permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Looking to begin to improve pasture (Pasture forum at permies)
https://permies.com/t/93150/improve-pasture

excellent thread
some highlights and links

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That is indeed an old swale, that area should
<https://permies.com/t/36936/tnk/> have another swale above the old, filled
in swale and perhaps even another one nearer the top of that ridge line.
I'm going to recommend you find a copy of* Mark Shepard's book "Restoration
Agriculture"* in it he gives a method of swale/berm building that works
very well in the USA, better than the original "water for every farm" which
is best used in Australia because that is where the idea developed.

Swales should be wider than they are deep and the rims should be gentle
slopes down to the bottom of the swale. Usually a good swale will be no
more than 1.5 to 2.0 feet deep and the soil from the swale is piled into a
berm <https://permies.com/t/60407/permaculture-superpower-berms> on the
downhill side.
Grasses should be planted immediately after finishing the dirt work so
erosion doesn't set in. In the USA it is usually better to have a .5 degree
downhill slope to the swale with depression (drive through) ponds located
in "key points" so water fills the swale, runs to the end and sheets down
to the next swale.
The purpose of such earth works is water control, eliminating the chance of
erosion happening and this also keeps washouts from happening when
torrential rain events happen.

That is a wonderful looking piece of land
<https://permies.com/t/46594/labs/quest-land-advice-permies-homesteaders>
by the way and worthy of this sort of undertaking.

If you have or can rent a tractor
<https://permies.com/t/2741/energy/electric-tractor> and single side plow
blade, this work can be done very quickly (compared to days or weeks of
hand digging).
Once you have the furrows made then you come back with shovel(s) and widen
and shape the swale/berm construct and once that is done you spread the
grass seed
<https://permies.com/wiki/76171/official-permies-Seed-Plant-Source>, making
sure to get good soil contact by either light tamping or rolling if
possible.

I'd try to leave nicely wide spaces (alleys) between the swales for
planting either trees
<https://permies.com/t/9758/woodland/man-planted-trees> or other items. It
is usually best to measure any equipment (mowers for hay
<https://permies.com/t/60670/difference-hay-straw> or combine for grains)
and make the alleys to fit these machines for ease of use later on.

Redhawk
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S  Bengi:
You have some great advise so far.
While you might be a bit unsure, I think you have most of the info that you
need to start.
Here is what I would recommend.

1) Earthworks/Swales to "capture" the water/soil/mulch so that you dont
have to worry about irrigation and erosion as much.
2) Rockdust/Mineral/Sea-90 so that your plant require less water to absorb
enough minerals
3) Soil Microbes/Worm Tea/Mushroom Slurries so that they can be extended
plant root and keep mineral bio-available.
4) Carbon/BioChar/Manure/Straw
5) This is where I would say cover crop, but your pasture is your cover
crop

So now for your Pasture List/Cover Crop
Pasture (4 categories and 7 species in each category)
A) N-fixer (•15% Birdsfoot Trefoil•10% Forage Pea•10% Red Clover•10%
Alfalfa) 45%
B) Drymass (•15% Orchardgrass•10% Kentucky Bluegrass•10% Perennial
<https://permies.com/t/997/chickens/best-perennial-chicken-feed> Ryegrass)
35%
C) Medicinals/Pest Control (10% -Forage Chicory -Mint/Thyme Family - Carrot
Family - Onion Family) 10%
D) Soil Aerators/Miners (10% Daikon Radish) 10%

I would broadcast about 50lbs of seeds per acre
<https://permies.com/t/12265/homestead/fair-price-acre-land>. But you can
do as low or high as you want.
Hopefully someone will post a plant/pasture mix that is more optimized for
your climate
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Mark Kissinger:
You might look thru some of the forums on this site. Also, YouTube has some
informative videos on Management Intensive Livestock Grazing that discuss
utilizing your livestock to manage the grass/pasture:


Here are some other sources of information behind the management intensive
grazing concept.

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Greener_Pastures_on_Your_Side_of_the_Fence/

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Greg_Judy_on_mob_grazing/

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Pasture_ecology/

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Pasture_occupation_and_recovery_periods/

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Coping_with_uneven_pasture_growth/

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Grasses_and_legumes_for_intensive_pastures/


The following sites are about the potential of using livestock to build up
the soil:

Raincrow Film LLC Occam's Grazer: An In-depth Introduction to Holistic
Management
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtQBoMoqc9U

Greg Judy VABF 2011 USING ANIMALS TO HEAL THE LAND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4522&v=W6HGKSvjk5Q

Ian Mitchell-Innes Interview on Holistic Management Planned Grazing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3r2cqNfkKs

Check out this website to see pictures of the root system of prairie
grasses: https://www.tallgrassprairiecenter.org/prairie-roots-project

Here's another website:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2015/10/15/digging-deep-reveals-the-intricate-world-of-roots/

There is a really good chart showing many species in the greening the
deserts thread <https://permies.com/t/61482/Thread-Boost-feature>. I
deciphered the list of the names, also on that thread.
I can't seem to find the website where you can see the original chart at
full scale.

Here's another website that talks about grasses and forbs and the depth and
patterns of their roots. This site also sells the seeds:
http://www.prairiefrontier.com/pages/families/roots.html
The reason that you use a mixture is that the different species grow at
different times (some are early spring, others take off during the hot
summer).
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