Livestock producers, have you been thinking about going organic? From previous
Fortunately for those of you wanting to try, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has two documents that are beneficial to read. The first, published in November of 2012, is entitled Guide for Organic Livestock Producers. It may be found at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5101543. A second fact sheet entitled Organic Livestock Requirements was released in February of 2013 and is available at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5102526.
This second publication is especially useful in spelling out the requirements for grazing ruminants. It even has a link (http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/NOPProgramHandbook) that will take you to the newly revised National Organic Program Standards Handbook and in it you will find links to help you calculate the dry matter intake (DMI) requirements for access to pasture http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5096778.
In addition, you may find the following link http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/organicinfo very useful to help you decide if organic production is for you.