Our sheep in Cortijo el Puerto have recently been certified as organic Livestock!
Cortijo el Puerto’s commitment to biodiversity and ecology encompasses both flora and fauna, therefore we are organic certified in both Agriculture and Livestock.
To produce any livestock product with the rating of ecological, organic or biological in Europe is necessary to be certified under European Standard -Reg (EC) 834/2007) and Reg (EC) 889/2008.
This Regulation establishes the requirements to be met for livestock production based on respect for natural cycles, animal welfare, manteinance of biodiversity, livestock products obtained without the use of synthetic chemicals or GMOs.
By choosing organic means we are supporting farming practices that mean a more traceable production process.
Organic farming systems have the very highest animal welfare standards and our Livestock interacts with the environment in a natural and positive way. Our merino sheep (breed of fine-wool sheep originating in Spain) has a great rusticity, that means that they adapt perfectly to the environment. There they also find out a great number of advantages:
– Continuous access to the outdoors: Organic sheep must be fed on organically produced feedstuffs. All of the feed required is produced on the farm (vegetation cover: more than three hundred different species with staggered flowering cycles)
– Shade, Clean, dry bedding, shelter
– Lots of space for exercise and fresh air
– Clean drinking water
– Beautiful sunlight
– Organic management reduces stress, reducing the incidence of diseases and supporting animal welfare.
Black Merino Sheep at Cortijo el Puerto
The white and black merino sheep graze and browse together in the Cortijo. This bucolic image of the farm is, apart from a magnificent spectacle of nature, one of the fully operational ecological measures that supports a healthy and balanced development of the crops and help to enhance the natural resources of the soil. Black merino sheep in Cortijo el Puerto The sheep prefer grazing on grass or legume vegetation that is short and fine, though they will also consume high, coarse, or brushy plants as well. They are a natural brushcutter that results in a selective pruning of the grass under the trees and low branches.
White Organic Merino Sheeps
The sheep rotate through the areas leaving manure as they move from one place to another. So that they eat on clean soil and leave behind an enriched substrate and collaborate in the regeneration of soils, thus closing the biological cycle. In Cortijo el Puerto, the commitment to biodiversity and the circular economy makes us work in multiple aspects and scenarios. Everything is related in this food chain to make work the ecosystems: vegetation cover that offer greater resistance to wind and water and slow down soil erosion, herds of sheep that graze and manure the land, analysis and study of pollen levels and promote pollinators to predict crops. All of them are measures, techniques and links within this circular economy which makes the ecosystem thrive and be sustainable and healthy, giving fruits that are ultimately the product of all this.
Little lambs with their mother
Green, circular, bio economy at Cortijo el Puerto.
The word economy in its original Greek comes from “οἰκονομία”, from “oikos” = house and “nomos” order, regulation. That is, it is the order or regulation of the house, in our case applied on a “macro” scale to the ecosystem and the farm. We work so that this order has all the elements to work properly and in natural balance with the common ideal to reconcile economic, environmental and social goals.
Cornicabra EVOO
This daily effort and the care that we put in this broad ecological project has been granted with the CAAE certificate to Organic Livestock. This certifies and guarantees the welfare of our “contributors”, the animals of the farm. For those who still don’t know us, in our farm each variety of Olive tree lends its name to one of the animals or elements of our ecosystem and in return, they lend their image to the EVOO. So it is reflected in our packaging. This is part of our commitment to Biodiversity.
From Cortijo el Puerto we would like to invite you to learn a little more about our philosophy of work and this rich and ecological environment.
Our natural brushcutters grazing in the grass