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

[Crofter64]

I followed the link to the article and couldn’t find much but was able to read the comments.
It looks like they are talking about carbon content of the soil which will tend to plateau somewhere below 10% and is easy to measure. What is not so easy to measure is the volume or depth of carbon containing soil and the profile of carbon content throughout that soil.
Common sense and a fair understanding of the carbon cycle along with having seen the depth of topsoil in, for instance, unploughed prairie soils makes me think as land is grazed regeneratively and the plant population diversifies to include deeper rooting plants that the depth of carbon containing soil would increase, both deeper down into the soil profile and above the original surface level as decomposing plants are processed by soil life into new soil.
In short the %age of carbon in the soil may plateau but the amount of soil will continue to increase with good management.

Thanks. That was a very clear explanation.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Day for spraying today

1 part sea-sh!t to 7 parts water, is as much as the boomjet will handle any thicker and it won't spray nicely

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

What 30 Years of Study Tell Us About Grazing and Carbon Sequestration
By Kathy Voth and Rachel Gilker / November 13, 2017 / 16 Comments
Has anyone read this series in ‘On Pasture’. I have based a lot of my justification of grazing, in conversation, on grasslands’ ability to seuqester carbon. Well, that’s true- it does, but then it is released at different times- dry periods, overly mature grasses, overgrazing etc-. It is not so much a carbon sink as a carbon marketplace. This is what 30 years of study by many people has shown. This is due to an equilibrium that gets established in mature grasslands- a new seeding would be a different story , of course. The point I am making is that nothing is as simple as I would like it to be. It was a bit of a disappointment to read this article after all my clever speeches.

I have just read through the 2 study papers that are quoted within the text with interest. The first one measures the gas exchange above the grass and gives great detail about how the study was run except nothing about how the grazing livestock were actually managed on the (large - 129Ha total) plots. Were the animals allowed to graze one location for over 2 days? The second gives more information on how the livestock were actually managed but admits it's method of gas exchange measurement was not comparable to the first. Did either study team actually understand the work of Voisin?

Surely, if it is possible a la Voisin to double or treble the forage yield of an area of ground then the gas exchange involved must be much higher? All the grass rooting research shows that grasses managed appropriately develop much bigger root systems and so more carbon must be being stored below ground.

Am I missing something?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

View attachment 790674
Day for spraying today View attachment 790676 1 part sea-sh!t to 7 parts water, is as much as the boomjet will handle any thicker and it won't spray nicely

Do you have to warn the neighbours that you'll be adding to the local aroma?

 

[Ukjay]

OK, now the plot thickens,

What is this:

 

[Kevtherev]

Looks like a bean

 

[Ukjay]

Looks like a bean

Is the fookin golden goose at the end Kev, coz that would be wonderful

 

[RushesToo]

Bean, they smell wonderful, are bee magnets, easy on the eye and good grazing - stock and humans.

 

[Kevtherev]

I wonder is someone planting stuff to pull your chain?[emoji23]
Bit random all these plants.
That variegated one other day looked like a feckun hosta

 

[Samcowman]

OK, now the plot thickens,

What is this:

View attachment 790798

Cactus

 

[Ukjay]

I wonder is someone planting stuff to pull your chain?[emoji23]
Bit random all these plants.
That variegated one other day looked like a feckun hosta

Seriously though, I am wondering if the old allotments that were on the properry many years ago could potentially be responsible somehow, but the strange thing is that we have not seen them before

 

[Ukjay]

Cactus

Maybe, but I have no idea.

 

[Samcowman]

Maybe, but I have no idea.

The leaf is quite distinctive not sure it is a bean. I’ll ask the wife she’s a florist and flower grower so may know.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

The leaf is quite distinctive not sure it is a bean. I’ll ask the wife she’s a florist and flower grower so may know.

Nah, It's a field bean complete with a touch of Chocolate Spot

 

[Treg]

OK, now the plot thickens,

What is this:

View attachment 790798

It's a Broad Been with Pea & Bean Weevil.

 

[Blaithin]

Today’s thing to earmark for future research;

Methanotrophs.

 

[martian]

Today’s thing to earmark for future research;

Methanotrophs.

According to Jill Clapperton, you'll have them in a healthy grazed pasture and they are stimulated by the physical action of cattle grazing, pulling on the plants. Meanwhile your pastures are pumping out radical hydroxyls which float about and gobble up any methane that the ruminants below produce. The long and the short of it is grazing ruminants are not a cause of climate change, but the solution. Check out Walter Jehne

 

[Sheila Cooke]

Yes intending to speak to Sheila
Hoping to glean some info at Groundswell though sadly daughter isn't able to come and could do with getting organised before then.

Hi Poorbuthappy,

I would be really happy to speak with you about your daughter. My number is 07446 780081. Please ring anytime.

I remember helping my son at that age about 10 years ago, and it wasn't easy.

I believe that helping children see there are more than conventional options available is one of the best things a parent can do. Also, coaching them through decision-making is important, because they are very new at making big decisions. I am attaching the Context Checking Record we use for decision-making in Holistic Management, in case it is of any help. At the end of the day, it's up to the child to decide their path, because it's all part of the learning, and part of growing up.

We have had several young people take Holistic Management training now. The youngest was a 14-year-old who was home-schooled by her mother. Her mother noticed her daughter take an interest in farming, and together they took our 3-day course. She was quiet, but just like a sponge, taking it all in. @holwellcourtfarm was there!

Another was a 17-year-old from South Africa. He decided he wasn't going to learn anything in university that mattered to him, so he asked his parents if he could create his own curriculum and go on a self-guided "gap year". They agreed. His very first activity was to come on our 9-day intensive course in Ireland. It changed his life. He used it to completely re-chart the course for his gap year.

We've had a number of people who have had life-changing experiences on our courses.

Best wishes with your daughter,
Sheila

P.S. Can someone teach me how to tag someone in this tool? I tried to tag holwellcourtfarm but don't know how to. I'm still a novice with this forum.

 

[bitwrx]

P.S. Can someone teach me how to tag someone in this tool? I tried to tag holwellcourtfarm but don't know how to. I'm still a novice with this forum.

If you type an '@' symbol, and start typing their forum name, a drop down list should pop up.

 

[Sheila Cooke]

If you type an '@' symbol, and start typing their forum name, a drop down list should pop up.

Thank you!