On entropy, goats, and rotational grazing.

They say that the second law of thermodynamics dictates that the entropy of any closed system is bound to increase – that is to say, will move from order to disorder. A cracked egg can never uncrack and retreat back into it’s shell, and by that same token once you clear a plot of land in Maui and start growing things on it – you’ve got your work cut out for you! Our job as sustainable farmers is to create order, regenerating and organizing land and animals. Organizing the chaos of the jungle is definitely a concept we’re familiar with here at the farm, and, as our big, happy, and ever expanding cohort of furred and feathered friends can attest to, is something we pride ourselves in. While grappling with weighty concepts like the forward moving arrow of time might be par for the course for coffeehouse philosophizing, we like to stick to what we know here: maintaining the integrity of our soil while keeping our livestock healthy.

As those of you who’ve been following this blog may know, our livestock population has exponentially increased in the past year. Now, you might be wondering – what use could a flower farm have for all these animals? Good question.

Enter management intensive rotational grazing. It sounds long, and it sounds technical, but it’s actually a very simple concept. Basically, it means that instead of letting the livestock freely graze, you allot them a certain portion of pasture, allowing the rest to recover in the meantime. Simple a concept as it may be, the ramifications are deep and far ranging. Giving the pasture that extra time to recover is in the best interest of the soil, the pasture, and thus the livestock themselves. The rest time allows the land to deepen and rebuild root and shoot systems, and regenerate energy –  in the process maximizing biomass, or total organic matter. Using this system also eliminates or substantially decreases reliance on supplemental feed sources, as the pasture systems provides enough energy for the grazers.

Here at Hana Tropicals, sustainability is more than just a word, or a concept, it is the standard to which we hold up all our endeavours. In everything we do, we strive to think in the long term and ensure that we’re not exploiting the land, but constantly building it and bettering it. Introducing a rotational grazing system for our livestock means we barely have to rely on supplemental feed to nourish them, and, most importantly of all, we don’t need to use any inputs or fertilizers on the land- the animals, with their nitrogen rich droppings, do all the work for us. When you’ve only got maybe 3 inches of arable soil tops lying on a vast expanse of lava rock, you’ve got to pamper and cherish those three precious inches. And that’s exactly what rotational grazing accomplishes.