A Ballad on the Nature of Polyface Farms

Grass grows.  In my field there is great diversity in grasses.  There are red clover, blue grass, lupines, and frescue.  Throughout grass' life it it constantly absorbing myself and other sun rays due to photosynthesis.  The grass then grows to be tall and lush, due to my energy.  Then come the cows.  The farmer always moves the cows at dusk because that is when the grass is the sweetest.  The grass is sweet because it has been absorbing me for the entire day and creating glucose, or sugar, leading to a sweet taste.  They munch away at my grass for 24 hours until the farmer moves the cows to a different plot of land, filled with other grass. Because of the farmer's "Rule of the Second Bite" my grass is newer nibbled to the point of death.  When the cattle eat my grass the grass kills off some of its roots in order to balance things out.  The bacteria, fungi, and earthworms the proceed to eat the decaying roots, turning them into humus.  Humus is soil that was once organic matter.  SO, by eating my grass, the cattle actually help make new soil.  There time in my fields does prove to be long enough for them to leave a nice layer of poop.  My grass uses the poop as fertilizer and the chickens who are moved in next love it.  The root around in the poop in search of juicy larvae, bugs, and parasites, all the while leaving their own layer of nutrients behind as well.  After a short time, the farmer moves the chickens 10 feet over and allows my grass to regrow.  This allows more of my friends and family to join me.  My grass thrives and becomes lush once again.  When my grass is regrown to its prior size the cycle starts again, except for in the spring when they harvest my grass with machines and dry it out to make hay.  This hay will become food for the animals in the coming winter.

After the chickens have been grazing for 56 days they are slaughter ready.  The farmers kill and clean the chickens, removing most of the grass filled innards.  These they place into buckets and pour them onto a pile of wood chips.  They cover these chicken parts with a second layer of wood chips and leave it to decompose.  When all the chicken parts are decomposed, it will have made a wonderful fertilizer for my grass.  Some of the time the rabbits, who also live on this farm, are put over wood chips.  Then, their nitrogen rich pee soaks into the chips, making yet another form of fertilization.

During the winter the animals are brought inside the barn.  There they are fed my hay.  They happily munch away for the entire winter, leaving a thick layer of poo throughout the barn floor.  Every few days the farmer adds a layer of hay or wood chips to cover the poo.  Then he throws on a fine sprinkling of corn kernels.  In the spring, when the animals return to the fields, the farmer brings in the pigs.  They they eat the fermented corn kernels. While doing this they turn up and air out the newly made compost , making it perfect for my grass.