Timmins farmer promotes regenerative farming to help with climate change

Raising cattle is new to the Carons in Timmins. They used to grow vegetables and offered a community supported agriculture program, but they said switching to livestock is making it a little bit easier for them at this stage of life and it suits their values better.

“Having growing them in your own yard and feeding the feed we feed them, which is 100 per cent organic feed, we feel like we’ve taken a bigger step in better health," said Lois Caron, co-owner of Hawk Feather Farm.

Her husband John said raising cattle is important on two levels.

"For our own health and nutrition and a solution for climate change," he said.

He added they can sequester a lot of carbon in the pasture grass "through grazing livestock."

John said the regenerative farming practices he employs has to do with building healthy soil, which ensures a bountiful supply of various types of grass in his pastures.

“I move (the cattle) every day so they’re recycling their manure in their area," he said.

"Once I move them out, (the plants) get adequate rest time. I might come back 40 days later or so and the plants are fully regrown."

Something else unique about Hawk Feather Farm is that there is no barn on the property. Caron said the animals are suited for a colder climate and there is ample bush around the property to protect them from the wind.

“They can handle the temperatures as well as moose or caribou can, and they’re still on the land," he said.

"They’re not in a barn and I don’t have to clean out a barn to spread their manure out there."

He added they also practise 'bale grazing.'

"They eat the bale out in the field and whatever’s left acts as compost," said Caron.

Caron said he has never applied synthetic fertilizers to his pastures and he said he's pleased that what he's studied and practised on the farm is working.