Sheep and seaweed

[n.w]

Was looking at this earlier https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-50856275, does anyone use concentrate with a seaweed supplement ?

 

[primmiemoo]

You posted what I was wondering about!

If seaweed can be grown off Britain without harming the marine environment, and processed cleanly, I'd be interested in rations for ruminants containing it.

 

[delilah]

I thought we had established that methane belched by cows was part of the carbon cycle and not a contributor to 'man made climate change' ?

Drives me mad when I hear farmers and their national representative bodies continually apologizing about cows, saying things like "we will make their burps less harmful" and "our cows aren't as bad as foreign cows".

What sort of a way is that to promote an industry, there's enough people kicking us without us kicking ourselves. Don't defend. Attack, attack, attack ffs.

 

[primmiemoo]

I thought we had established that methane belched by cows was part of the carbon cycle and not a contributor to 'man made climate change' ?

Drives me mad when I hear farmers and their national representative bodies continually apologizing about cows, saying things like "we will make their burps less harmful" and "our cows aren't as bad as foreign cows".

What sort of a way is that to promote an industry, there's enough people kicking us without us kicking ourselves. Don't defend. Attack, attack, attack ffs.

My interest isn't to do with curbing burps - I've learned masses about the natural methane cycle through TFF - I'm interested in seaweed's possibilities in reducing use of imported by-product. A reliable source of low mileage protein, with a balance of trace elements.

 

[Al R]

Years ago(70’s) the previous farmer on this farm was milking a herd of 40 cows. Fertility dropped off to the point where nothing would get in calf.
A much older farmer in the area in his old age said that seaweed contained a lot of special properties (vitamins and minerals weren’t talked about in the early 1900’s) and said to layer seaweed so it was touching on the smallest field possible and turn the cows in their for 1 hour a day after milking each morning.
there’s a beach on the farm here and I know the 1 acre field they covered next to the yard, within a few weeks the cows were back cycling and every day until they sold the farm to my family they turned the cows into this 1 acre field for 1 hour every day and put a few small loads of seaweed on the farm to keep levels topped up in the field.

I’ve never had seaweed tested but I’ve heard it’s incredibly rich in iodine?

 

[Muddyroads]

A friend of mine tried including seaweed in the diet of one of his broiler houses to see if it would have any impact on the ammonia levels. I think he runs about 50,000 birds per shed.
The results were evidently striking, with considerable reductions in ammonia and methane levels.
Unfortunately he wasn’t able to continue feeding it, as Tesco’s (his end market) wouldn’t allow it. You’d think it would be a good USP.

I take Delilah’s point. If agriculture feeding the entire world population only produces 10% of the planets co2 output, this is pretty good going. But when nobody really wants to give up all their life’s luxuries in order to reduce climate gasses, we are unfortunately prone to negative attacks by those with vested interests elsewhere.

 

[A1an]

We have four miles of foreshore and it produces the best sheep on the place.

 

[neilo]

Seaweed meal has been sold for eons on the basis of it’s ‘cure all’ properties, none of which have ever stood up to peer reviewed scientific scrutiny as far as I’m aware.

The original snake oil.

 

[ajcc]

Seaweed meal has been sold for eons on the basis of it’s ‘cure all’ properties, none of which have ever stood up to peer reviewed scientific scrutiny as far as I’m aware.

The original snake oil.

There speaks an inland farmer!

 

[Sid]

Went to a mineral bucket manufacturer.

Looking at the ingredients they put in to get the right mix of minerals and trace elements.....most of them were dried herbs. I say herbs, docks,nettles, hedgerow plants.
But I will say seaweed, it may have benefits but it isnt a natural source of nutrients for most animals. Natural as in, I don't see local red deer taking off to Croyde to join the surfers and get a feed on seaweed....or my cows off to the Himalayas to get some rock salt.

 

[delilah]

My interest isn't to do with curbing burps - I've learned masses about the natural methane cycle through TFF - I'm interested in seaweed's possibilities in reducing use of imported by-product. A reliable source of low mileage protein, with a balance of trace elements.

Apologies. I was het up earlier in the week by a piece on the radio, chap feeding his milkers some sort of feed supplement, may have been seaweed, to reduce their methane emissions, idea being to measure the reduction and sell the difference as a carbon credit. Tortuous in the extreme. I know we have to come up with ways to make money, but for me that was just saying to Government "look, here's another stick you can hit us with, make us all feed our cows a more complex diet that none of our competitors have to contend with, to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist".

 

[Dry Rot]

Went to a mineral bucket manufacturer.

Looking at the ingredients they put in to get the right mix of minerals and trace elements.....most of them were dried herbs. I say herbs, docks,nettles, hedgerow plants.
But I will say seaweed, it may have benefits but it isnt a natural source of nutrients for most animals. Natural as in, I don't see local red deer taking off to Croyde to join the surfers and get a feed on seaweed....or my cows off to the Himalayas to get some rock salt.

Funny you should mention red deer, but the stags on the Scottish Outer Isles are bigger than the average Mainland stags and that has always been attributed to the fact that they have access to the foreshore and the minerals they find there. Now I don't know either way, but there is no doubt they are bigger and the islands are surrounded by the sea which grows sea weed.

 

[neilo]

There speaks an inland farmer!

I speak as someone who saw a senior dairy farmer being conned out of thousands of pounds by just such a snake oil salesman, on the back of promises and false claims. The stuff was apparently so marvellous that you could do away with all sorts of things, IBR vaccination being one of them, which came back with a vengeance, causing many tens of thousands of pounds in losses and unnecessary animal suffering.
That particular conman knew exactly what he was doing. If he couldn’t see that farmer in the yard, he would stay in his car and drive off, rather than face the other partners in the business. He targeted that gullible farmer. I know of other dairy farmers that he visited and who pulled his claims apart and laughed at him, so he moved on to his next victim.

That man, and his snake oil, is one of the reasons that dairy herd isn’t there any more.

 

[n.w]

We graze sheep on the saltmarsh and they are reputed to be better eating, Indeed the old crofters always prized the saltmash grazing for the extra minerals. my interest in this subject is because I'm quite advanced in negotiating with several authorities to start a seaweed farm, reading the article has increased my interest in the possibility of animal food supplements