August 22, 2022
Monarch butterflies have been an increasingly endangered species in recent history, and this has largely been due to modern agriculture and a changing climate. The monarch has historically lived in nearly every state in the US, and have found food and habitat across the continent, and the midwest farmbelt has been particularly important to them.
The advent of modern agriculture in the US took most of the monarch habitat off the table. As butterflies, the monarch can feed from nearly any flower. As caterpillars, they are dependent on just the milkweed family as food. The milkweed plant was once a common weed. In World War II, US school children collected milkweed down for the manufacture of life vests to support the war effort. Two pounds of milkweed down went into each life vest, of which over 1,000,0000 were produced. That is a lot of milkweed down. It would be impossible for school children to collect this quantity today—the over 1,500,000,000 seed pods that towards live jackets during the war. There just aren't enough milk weeds around today. Where did they go?
Milkweeds lived in the pastures and native prairies that fed our cattle. Over the years, we pushed to optimize the protein and forage for cattle and ruminants on that land, replacing the native prairies with alfalfa and brome. Milkweed persisted in the roadside, ditches, along streams, and in the wetlands. In our push to raise more corn and soybeans for more cattle, we farmed the roadsides and the ditches, planted fence line to fence line, straightened the meandering streams and drained the wetlands. We took away the remnants of milkweed habitat. Milkweed survived, being a plant that had evolved to live alongside soy and corn, until the advent of Roundup Ready seeds. We could spray herbicides on our corn and beans, and take out the remaining milkweeds. The math becomes simple—if you take away 99% of the food a critter needs to survive, 99% of those critters won't survive.
Climate change is also to blame. Changing patterns of rainfall and drought have reduced food in breeding grounds and over-wintering ground. Extreme temperatures have likely caused changes in breeding habits. In 2016, an unusually wet snow followed immediately by freezing temperatures causes wet butterflies to freeze to death, and led to the largest die-off of monarchs in recent history.
At the Ugly Ostrich, we maintain the idea that agriculture can go hand-in-hand with monarchs, and that is part of the reason why we farm the way we do. Over 10% of our land has been permanently planted to native prairie, including 5 species of milkweed edible to monarch caterpillars, and over 40 species of flowers used by adult monarch butterflies. This land is used exclusively by Mother Nature. We have an additional parcel that is mixed-use prairie, consisting of native grasses and flowers that can be hayed or grazed by our animals, but that also provides forage and habitat for wild insects, birds, and small mammals. Approximately 20% of our land is being established as permanent native mast trees and fruit orchard. This land is being managed as a savanna ecosystem, including perennial forbs and milkweed used by monarchs.
In rough terms, Monarchs can find good habitat and forage on 35% of the Ugly Ostrich farm, and permanent habitat for all stages of the Monarch on 10% of the land that is dedicated to supporting Mother Nature. We have dedicated our resources through the purchase of seed, time in planting, cultivating, and educating ourselves on the natural needs, and the reservation of sufficiently large parcels of land. Yes, you can save the Monarch butterflies by eating at the Ugly Ostrich.