Learn to Integrate and Manage Animals in a Permaculture System
Course Code: VSS106
Course Duration: 100 hours (approximation, self paced study, commonly 3 to 6 months, longer if you need)
Animals occur everywhere in nature.
They contribute to biodiversity and balance in any ecological system, You cannot escape that fact. If managed well, the ecosystem can be more productive and sustainable - and that sort of sustainability is the ultimate goal in design if any permaculture system
This course helps you to understand animals, small and large, good and bad, from livestock that provide milk, eggs, manure and other things, to invertebrates and microorganisms that keep the soil healthy and support plant growth.
Content
1.Integrating Animals into a Permaculture System
- Introduction
- Maintaining a balance in the system
- Locating animals in the right zone
- Animals for different sectors
- Intensive animals for zone 1
- Small livestock for zone 2
- Extensive free range animals in zone 3
- Functions of animals in a permaculture system
- Fodder trees
- Birds in permaculture –useful birds, pest birds
- Bird attracting plants
- Other bird attractants
- Feeding birds
2. Role of Insects and Other Small Animals
- Introduction
- The ecosystem
- Ecological concepts
- Biomes and common wildlife
- Insects in permaculture
- Edible insects
- Insect structure
- Insect life cycle
- Insect taxonomy or classification
- Insect feeding habits
- Vermicomposting –Earthworms
- Snail farming
- Pest insect control
- Mechanical control
- Cultural control
- Biological control
- Pollutants in the ecosystem
3. Poultry
- Introduction
- Chickens
- Turkeys
- Ducks
- Geese
- Avoid buying sick birds
- Helping hatchling chicks
- Poultry products and uses –meat, eggs, etc
- Quail and Duck eggs
- Poultry forage
- Mobile tractor systems
4. Bees
- The Hive -Lids
- Top Bar hives
- Supers, Bases, Excluder
- Frames and Foundations
- Spur Wheel Embedder
- Equipment
- Management - hive location, bee comfort, safety, water
- Buying an established Hive
- Nucleus hives
- Swarms
- Honey Production
5. Grazing Animals (Pigs, Sheep, Goats, Rabbits)
- Introduction
- Advantages and disadvantages of working off grass
- Paddock size
- Type of fencing
- Post and rails
- Hedging
- Wire, barbed wire or electric fencing
- Brick or stone walls
- Banks and rises
- Gates
- Supply of water to animals
- Supplying shelter
- Pig Husbandry -production systems, buildings, pens
- Environmental control for pig production
- Watering, feeding, overcrowding
- Sheep husbandry
- Uses for sheep – wool, meat, dairy
- Sheep rearing and management system
- Keeping goats
- Keeping rabbits
6. Larger Livestock and Pest Animal Management
- Introduction to larger animals
- What animals –benefits and management
- Beef cattle introduction
- Choosing a beef breed
- Dairy cattle for self sufficiency
- Appropriate breeds
- Dairy cattle husbandry –health, housing, managing the milk
- Deer
- Alpacas and Llamas
- Horses at grass on smaller properties
- Horse health and husbandry
- Wild animals
- Wildlife management
7. Aquaculture Production Systems
- Introduction to aquaculture in permaculture systems
- Pond size
- Polyculture in a pond
- Manures and fertilising ponds
- Feeding fish
- Mariculture
- Advantages and disadvantages of aquaculture
- Extensive production systems
- Intensive production systems
- Species to grow –fish and crustaceans
- Simple biological filter system
- Filter efficiency
- Cleaning turbid water in dams
- Protecting fish
- Water requirements
- Extensive production in dams
- Intensive productions in pools and raceways
- Cages
- Harvesting fish
- Seine Nets, Gill nets, Traps –funnel, flyke
8. Aquaculture Species to Grow
- Bass
- Cod
- Perch
- Catfish
- Blackfish
- Barramundi
- Red Claw
- Yabby
- Spiny Freshwater Crayfish
- Trout (dealt with in more detail)
- Growing Marron (dealt with in greater detail)
Aims
- Develop your ability to integrate animals and insect into a complete permaculture design in ways that best utilise animal resources.
- Understand the principles behind integration of animals in permaculture systems
- Understand the role of insects and other small animals in permaculture systems
- Understand the role of poultry and bees in the permaculture system
- Develop knowledge of the role of grazing animals in permaculture systems
- Understand the role of aquaculture production systems in permaculture
- Develop knowledge of the range of aquaculture species available for permaculture system