I feel fairly confident in saying that I'm a big picture sort of thinker. I am much better at looking at things from the wide angle view instead of focusing in on the details ... although I do need to get better at the details because they are just as important as the big picture! But, that is all to say that I completely understand what Tim Young is writing about in chapter six, "Reviving the Prairie". When I walked over what is now Crooked Gap Farm for the very first time it was covered with tall prairie grasses and just seemed too good to be true ... once I had been on the farm for one season and the tall grasses had disappeared thanks to grazing and hay making I saw the reality of what I was working with. I saw that the farm needed some reviving!
Mr. Young shares his personal experiences and mistakes (I appreciate knowing others make mistakes!) with building a diversified livestock where the animals do the work of restoring the soil and ultimately the farm. In this chapter I think you'll find a very brief overview of management intensive grazing, and plenty of proof that it can be done. I do wonder though if Mr. Young has considered changing to multiple moves each day instead of just once a day? I've written about ultra high stock density grazing before and it is something that really intrigues me. For part of last summer I was making at least two moves a day I thought it was very beneficial. One downside for them at Nature's Harmony Farm though I think is the fact that their perimeter fence is not electric. That means they have to set up an independent paddock for each move where I have a little easier time with it because my entire perimeter is electric and I can easily tie into it.
As far as my use of high density grazing this coming season I think I'm going to be doing two moves again. My current job situation makes any more than that impossible, but a move before work in the morning and then again when I get off well give me two moves and should provide some of the benefits of a "mob". I'll just try to get all my paddocks set up in the evening. The rub of course will be the sheep ... I still haven't figured out how I'm going to graze them yet (with the cows or separately).
All in all this was a good chapter with lots to think about, but it is the next chapter that I'm really looking forward to ... "Farming's Dark Side".
"...I appreciate knowing others make mistakes!..."
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this comment today and I could probably fill a book with all the mistakes and blunders ranging from small to colossal I have made.
A sample of some of the worst "mistakes" I have been involved in would include the engine throwing a rod in an old diesel pickup while going 60 mph down the road (it was like a grenade going off under the hood).
One morning, the tractor's brakes weren't working right and I rolled backwards right through a newly built fence, then in the afternoon I manged to catch a round baler on fire which burnt about a dozen bales of hay and almost burned the tractor to the ground (that was an all around great day that had me questioning my decision to be a farmer).
Mistakes, blunders, and acts of sheer stupidity will happen to everyone, the true test is how you deal with them and what you learn from them.