AN ENERGY ANALYSIS OF THE DAN TAYLOR FAMILY'S OZARK FARM

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Now when we look at the Taylor farm's energy flow diagram, we can immediately see the energy sources which keep the system running. And the major source, of course, is the sun: Nearly one trillion kilocalories of sunlight fall on the Taylors' 160 acres annually. This is by far the largest energy flow on the diagram.

It will help to put that one trillion kilocalories into meaningful terms if you know that a typical individual in our society eats only about one million kcal (one thousand-thousandth of a trillion kcal) each year.

People, however (vitamin D aside), can't really eat sunlight. We must rely on plants to convert it into some form of biomass that we can consume ... or that we can feed to animals and let them convert into protein and fats for US.

In the case of the Taylor farm, its 30 acres of pasture annually produce about 875 million kcal of biomass. Of this, about 150 million are consumed by animals. And the animals, in turn, produce a total of approximately 13.3 million kcal of food ... part of which is consumed on the homestead and part of which is sold.

When it comes to directly converting their feed to food, then, the animals in this system are only about 8% efficient. That, however, is not as bad as it sounds. Because those animals are converting mostly human-inedible feeds into high-quality protein. Furthermore, the Taylors' team of oxen contribute nearly as much muscle power to the homestead's operation as do the people living there. And all the animals on the farm produce manure, a valuable resource that is frequently overlooked these days.

The annual energy equivalent of the manure produced on the Taylor farm amounts to a substantial 31.7 million kcal ... which is the energy equivalent of all the food you'll eat during a third or more of your lifetime. Or, to put it another way, there is over twice as much energy in the Taylor animals' manure as there is in the meat, milk, eggs, etc., produced by those animals. No wonder this natural soil builder is such a valuable product (and isn't it a shame that manure is so often considered a nuisance and a waste on the "modern" agribiz operation?).

Nor can we overlook the fact that it is animal produce which the Taylors sell to support their homestead's modest $2,900 annual budget. Their farm animals, especially the cattle and hogs, contribute to the success and stability of the homestead in many ways. The livestock's importance may become even more pronounced if, as the Taylors hope, they're eventually able to substitute four tons of chestnuts a year (from trees they've planted) for the pig feed they now purchase. If that dream is realized, their farm will take another giant step toward total self-sufficiency. [EDITOR'S NOTE: There's obviously far more to an animal's "efficiency" than the narrow view taken by Diet for a Small Planet.]

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