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Brilliant post on Facebook - Smiley Tree Farm
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<blockquote data-quote="Muddyroads" data-source="post: 7981604" data-attributes="member: 81810"><p>This was my latest effort in our parish rag. A bit shorter than the OP. For some reason the pictures haven’t copied across.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Have you ever wondered why our planet is called Earth?</p><p></p><p>All the others in our solar system are named after Greek and Roman gods, but it’s perhaps no coincidence that many nationalities use their word for soil to describe where we live. Along with water and oxygen, soil is essential for human life. Soil isn’t simply “dirt”, its an entire ecosystem and as farmers one of our primary roles is to look after it, feed it and ultimately produce food from it.</p><p></p><p>Different crops put different demands on the soil. The vegetables we grow are hungry crops so are rotated around the farm, not just to reduce disease risks but also to allow the soil to recover. Grass crops are essential in this process and provide grazing in the summer and feed for the livestock in the winter. In return those sheep and cattle produce manure which is returned to the soil and feeds it.</p><p></p><p>During the winter most of our cattle are housed to allow us to give them sufficient feed and shelter. Their bedding comes primarily from the rushes which grow on Broadclyst Moor so it’s a closed system. Without the animals our soil would become less fertile and productive, store less water and carbon and we could feed fewer people.</p><p></p><p>Yet we are constantly hearing that livestock are bad for the planet, producing methane and contributing to global warming. Cattle and sheep don’t produce carbon, they recycle it and have done since long before humans were on earth. Referred to as the carbon cycle, it’s the release of carbon stored for millions of years in fossil fuels that has thrown the world into imbalance.</p><p></p><p>Only a proportion of our farm can be cultivated. Around 65% is permanent grassland because it gets too wet or floods. We’ve had several floods across the river meadows this winter but because of the grassland this doesn’t lead to any erosion (just some wet calves feet when we got caught by a surprise flood in October). Any other sort of cropping would have resulted in loss of soil. Drainage is also important to slowly release the water. If the land remains flooded for too long the grass dies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Muddyroads, post: 7981604, member: 81810"] This was my latest effort in our parish rag. A bit shorter than the OP. For some reason the pictures haven’t copied across. Have you ever wondered why our planet is called Earth? All the others in our solar system are named after Greek and Roman gods, but it’s perhaps no coincidence that many nationalities use their word for soil to describe where we live. Along with water and oxygen, soil is essential for human life. Soil isn’t simply “dirt”, its an entire ecosystem and as farmers one of our primary roles is to look after it, feed it and ultimately produce food from it. Different crops put different demands on the soil. The vegetables we grow are hungry crops so are rotated around the farm, not just to reduce disease risks but also to allow the soil to recover. Grass crops are essential in this process and provide grazing in the summer and feed for the livestock in the winter. In return those sheep and cattle produce manure which is returned to the soil and feeds it. During the winter most of our cattle are housed to allow us to give them sufficient feed and shelter. Their bedding comes primarily from the rushes which grow on Broadclyst Moor so it’s a closed system. Without the animals our soil would become less fertile and productive, store less water and carbon and we could feed fewer people. Yet we are constantly hearing that livestock are bad for the planet, producing methane and contributing to global warming. Cattle and sheep don’t produce carbon, they recycle it and have done since long before humans were on earth. Referred to as the carbon cycle, it’s the release of carbon stored for millions of years in fossil fuels that has thrown the world into imbalance. Only a proportion of our farm can be cultivated. Around 65% is permanent grassland because it gets too wet or floods. We’ve had several floods across the river meadows this winter but because of the grassland this doesn’t lead to any erosion (just some wet calves feet when we got caught by a surprise flood in October). Any other sort of cropping would have resulted in loss of soil. Drainage is also important to slowly release the water. If the land remains flooded for too long the grass dies. [/QUOTE]
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Brilliant post on Facebook - Smiley Tree Farm
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