"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
On Farm


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Carbon farming is a priority for these North Star croppers who are resurrecting crop production with better soil.
Jamie Brown
20 Jul 2018, 3 p.m.


Cropping on North Star vertisol requires an injection of carbon if it is to remain the golden triangle, says a producer who is learning to retain rain.


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Most of North Star is black with fallow or failed crop as a result of the worst summer season since 1956. But at Leyland there are paddocks under cover multi-species cover crops designed to hold soil in place and provide microbes with sustenance.

The golden triangle around North Star has lost its shine with only a lack of rain to blame.

But a keen team of grain producers is banking on improved soil carbon to help lift their situation when the season breaks.

Ran Mitchell, Rod Farrow and Peter Dillon, “Leyland”, on the banks of Mungle Creek at North Star, have been thinking outside the square when it comes to increasing consistent productivity through soil health.

“Sustainability all starts with your organic carbon level” property owner Mr. Mitchell said, at the recent Moree Next Crop Forum, hosted by The Land and Good Fruit and Vegetables. Here he advocated for the retention of straw left over from harvested crop and crimping it back into the soil. Certainly livestock with manure and hooves do a good job, he said.

Mr Mitchell’s father gained the lease of Leyland’s chocolate vertisol country in 1936, following the successful introduction of the Cactoblastis Insect which had decimated an invasive prickly pear which previously dominated the Brigalow-Belah scrub.

At the time a requirement by the Lands Department demanded control of the remaining cactus and ringbarking scrub. Of the 1200 hectares cleared, a remnant remains, after Aboriginal labourers decided to move on.

I have always said the difference between a good farmer and a poor one was 25mm of rain. Perhaps we are nearly half way to being good farmers - Ran Mitchell

In the years since there has been change. Livestock left the property in favour of broad acre farming. After the introduction of intensive cropping practice in the 1980s there was a noticeable loss of yield and protein in their grain. But Mr Mitchell was on the case a decade before that.

About 40 years ago he started to get serious about soil health and adopted no-till, with no stubble burning-off or baling.

“We did a simple soil absorption test at the time and filled bottomless drums with water on cropping land and the Brigalow scrub”, recalled Mr Mitchell. “Soil under the trees drained twice as fast as on our cultivated paddocks.”

When Ran’s father came to North Star soil carbon levels at Leyland probably were 3-5 percent and later when cultivation commenced there were so many worms that their long bodies tangled in the planting tynes.

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No till and no stubble burn-off or baling.

After the introduction of four-wheel drive tractors and larger equipment which prepared land with more chemical fertilisers and sprays, soil carbon levels began to fall below one per cent and worms were hard to find. Where once Mungle Creek flowed serenely after rain, it began to run rapid and noisy from sudden in-flow.

While no-till cultivation has slowed the loss of carbon the situation remains far from stable, admits Mr Mitchell, who continues to experiment with best practice.

Application of worm juice began 19 years ago. There has been zero urea application for the past decade, although at Leyland they have been injecting liquid nutrient at sowing for the past eight seasons and applying nutrient foliars at key phases.

There are no fungicides sprayed on their cereal crops and insecticide use is minimal. In fact, they chase greater diversity of fungal spores by harvesting mulched bark and soil from a remnant woodland next to Mungle Creek and use that for bedding in the worm farm.

Worm production is run by long-time employee Rod Farrow who left the farm and district for almost a decade in the mid 1980s and on his return was shocked at the decline in yield and protein in crops right across the Golden Triangle.

Mr Farrow began experimenting with compost teas and worm juice, as advised by Dr Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web Institute, at Lismore, which works closely with Southern Cross University.

Another employee, Peter Dillon, recalls how the use of glyphosate on these prosperous self-mulching soils ramped up during the same period with application rates climbing from 250 to 500 millilitres per hectare to today’s rate of 2 litres per hectare.

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North Star cropping is dormant this season and did not benefit much from mid-winter showers.

It was clear to the Leyland team that agricultural methods had to be altered towards greater good.

Other innovations include crimping cereal straw, with farm-built unit, that helps lay the bulky material flat on the ground-for easy access to microbes.

Mr Mitchell has not been tempted to sell his straw off-farm, even in a season like this one where there is high demand and prices for straw.

The benefit to his soil by leaving it is simply too great.

“It is difficult to prove but I believe our yields have been about average in the district, however our protein is up”, he said.

“Our costs are down, our paddocks have evened-out quite a lot, and there is less variation in yield, protein, weight and screenings across the various soil types. We have had to spray less for disease and insects.

“In saying that, soil moisture is critical.”

A 2016 soil test showed 0.83% organic carbon in the top 10 centimetres. This year, during drought, the same paddock was tested and revealed a rise of 0.25% to 1.08% per hectare which indicated Leyland soil to contain 14 tonnes of carbon per hectare in that top 10cm layer.

As rule of thumb Mr Mitchell reckons his soil is now capable of holding 11.8mm more rainfall than in 2016.

“I have always said that the difference between a good farmer and a poor one was 25mm of rain,” mused Mr Mitchell. “Perhaps we are nearly half-way to being good.”
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
When bigger you can top branches off for feed as well on a dry summer. I have been giving one of our groups of cows hay and there’s a old willow tree that needs topping that a grab a branch off with the loader each time. They love it.

yep gotta love tree fodder - been doing that with some trees overhanging fencelines - alows me to walk under now :D
Moved the cows half an hour ago and they can now reach some overhanging willows. They immediately tucked into the leaves they could reach. I hadn't thought about feeding it to them but I might start doing so as there's plenty of willow here.
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Moved the cows half an hour ago and they can now reach some overhanging willows. They immediately tucked into the leaves they could reach. I hadn't thought about feeding it to them but I might start doing so as there's plenty of willow here.
Ive said it before either here or on another thread i took on 50 acres of very rough grazing this spring that had a lot of overgrown willow hedges in it. I turned my ewe lambs that werent rearing because they hadnt taken the ram there and they just grazed the grass. I picked out the ewe lambs that had lost lambs and generally had a hard time bei g heavily pregnant in the snow then rearing or trying to rear lambs in the crappy weather that followed and some of them looked pretty miserable and poor. They went to the rough groijd and the first thing they did was eat all the willow they could reach but they havent touched any of the other trees. They all ate dandelions on the way up there on the side of the roads too but none ate any grass. I was thinking if they were self medicating on things that they needed either mineral wise or the asprin ingredient (salicilic acid?) That is in the willow. They look great now.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
My opinion for what its worth is that last 10 or 20% of production is not worth the fecking effort
like an engine you will last longer at 3/4 throttle than you will flat out
Exactly.
You can spend all you like but if it doesn't rain or some tit in another country starts a trade war then what?

You spent your money. He didn't.

You see it time after time on TFF - farmers playing the blame game, but they never blame their competition, or even really seem to acknowledge they are in competition with one another - unless a kiwi pipes up :rolleyes:

The one person who they aren't competing with..... :whistle:
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Ive said it before either here or on another thread i took on 50 acres of very rough grazing this spring that had a lot of overgrown willow hedges in it. I turned my ewe lambs that werent rearing because they hadnt taken the ram there and they just grazed the grass. I picked out the ewe lambs that had lost lambs and generally had a hard time bei g heavily pregnant in the snow then rearing or trying to rear lambs in the crappy weather that followed and some of them looked pretty miserable and poor. They went to the rough groijd and the first thing they did was eat all the willow they could reach but they havent touched any of the other trees. They all ate dandelions on the way up there on the side of the roads too but none ate any grass. I was thinking if they were self medicating on things that they needed either mineral wise or the asprin ingredient (salicilic acid?) That is in the willow. They look great now.
Literally - trees and hedges and scrub and weeds are your mineral pumps.
They take things that are much deeper than the pasture species and store them up - all you have to do is find a way to get them cycling and they are beneficial, because then those minerals are in the cycle.
Any excess is deposited where the pasture can utilise it.

Or, you can just eliminate everything other than ryegrass and poke the animals with needles or put it down their throats, whatever works...

It's lack of diversity and lack of unity that is a farmer problem, all these things would soon become present in the landscape given enough time and a lack of "good farming"
Hence the issues that become apparent, deficiencies and costs being the main two.

There's usually an abundance of minerals, farming often cuts itself off from them simply by growing the wrong stuff - I feel for the new member on here with the survey about planting trees, did you know that land that has trees can NEVER be used for farming again? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Literally - trees and hedges and scrub and weeds are your mineral pumps.
They take things that are much deeper than the pasture species and store them up - all you have to do is find a way to get them cycling and they are beneficial, because then those minerals are in the cycle.
Any excess is deposited where the pasture can utilise it.

Or, you can just eliminate everything other than ryegrass and poke the animals with needles or put it down their throats, whatever works...

It's lack of diversity and lack of unity that is a farmer problem, all these things would soon become present in the landscape given enough time and a lack of "good farming"
Hence the issues that become apparent, deficiencies and costs being the main two.

There's usually an abundance of minerals, farming often cuts itself off from them simply by growing the wrong stuff - I feel for the new member on here with the survey about planting trees, did you know that land that has trees can NEVER be used for farming again? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Here they are just as likely to slap a tpo on them so you cant even trim them up let alone cut hem down
Happend to a mate of mine for no good reason a chap that had let lots of trees go up in the hedges ans planted some then the sneaky barstewards done that to him to scupper his plans
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Your corectar
You lads are no competition
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
That's true - I have to say we don't even try to be.
Nobody is forcing anyone to farm - I thought that was the idea behind basic area payments :confused::confused: to just look after the place and make sure it is ready to go in future

I think some stuff got lost in translation but I get it, and I am 12000 miles away....

Same scenario here, we aren't paid to give our sheep away, so we breed from them and sell the lambs at a fair price on the same market that is open to anyone in the world with meat to sell.

The world loves good meat, at the right price. :)
Who doesn't?
Oh, the veggie brigade, that's fine by me. More for everyone else (y)
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hard to know who to believe though - he spoke of the "cancer alley" in the US, but that alley also contains hundreds of petrochemical/chemical factories, and the glyphosate breast milk thing is also contested because I don't think there has been successful repeats of that test with the same findings. Dr Bush's website also makes him look like just another slick-sleeze-bag trying to make as much money as possible from his particular miracle cure. :scratchhead:
Looks like He's right that it was patented as an aniti-microbial at least:
https://gmoanswers.com/ask/why-did-...also-medical-establishment-has-been-preaching
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
That's true - I have to say we don't even try to be.
Nobody is forcing anyone to farm - I thought that was the idea behind basic area payments :confused::confused: to just look after the place and make sure it is ready to go in future
try telling some that
good luck
ive been doing just that since the SFP came in
and yes you can claim BPS if you are not a farmer or a land owner but what do I know nothing apparently
not going to tell them how though or they will all be at it :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Hi Everyone,

I've been absent for a while. I am in America this summer, caring for my mom who has breast cancer, and my father passed away with late stage Parkinson's in June. The good news is that mom has finished radiation and has a very good prognosis.

I've been using this time to redo our 3LM website. There is a new Resources page.

I posted a new blog today, Green Oasis, about a farmer in Germany who has transformed their farm after just 8 months of Holistic Management.

Please check it all out, and be sure to sign up for our virtual Open House on the 16th of August at 20:00 UK.

Best regards,
Sheila
 

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Crofter64

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Quebec, Canada
Ive said it before either here or on another thread i took on 50 acres of very rough grazing this spring that had a lot of overgrown willow hedges in it. I turned my ewe lambs that werent rearing because they hadnt taken the ram there and they just grazed the grass. I picked out the ewe lambs that had lost lambs and generally had a hard time bei g heavily pregnant in the snow then rearing or trying to rear lambs in the crappy weather that followed and some of them looked pretty miserable and poor. They went to the rough groijd and the first thing they did was eat all the willow they could reach but they havent touched any of the other trees. They all ate dandelions on the way up there on the side of the roads too but none ate any grass. I was thinking if they were self medicating on things that they needed either mineral wise or the asprin ingredient (salicilic acid?) That is in the willow. They look great now.
It’s amazing how much we see when we understand what we are
looking at.
I am grateful for this thread which allows us all to widen our observation and understandiing of what is hiding in plain sight on our farms.
I have been planting trees on my open, flat heavy clay land for 20years so that in the spring as a tonic and vermifuge and during drought there is something to eat. In between there is the benefit of shade, and more complicated soil interactions .
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hi Everyone,

I've been absent for a while. I am in America this summer, caring for my mom who has breast cancer, and my father passed away with late stage Parkinson's in June. The good news is that mom has finished radiation and has a very good prognosis.

I've been using this time to redo our 3LM website. There is a new Resources page.

I posted a new blog today, Green Land Amidst Brown Land, about a farmer in Germany who has transformed their farm after just 8 months of Holistic Management.

Please check it all out, and be sure to sign up for our virtual Open House on the 16th of August at 20:00 UK.

Best regards,
Sheila
Glad the outlook is better for your mum Sheila.
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
It’s amazing how much we see when we understand what we are
looking at.
I am grateful for this thread which allows us all to widen our observation and understandiing of what is hiding in plain sight on our farms.
I have been planting trees on my open, flat heavy clay land for 20years so that in the spring as a tonic and vermifuge and during drought there is something to eat. In between there is the benefit of shade, and more complicated soil interactions .
Its funny you should say that about understanding what we are looking at. Ive mentioned about the ewe lambs eating the willow to several of my farmer friends and they all more or less dismissed it as me overthinking things and said theyrr sheep theyre too dumb to know what theyre eating they just like the taste of leaves :rolleyes::banghead::facepalm:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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