permaculture

["Kirby Fry" <peace@totalaccess.net>]

Hi Frank,

My first suggestion is to get a hold of, "Fertility Pastures," by Newman
Turner.  This is an excellent book that Mollison recommends for ranchers.
It discusses resting your paddocks and putting them into cover crop
production, or leys as Turner calls them.  The leys are rich in clover and
other forbes that are essential for making minerals and micro nutrients
available to the livestock and soil.  He also uses lots of high quality
silage mad from the leys.

The book has been reprinted by Bargyla Rateaver in San Francisco, CA.  As
well she recommends "Gold in the Grass," another out of print book that she
has reprinted.  We have both books in our library.

>>  I'm planning on doing rotational grazing but I'd also like to have it so
that cattle also will have access to shade within each paddock.  <<

How many paddocks have you got?  About how large is each one?  How many
cattle per acre are you running?  Have you made any changes yet to your
fencing, gates or paddock size?

When Bill Mollison came to Fossil Rime Wildlife Center in Texas in 1993, '94
and '95, there were several grazing issues.  Because of the Center's 10 mile
long drive through, the animals were basically locked into place, never
allowing for any rest.  The trees wherever the giraffe could top-browse were
in serious decline.  Oak wilt had set in severely and the coastal Bermuda
grass was essentially played out as well.  Feed bills were very high.

What Bill recommended was establishing small, permanent exclosures (1/4 to 1
acre fenced off islands within the paddocks) in key spots on hill tops and /
or next to a water source.  These exclosures could be planted with farmers
trees, select grasses and medicinal forbes such as epizote (worm wood),
chicory, dock, dandelion and others.  Once the vegetation in the exclosures
was established the animals would be allowed in at key times such as calving
in the spring the animals or in the hottest part of late summer.

The other type of exclosure would be larger and temporary.  These exclosures
would be moved around and used to eventually provide rest as much of the
paddock as possible.

You could create a couple of exclosures / tree islands in each paddock with
moveable electric fencing or permanent fencing.  Yes, it's a long term
commitment and yes it would temporarily remove some areas from grazing.

Also on the outside of your paddocks, you can plant dehiscent (seed
dropping) legumes and other hardy fruit producing trees that would hang over
into your grazed paddock.  As well, other medicinal herbs can be planted
just outside of fence rows within reach of livestock as they mature.

>>  Do you think it would be worth extra effort to provide lanes, with a
greater number of electric spring gates to allow cattle to walk extra 400'
or possibly more to get to shade whenever they choose?  <<

Where it's financially feasible, certainly, though as Mark points out you
have to avoid luring the cattle away from key grazing areas.  I believe the
figure they gave us in range sciences in university was that cattle would
graze 1/2 to 1 mile away from their water source, so spacing out your water
troughs is also essential for getting your stock to go where you'd like them
to.

>>  I have pasture areas with clumps of trees that cattle seem to enjoy, but
it sure makes seeding, fertilizing, liming and bush hogging more difficult.
<<

Would it be possible to shape these areas in a way that makes passes with
machinery more accommodating?  I'm envisioning a football shaped tree
cluster oriented long-ways with the direction that you're shredding or
making passes.  This type of shape and orientation might make it easier to
steer around.

>>  I'm hoping that grasses, and clovers will thicken, and eventually choke
out such. Am I dreaming; is this wishful thinking?  Like to hear more on
this.  <<

No you're not and Turner's book is one of your best bets.  When the
undesirable forbes begin to out compete your selected grasses and browse
this usually indicates a mineral or nutrient deficiency.  Many "weeds" can
indicate specifically what you are deficient in.

The critical element of sustained success is to properly enliven the soil
food web rather than attack the weeds which are probably more a part of the
solution than the problem.  I'm glad to hear that you're shredding your
weeds rather than spraying them with 2-4-d.

Chemical fertilizers can also be devastating on soils.  Ammonium nitrate
fertilizers will also burn and kill microbes, collapse the soil and destroy
your tilth.  So we have to feed the soil in a way that doesn't shock or
damage it.  Here are a few ways...

Use farmers trees.  They are usually but not always nitrogen fixing legumes
(essential brows for many wild grazers).  Farmers trees are deep rooted
miners and offer dappled shade allowing good grass production below and
heavy bean production.  Mollison points out that since the broadscale
application of chemical fertilizers in North America (circa 1955 or so)
horses began eating the bark of all of the locust trees wherever possible.
Ever notice how horses love to girdle trees?  This is likely because most of
the available minerals have been chemically and biologically washed out of
the upper levels of our soils and our commercial grasses.  The horses are
mineral starved and set out after the trees with a vengeance when their
bodies become stressed.

Populate your paddocks with the large pasture worm (see Bill's, The Global
Gardener, video).  You can buy or collect them, then cultivate them and put
them out with a divot of sod, grass side down and a handful of dolomitic
lime.  The worms will accelerate the recovery of your soil's tilth and
organic matter content.  Put out a worm laden divot every 10 meters or so.

A manure / compost tea can also be brewed and injected with a key line or
chisel plow.  Add some molasses and this tea, combined with chiseling and
aerating, will both inoculate your soil with bacteria and other microbes,
and provide a food source for them and the local microbes.

I'm beginning to lean more towards the biodynamic approach as well.  It's
pretty apparent that the key is to feed and encourage the soil food web.
The same compost tea amended with beneficial enzymes and a couple of
biodynamic preparations would probably do wonders for the food web.  There
are also prep's to cause the decline of undesired grasses and forbes.

I'd be happy to hammer out details too.


Kirby Fry

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