic Prairie Pork in addition to being a top-notch hog farmer himself. I was impressed by his wealth of knowledge of the entire pork industry. Being that me and my boys think bacon is a food group, Natures Most Perfect Food, this information caused me to ponder the feasibility of adding a few pastured hogs to the Welcome Home Farm menagiere.

      Dan Leiterman of Crystal Creek acclaim presented a very informative session on livestock parasites. I was fascinated to learn about the prevalence of internal parasites in very young calves and the effect they have on the immune system. Organically managing parasite levels involves a multifaceted approach and Dan gave good suggestions on how to implement those plans.

      The Conference hosts many vendors of products and services. It is fun to visit with old friends as well as talk to new people. Everyone has knowledge to share. Spent some time at the Organic Valley booth visiting with Dr. Paul Dettloff and the rest of the personable staff. What a great organization! It was good to see Dr. Richard Holliday again at the Helfter Feeds booth. A stop at the Taurus Services booth revealed that New Zealand bovine grazing genetics with the A2 factor is available in Western WI through Charlie Krueger of Fountain City, WI. As usual the Midwestern Bio-Ag booth was bustling, a reflection of Gary Zimmer’s energetic personality.  Our MBA mentor, Bob Schmidtknecht ,was there to visit with also.

      A special thanks to MOSES for putting together a great learning  and sharing opportunity such as this.

                                                                                                                                      In learning and health                              Doc Tom