Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Terry Wereb <frostedacres@gmail.com>]

WOW!!!  I read a research article last year that actually encouraged the use of hooved animals to minimize a plant parasite of wheat--The idea was this-- the wheat gets harvested, then sheep or cattle are let out on the field while the field is 'soggy' to graze. The grazing actually has the animal ingesting the adult stage of the pest,  the result is death of the parasite. The pugging of the soil buries the eggs of this pest deep enough that many cannot hatch. So, the grazers are part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) cycle.
 Nature knows how to make things work-- more people should be paying attention to her....but then, here, that is preaching to the choir, isn't it?

 Terry W

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 12:52 AM, <mdnagel@verizon.net> wrote:

Exactly!

It has been PROVEN that animals actually are beneficial for grasses (whether grass itself is best for livestock is something that I could bring up in a separate discussion).

Grass farmers are now intentionally encouraging trampling of lots of the grass in order to create soil contact, which, not only helps embed grass seed into the soil, but also provides food for soil microbes.  These farmers know what works: they monitor things very closely, and can easily demonstrate the results (via better stands of grass, not to mention through brix testing).