Gary Kleppel — Knox farm as a laboratory and a refuge

Gary Kleppel is a sheep farmer who likes coyotes.

He is perpetually aware of the ecological balance of which he is a part.

Every morning, Kleppel and his border collie bring their 30 sheep from barn to pasture and then, every night, return them to the barn.

Overnight, coyotes eat all the vermin in the pasture. There are no rats in the Kleppels’ barn.

In ecology, Kleppel explains in this week’s podcast, there is no competition; rather, there is co-opetition. “We cooperate and we compete,” says Kleppel.

Kleppel, who has a Ph.D. in biology and, for 15 years, directed the graduate program of Biodiversity Conservation and Policy at the University at Albany, came to farming by way of oceanography.

When he and his wife, Pam, who is now retired from her job as a business manager for Albany Law School, bought Longfield Farm in Knox, it wasn’t farmed. There were just five plant varieties on their 16 acres; now there are 51 varieties.

He rotates the places where his sheep graze, perpetually creating fresh pastures.

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