The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: waterbuffalofarmer on November 26, 2014, 12:34:35 pm
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http://www.grazingamazing.com/floral-grazing.html (http://www.grazingamazing.com/floral-grazing.html)
This is really interesting! I have bben thinking about this for a long time. :idea:
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It's definitely 'the way', but I'm surprised it's being presented as something brand new, not thought of before. Organics has supported this system for decades.
In a way it's what we do with our sheep pastures. We have let the native plants and flowers come back in their own time, by never ploughing and reseeding (for at least the past 20 years, except one bit we bought more recently which had been reseeded about 10 years ago). Our sheep love the varied vegetation and, as the article says, animals will pick what they want and need to eat.
When you stop using artificial fertilisers to get the grass growing in the spring, you reduce the incidence of problems such as grass staggers and scouring when the animals are exposed to very lush, soft grass too quickly. It means having to wait for the weather, but that's never been a problem for us, in spite of where we live.
We could probably cram a few more animals onto our acreage if we used fertilisers, but it hardly seems worth the extra expense.
The flowers and plants which appear also change over time, with increasing natural fertility. Some plants prefer a low fertility soil, so they die out - this includes clover apparently, as it makes its own nitrogen and doesn't like a highly nutritious soil. With our relatively low stocking rate with sheep only, we haven't noticed this effect yet.
For your buffalo, maybe you could introduce some of their favourite plants from 'home'?
PS - how could I forget - all those lovely flowers are wonderful for bees, of the bumble, solitary and honey varieties :thumbsup:
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That is a good idea, however our original stock were born in wales and so they have just been bred up with better genetics. Since we took over the land which we farm we have kept it pesticide free, for our buffaloes and sheep to eat, but am thinking if I plant these herbal leys it may increase their milk productivity.
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Definitely an interesting article, but as Fleecewife says, it's hardly revolutionary.
The predominant herb in the pictures appears to be chicory, which has been available in seeds mixtures for years. In fact in Australia they grow complete fields of chicory and move the sheep onto it for a few weeks at a time as it's a natural wormer.
I don't doubt there's some truth in what the article says, but it's rather simplistic and appears to be more a theory adopted by the author, than a proper scientific and documented study. He doesn't actually produce any evidence to support his assertion that mixed grazing would virtually offset Britain's carbon footprint.
However, I do agree that mixed leys are preferable for the health of the animals themselves, and anyway - how boring must it be to eat the same thing all the time with no variation.
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I did read a proposal somewhere to offer 'carbon tokens' for farmers using systems like this as there is apparently a way of calculating carbon capture. Can't remember where I saw it.
I think another thing farmers generally don't offer these days is adequate rest periods. I think back 30-40 years ago, our pastures all had plenty of wild flowers and lots more wildlife. Now whether it's down to use of artificial N or lack of rest due to higher stocking, most of that stuff is gone and a lot of wildlife with it. On the farms around here gates seem to be disappearing and the animals roam the whole place all day. It stands to reason that if there is something they like to eat, they will find it and hammer it 24/7. In the end it will die out and things they don't like will prosper. Some of the paddock grazing ideas are coming back as well, helped by better electric fence technology than we used to have.
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We have ancient meadow which has never been ploughed or overseeded. Wild flowers vary wildly from year to year - some years certain areas are carpeted with ladysmock or helleborine orchids, other years you're lucky to see one, so very weather dependent. The deep-rooted ones, like yarrow or sheep's sorrel, survive drought periods and provide a green bite when modern leys are beige all over. If you get a field grazed right down by early Autumn, put a chain harrow over it if you can, and overseed with whatever native species are local to your area the seeds should quickly germinate (at a time when grain-eating birds like pheasants will have plenty of grain from harvested fields to keep them fed), and be ready to grow away in Spring.
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Thanks for the ideas guys, I'll certainly think it over. :)