pasture

After listening to the Wichner interview regarding sustainable agriculture (especially in normally dry areas) I came away disappointed.  During the past week I have been talking with a colleague regarding replicating a tall grass prairie in California.  It's been said a tall grass prairie can add about 1 inch of topsoil per century.  The eventual goal would be to run cattle on the property without any chemical inputs. We both have property to do this on and about 1 hour before I saw this post called Prarie Moon Nursery regarding seed mixes.  They were helpful - they can put together custom blends for different soils and rainfall environments. 

http://www.prairiemoon.com/

Another friend frequently attends local grass-fed beef meetings and has told me that no one in this group strays far from traditional ranching practices. 

Sounds like a fertile field to plow...........

From what I've read and people I've spoken with, putting animals on the land with a controlled rotation and a significant rest period will revitalize a pasture quickly.  I've been doing this since the summer with some sheep and pigs and it's already obvious where I've moved the animals through.  The regrowth has been pretty good and I am definately an amateur.  Greg Judy gives a good overview of this topic in this talk of his

                 Kevin

Doug,

I was/am in a similar situation as you describe: needing to build up the topsoil ina a couple of acres and not willing to wait for a century or two. My search for info led me to conclude that the process can be accelerated by simply adding organic materials to the soil surface. Many really smart people contributed to my forming this conclusion, all with variations on the basic premise, but ultimately leading to the same place: vegetative matter applied to the ground and lots of it. Composted is better and faster but non-composted is good too. This is a case where quantity is as good as quality. This can be acheived by livestock grazing, but laying down compost jumpstarts the process.

I tried to retrace my steps in my so-called 'research' , but it's been a while. I did find this link, however and I hope that it proves to be helpful to you. It has more links included within that also were helpful to me.

Good luck.

http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/Dirt_First.htm

Hi Doug,

I've got a video Joel Salatin did a few years ago where he talks a lot about having a whole variety of plants growing in pasture.  Good for the animals and soil.  I don't own this book but it looks like a worthwhile investment that might explain it in more detail....

http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/salad_bar_beef:paperback/associated_articles

We are slowly moving our farm towards Joel's methods and away from the superphosphate fertilizer that is so typically in use around us.

Good luck.... Chip

We have been doing management intensive grazing (MIG) for a few years now.  The concept is to put many pounds of beef in a small pasture area using electric poly wire fencing, say 12-24 hrs then moving them to the next paddock for the next time period and letting the previous areas rest for 30 days or more.  

This basically mimics the buffalo on the prairie.  Buffalo did a good job of building soil.  Size of herd does not matter, just adjust paddock size to accommodate herd size.  

First you MUST get your soil tested, I use Midwestern BioAg out of Wisconsin.  They have soils consultants on staff.  The staff is extremely knowledgable.  They specialize in balancing soil nutrients to help soil biology.  

I recommend not using university extension offices, my experience is they are primarily funded by chemical and fertilizer interests.  NItrogen, phosphorus, and potash is pretty much all they recommend with some lime added to correct soil PH.  Soil PH and NPK fertilizers are only a small part of the solution, they will usually recommend fertilizer types that typically harm soil bacteria.  

As I mentioned before proper soil nutrient balance which includes micro nutrients  are best, these feed soil bacteria and are the way to go in my experience.  

Many beef graziers will let their pasture get more mature (seed heads on grass) then start grazing.  To a long time fresh grass grazier this first sounds wasteful, but when put into practice you immediately notice the benefits.  The cows seem to stomp much of the grass into the ground, looks terrible, after a couple weeks you notice the stomped grass and manure breaking down into NEW SOIL!  Worms come back! Over time  Lots of worms!  The best fertilizer you can get!  Wonderful process, if done properly you can build 1 inch soil per 3-5 years or less.  

My first step would be soil test, then apply recommended soil amendments as you can afford them.  Also this system takes time to learn (weather, grass recovery, herd health, are all variables) you WILL make mistakes, just keep after it and the results will come.  Sun shines, grass grows, cows eat grass, we eat beef, can't get much more sustainable than that.

You need to wander around your property and take samples from the first 12 inches in depth,  we use a soil probe. Before we had probe I took shovel put it through sod into soil, opened ground and scraped the side of hole to get sample, make sure you get a sample from top to bottom. Approx 10 samples per acre, put all samples in 5 gal bucket and mix. take around a cup or two of mixed soil put in ziplock, and send sample to reputable soil lab. cost will be approx $30 for a proper test which will tell you or your soil consultant all you/they need to know. preferrably no more than 20 acres per sample.

The Savory Institute has a good website devoted to the science of soil management and grazing animals. They have impressive accomplishments in improving the soil in desert areas by intensive grazing designed to mimic the behavior of large herds of herbivors. This stimulates soil development and grass growth. The website gives most of the pertinant information so I will not repeat it here.

Best Regards

Jim

Came across this sweet little TED Talk video presentation by Allan Savory.

I think this should be right up your alley.

Allan Savory: How To Green The World's Deserts And Reverse Climate Change (February/March 2013)

http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change.html

Or if you want to watch directly on YouTube:

Poet