Vermont Grass-Fed, Heritage-Breed Lamb,
Sheepskins, and Wool Products
Sustainable Management
In our farming practices associated with haying and grazing, no chemical fertilizers or supplements are used by Tamarack Tunis; we use manure and compost on our fields, and lime and woodash as mineral supplements. We never use hormones and only occasionally use antibiotics during lambing if a difficult birth has exposed a ewe to a high level of bacteria; we never use antibiotics on market lambs. Because intestinal parasites can be such a significant health problem with sheep, and no proven organic worming medicines are currently available, Tamarack Tunis meats are not certified organic. Growing lambs in confinement and without access to grass (where the intestinal parasites become an issue) allows for easier organic production, but that doesn’t fit with Tamarack’s goal of raising healthy grass-fed meat. However, Tamarack does practice a minimalist approach to using conventional worming medicines, informed by a South African system called FAMACHA™, which has some similarities to the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach used in growing apples and other crops for which organic production is extremely challenging. FAMACHA includes regular monitoring of parasites, and results in wormer only being used on those animals that need the medication instead of blanket treatment of the entire flock. Over time, by selecting more resistant animals to retain for sustaining and growing the flock, less and less medicine will be required.
