Conservation Cattle

Red Poll Cattle Grazing Old Grassland

This winter we have an exciting new project on the summit of Bredon Hill. At about 950ft above sea level we have some very thin soil which has been growing enough grass for our sheep since about 1990 when it was converted from crop production. All of the grasses and wild flowers have naturally appeared from the soil seed bank or from birds bringing them in. 

The grassland has become quite old and matted so a change in grazing technique was required. As we have cattle of our own we have very kindly adopted, for a few weeks, some young heifers from the Kemerton pedigree Red Poll herd. Their job is to eat the standing grass, which as this time of year is like a hay crop, and tread in the inedible bits. All of these hooves will push the uneaten old and dead grass into the soil where the biology (bacteria and fungi) will start to break down the material and recycle the nutrients.

Over time this will improve the quality of the grassland enabling wider species to be introduced. The cattle are being fed hay, which we made back in July, from the species rich tower field with the hope that these ancient species will be moved across to improve the diversity of the sward in the neighbouring fields. The cattle will be socked quite tightly to make sure they eat the right amount of grass and moved on accordingly, always with a supply of hay nearby.

It's a great example of how farmers can work together to get the best results for all parties. These cattle are traditional breeds and will be very happy on the hill whatever the British climate will throw at them.

Leap of Faith, New Zealand Day 2

Well, everyone who told me I would love New Zealand was right.  The scenery has been fantastic, very few cars on the road and agriculture everywhere.  Our morning started with Greg Muller who is a contractor using a Cross Slot and a John Deere drill.  Greg specialises in direct drilling grass seeds and brassica's, with either drill, for dairy farmers.  The turnips are used as part of the grassland rejuvenation process.  The 'permanent' grass is sprayed off when the productivity (sward growth) reaches a certain point and the turnips are direct drilled into the dying turf.  The turnips, depending on the variety are grazed off over the summer period before returning the field to grassland the following autumn.  Seem like a very sensible plan to me, I wonder if we could do that at home where grass has been planted for more than 5 years and is deemed 'permanent' by DEFRA?  Answers on a post card, but to me that sounds like a very sensible break, and if drilled correctly will not have soil erosion issues.

However if done incorrectly, i.e. will full cultivations and by that I mean heavy discing, power harrowing, drilling and rolling, then the soil becomes unstable and with heavy rain, and in parts of New Zealand anything from 50-100mm in an hour, (where we were) and you know the soil is only going to wash down the slope.

We met up with Geoff Scott, one of Greg's Cross Slot customers and looked at a field of turnips planted with the Cross Slot drill directly into the sprayed off turf.  Geoff runs the family farm milking 600 cows, once a day on 750 acres.  Geoff's system is very simple and was working really well; a very impressive farmer, with a grasp of world markets and trends as well as intricate knowledge of his cost of production.  Geoff is investing in a new 'cow shed' to expand the operation and go to twice a day milking, whilst remaining committed to a simple grass based, all feed grown on the farm, system. This reduces his exposure to world market fluctuations in grain prices.  Geoff made a very good comment to me about his definition of farm sustainability 'being able to do the same thing in 150-300 years without impacting on the environment'.  

After a quick bite to eat we left Geoff and headed about 100Km to Taupo where we picked up Sophie (2013 Nuffield Scholar) and headed out to Donald and Kirsten Watsons farm on the road to Napier.  Donald is a share milker on 1,000 cows on some really thin soil over pumice rock.  Donald is keen on the cross slot drill for establishment especially in the spring for his brassica break crops.  Yields have been improved on this this soil from 7t/ha (conventionally established - plough based) to about 12t/Ha.  The yield increase is mainly due to retaining the soil moisture at drilling by minimal disturbance on the soil surface. Interestingly Donald is looking to plant oats and forage rye in the autumn for winter feed and then follow that with brassicas in the spring to rest the land from grass for a whole season.

Before we headed to Donald's farm, whilst in Taupo I did my first Bungy jump!  I thoroughly enjoyed  it and might even try and fit another one if time allows.  He's me, setting off on the 47m drop, down into the Waikato river, literally! Great fun, if slightly scary. Thanks Nuffield for that one!

Day 26 - Eye Opener in North Dakota

Well what a day Friday turned out to be!  Two great hosts showing very detailed knowledge and appreciation for the farming systems they are using and how it interacts with the environment.  Farming holistically with nature and mimicking the natural methods used by mother nature to produce density rich quality food.   We started of at Brown's Ranch where we met Gabe Brown.  Gabe farms about 5,000 acres with his son Paul, and some hired help.  The system is split into two main areas, cropping on out lying fields where there is no water and high intensity short periods of grazing on permanent but improved grasslands.  The groups of cows are moved twice a day into tall pasture, they graze the nutrient and carbohydrate rich seed heads and trample the rest back into the soil.  This is not wasted but consumed by the billions of mycorrrhizae and soil bacteria that feed on this carbon.  It is a great system that complements the cow and calf system.  Not fertiliser is used on these fields.  The grass gets grazed once a season, mimicking the grazing patterns of the migrating Bison.  A herd of about 400 cows range these pastures and all of the beef is finished from grass into a premium market.

We also looked and dug around in very different soils.  Some from neighbouring farms with very standard practice.  We looked a soils that just grew spring wheat one year and flax (linseed) the next, and that was very poor.  A little better was a corn, spring barley, sunflower rotation all with zero tillage.  Then we moved on to Gabe's soils which integrated zero tillage, diverse rotation, cover crops and livestock and the soil was incredible. Gabe has not used inorganic fertiliser, insecticides or fungicides for a number of years.  He rarely uses a herbicide, but will do in certain situations, hence he is not organic he's better than that!

The soil fractured so well, was alive with roots, and smelt almost sweet.  It really was a terrific visit, standing in a winter triticale field with grasshoppers leaping every where. There is very little cost to this farming system which Gabe developed after 4 years of drought in the 1990's with no crops to sell and therefore little money to invest.  It was truly inspirational.

We met up with Jay Fuhrer over lunch and afterwards to his office.  Jay in the County NRCS advisor, funded through the USDA.  Jay also looks after the Menoken Demonstartion Farm.  At the office we performed an inflitration and slake test on two soils.  On the left was Gabe Brown soil and on the right was soil from another farm.  The soil in dried out and then crumbled a little before being put into the large centre plastic jars.  The water is then poured into the top yogurt poy with holes and drains through the soil profile and out of the bottom into the silver tray.  Gabes soils passed this water in a minute or so showing fantastiv infiltration.  Just what you need during periods of high intensity rain fall.  The soil on the right took almost 10 minutes to start to drip.  Had this been on a slope the soil erosion would have been incredible, taking soil, attached pesticides and fertilisers into the nearest road or ditch.  Why is it so better? It's all due to soil structure and the airspaces within the soil.  The spaces between the soil particles allow water to pass safely through.  Yes the water did run through the soil but due to the way the nitrogen is stored in the soil only a small percentage was leached.  In fact the poor soil leached twice as much nitrate.  The slake test also clearly demonstrated the ability of Gabe's soil to stick together.  This is due to the root exudates, simple sugars given off by roots, binding the soil together making it more stable and able to withstand traffic and heavy rain fall.  

In order to keep the soil healthy it needs to be fed carbon and protein.  THis is added into Jay's system at the research farm by using cover crops.  The one shown below contains; peas, oats, phacelia, wheat, radish, canola, turnips and clover.  The insect life it was supporting was incredible, honey bees everywhere.  This cool season cover crop is just grown through the early part of the summer but it would be great to try this at home after harvest and before a spring crop.  All of these roots are releasing sugars, moving nutrients around and making locked up nutrients available to the plants.  N fertiliser has been applied since 2009 on this plot.

Another interesting idea was a type of companion cropping.  IN the picture below, the crop is sunflowers, planted at 30" spacings and inter-seeded between them, so at 15" was a cover crop.  This broadleaved cover crop had buckwheat, flax, soybeans, cow peas, peas, radish and turnip.  The idea was that the cover crop would grow along side the main 'cash crop' and they would provide make available nutrients the nutrients required.  For instance the buckwheat would release Phosphate from the soil and the legumes would provide a proportion the nitrogen required.  THis is an experimental farm so no extra inorganic fertiliser is applied but in a commercial scenario it is thought that fertilser's could be reduced by 50%.  Are we mining these soil by getting the bugs to harvest the locked up nutrients?  An interesting thought so an inclusion of compost, manure or sewage cake might be a good inclusion.

The whole day was a real eye opener to look at what can be achieved.  Should be be aiming slightly lower, taking the cost out of the system and making us more resilient to future changes in or climate?  I don't know but this has mad me look at things a different way.  In conclusion, the best most sustainable farming system would be, zero tillage, diverse cropping, cover crops, manure applications and livestock.  So not much research there then!  North Dakota was definitely worth including on the tour and a huge thanks must go out to Gabe Brown and Jay Fuhrer.