Livestock and Human Health at Full Circle Farming Seminar

Note: Another one from the archives, this article covers an event I attended in 2012, in which I was privileged to record in it’s entirety in audio format. The audio is being shared elsewhere on this site, and there’s a few video clips below from the event. This is being repurposed here for the new Farm, Food, and Health website. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from Jerry and Will if you don’t already know who they are. Enjoy!

In February of 2012 I attended the Full Circle Farming Seminar in Bloomfield Iowa. The event was held on Monday evening of the 21st and all day on Tuesday the 22nd. The presenters this year were Jerry Brunetti and Will Winter. Monday evening there were two talks on human health, and Tuesday consisted of a full day of talks on livestock health, with a major focus on ruminant animals.

I was there both to attend the event and to record it. I presently have both MP3 files and CDs available, but currently am not setup to take online orders. In the meantime if anyone is interested, they can contact me and let me know. I will have some samples and shortened versions available for free on this site. I did capture a little bit of video with a small hand held camera, and some of those are posted below. I have one more of Jerry to post later.

Jerry Brunetti, who sadly passed several years ago, was the co-founder of Agri-Dynamics, a company dedicated to holistic health of livestock, horses and pets. He studied Animal Science at North Carolina State University. Jerry was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in the late 1990s. He was told he had six months to maybe two years to live, unless he took aggressive chemotherapy treatment. He chose not to go that route, and instead went with a natural approach, using his experience in holistic animal health and biological farming. He served on various councils and boards, including being Regional Dairy Director of the National Farmers Organization in the Northeast for five years. He has formulated many natural animal care and nutrition products and been consulting on animal health and land use since 1979. You can check out his bio on his company website under “Jerry’s Legacy” at www.Agri-Dynamics.com for more information about him and the company he founded.

Will Winter received his veterinary degree in 1975 from Kansas State University, also has a degree in Animal Nutrition, and has done scientific research in veterinary toxicology. He founded one of the biggest and most successful holistic veterinary practices in the US. Will is the co-founder of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, and has recently founded the American Holistic Livestock Association. He is the author of the book “The Holistic Veterinary Handbook’. He currently raises pastured pigs, and is also involved in a sizable grass-fed beef operation. In his days of practicing animal medicine he also successfully employed the use of homeopathy. He works with Jerry very closely and has been a valuable asset to the organic and biological farming community for the last 30 years. A wealth of information and a great speaker, Will has done a tremendous amount of service to those in small farming and sustainable agriculture. See his bio and website for more information at www.WillWinter.com.

It seems the real take home message here is that holistic health of both people and farm animals is not only doable, but ideal in many ways. It was pretty clear to me that this is how the whole thing is designed to work. Modern agriculture, along with the modern commodity food system, both of which are highly productive and efficient, have not served us as well as it could have. We have more health problems than ever before, in this and in other modernized countries, some of which are in epidemic proportions. Food is the foundation of all health. But food that is developed more for production and low cost does not make it food that is very nutritious. Such food does not promotes health as it was meant to be.

The topics at this event were as follows:

– The De-Evolution of Ancient Wheat & It’s Affect on Human Health
– Diet, The Immune System & Cancer
– Minerals for Livestock Health
– Funny Protein & Forage Energy
– Parasites & Minerals, Natural Parasite Control
– Health From The Hedgerow
– Will’s Pastured Pork

Here are few of the video clips from this event.

Will Winter’s Introduction to “The De-evolution of Ancient Wheat and It’s Effects on Health”