Re: Soil Equilibrium

From: Steve Diver (steved@NCATARK.UARK.EDU)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 12:56:30 EST


Rick -

A quick note to recognize the value of your hay bale
feeding scheme.

The thing I hear from graziers is they like to use their
animals to do the work.

Here, you get the animals to concentrate their feeding
in a small area, poop and pee all over, and stomp
it into the ground along with some of the hay that
falls to the wayside or some straw you spread about.

All this biomass gets worked into the soil and it
is there that raw organic matter goes thru breakdown
and buildup phases.

It seems to me this is a good place and time to sprinkle that
rock phosphate or rock dust, if those minerals are desirable.
The biological weatherization of minerals that I alluded to
with mineralized compost will work the same with
manures and biology out in a rotational feedlot, so to
speak.

In any kind of farming, but especially sustainable farming
with its many flavors, there is more than one way to skin
a catfish.

Steve Diver


Rick Hopkins wrote:

> Steve,
>
> The reason we take the approach we do is because of limited labor resources.
> When I want to increase nutrients in an area I do concentrate the cattle
> (whole herd) and feed them hay. By moving the feeder with each bale I can
> distribute the manure evenly.
>
> An example from this fall, I placed 57 head in .65 acres for 7 days. They
> had hay free choice and I moved the feeder until I covered the entire area.
> The dispersion of the manure piles was less than two feet between them.
> This area will be used next year for vegetable production.
>
> We have traveled in Britain and Europe and seen the feeding regimes where
> the fodder is brought to the animals. It IS quite different than our
> feedlot approach. The animals have shelter if needed, sunlight if wanted
> and clean straw bedding 24 hours a day. However, the bedding along with the
> waste is usually not composted, but spread right back on cropland to be
> tilled for the next growing season.
>
> Rick

.



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