Tag Archives: controlled grazing

Brittle Grassland Pasture Update: Photo Essay

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The longest journey you’ll ever make is from your head to your heart.
Sioux saying

Brittle grassland is one of the most difficult systems to manage. After a lot of research Shaen decided to use Allan Savory’s methods as outlined in his Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making. If you are looking for more information about what Allan Savory has done to heal grassland in some of the toughest environments on the planet, please see the Savory Institute or watch this video called Keeping Cattle: cause or cure for climate crisis?

I highly recommend putting aside some time to watch this lecture. This video will explain ideas like: slow-oxidation in brittle grassland, fast-oxidation fire, high-impact controlled grazing, predator prey relationships, dangers of over-resting pasture, and holistic planning. He also explains why we are an omnivore scavenger and why species extinctions have always followed humanity. Be ready to have your paradigm challenged or changed. This may be the most important video on this website.

Below is a short video outlining the salient points of holistic management.

All these pictures of the pasture were taken on April 28, 2012. The pasture is located on a north facing slope of a series of hills just inside the southwest corner of the City of Kamloops. The elevation of the pasture ranges from 777m to 817m (2560ft to 2700ft). The average yearly rainfall is 38.1cm (15″). We are considered zone 3 or 4. We leased 1.8 hectares (4.5 acres) two years ago for this experiment. The owners leased us another 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres) last year.

Below is a picture of the typical over-rested grassland in the Kamloops area. An over-rested grassland is an area where there are no herbivores to stomp down the dry, dead growth and break up the clumps of bunch grass. The cattle also urinate and manure the ground which brings in needed moisture and nutrients. Without herbivores, we see the greying of old growth which much later decomposes by slow-oxidation. Slow-oxidation is not a good way to decompose plant materials. Slow-oxidation is a chemical breakdown of plant material rather than the faster bacterial decay. If too much slow-oxidation occurs in a pasture, the pasture will transform into desert.

Next time you look at a cow, I want you to imagine the cow is a fermenting vat on four legs.? Herbivores carry water around in their digestive tracks and have a highly evolved symbiotic relationship with their gut flora. During the dry season, herbivores eating grass stop slow-oxidation because they carry the water and bacteria around in their gut and help the plants decay faster by using bacterial action.

slow-oxidation-grass

Here is a picture from over the fence of ungrazed brittle grassland. You can see the slow-oxidation in the grey color of the older grass. The new grass has trouble getting light and has a tough time growing through the stubble. This pasture is slowly dying and will turn to desert.

Below is an example of what a brittle grassland looks like after grazing without mulch. There is a lot of variety in plants but the system is very fragile and prone to damage. Without biomass, the surface layer dries out extremely quickly in our hot, dry summers.

typical-grazed-grass

This is an example of grazed brittle grassland without mulch.

Below is an example of grazed brittle grassland after one year of hay mulch and high-impact controlled grazing. You can just barely see the pieces of cow pie that our pastured hens will scratch apart to get all the undigested grains. Maggots also grow in the cow pies which the hens and wild birds feast on. If the maggots are allowed to grow without bird predation, the cattle are plagued by flies. The cattle and birds really help each other out. This is an example of the beauty and complexity of natural system design.

grazed-hay-mulch-1

This is an example of grazed brittle grassland after one year of hay mulch.

Below is an example of a grazed brittle grassland after two years of hay mulch and high-impact controlled grazing. We have only 2275 liters (500 gallons) of water per day to irrigate 2.4 hectares (6.0 acres). That’s not very much water so irrigation didn’t do this. The hay mulch protects the topsoil and helps retain moisture. Any rain that falls will have a better chance of staying where it landed and not pour off the hills. Hay mulch also adds seeds to the pasture. We bring in local hay with seeds that are better adapted to the area.

grazed-hay-mulch-2

This is an example of grazed brittle grassland after two years of hay mulch.

Below is an example of standard grazing on the left. Note how the ground is almost bare. The soil is exposed to the elements. During bad rainstorms the soil will just roll off the hill into the gully. On the right is the property we lease from a neighbor. After we heavily graze an area with cattle, the cattle naturally stomp and break down the old growth and naturally urinate and manure the area bringing in moisture and nutrients. We then lock the cattle out of the area so the ground can recover. We then cover with hay mulch any soil that becomes exposed or any area that looks like it needs more biomass. The hay mulch also has seed which naturally seeds the pasture. We use local hay so the strains are better adapted to the area. The upper right field has only had one year of hay mulch and very little irrigation. The lower field has had two years of mulch. This area was used as a wintering bedding down area. The area has not recovered yet.

standard-vs-savory

Our neighbor on the left is using standard grazing methods. On the right is the leased property we have been managing. Any open soil is covered with hay to hold moisture and protect the soil.

Below, on the left, is an example of our lower pasture. On the right of the fence is over-rested land. What you can’t see is how bare the ground is on the over-rested area. (See the first picture in this series.) All the dry, dead plant materials make it hard for the new grass to get light. According to Allen Savory, without herbivores stomping, urinating and manuring the grassland it will slowly die out and become a desert. Grasslands and herbivores evolved together and need each other to survive.

savory-vs-rest

Our leased pasture is on the left and on the other side of the fence is over-rested pasture. Without herbivores, over-rested pasture will desertify.

Below is our lower pasture. It has had two years of high-impact controlled grazing and hay mulch. After two years we can visually see how much greener the area we manage is from the surrounding properties. It appears Allan Savory’s methods work very well for brittle grassland in the Kamloops area.

hay-pasture

Here is an example of our lower pasture after two years of controlled grazing and hay mulch. This method requires bringing in fertility from other areas until the land can support the herbivores.

cow-patty-wild-birds

The White Crowned Sparrows and Rock Doves have learned that they can find undigested grains and maggots in the cow patties. They happily break-up and spread the manure for us.

Terracing a Slope and Planning a Pasture

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lower-hill-looking-west

This is the lower part of the hill looking west. It is very dry and the soil is poor. You can see the narrow path the goes to the top of the hill. We are dumping waste organic materials in the area below the path to help hold water.? Cobbles fall onto the path making walking dangerous.

Last winter we put away meat, vegetables, fruit and dairy in freezers. For more information please read Winter Storage Part I and Part II. We lived off our cold stores and dried goods until the middle of March this year before having to go to the grocery store for fresh vegetables and fruits. Living off winter stores was a very educational experience for my family. We had some problems with our root cellar freezing at one point during the winter. We lost some carrots, potatoes and parsnips due to freezing. We lost a few squash to rot, but for the most part, everything made it through the winter in very good condition.

The one thing I would change for next year would be to grow greens under indoor lights. I would like to grow Chinese greens, parsley, cilantro and try to over winter some tomatoes and peppers. For the hens, growing flats of spelt grass is a wonderful winter supplement. I would like to have a lemon, lime and avocado tree. I don’t think this is very practical, but I’m thinking about it.

This spring we are ready to increase the challenge. We have decided to try producing as much food as we can on our property. On the back of our property we have about an acre of unused land. Unfortunately, the area has a steep slope and faces north. There is a gully on the west side filled with small fir and alder trees. The rest of the hill has tiny fir trees trying to get a start on the steep, rocky slope. The parent material is clay and cobble. There is a small skidder trail at the top of the property which could become a garden after we build some soil with chickens.

Shaen has started to terrace the slope. There are a few weeks every year after the snow melts when the soil is not hard as rock. In a few weeks this window will close and the soil will refuse the pick. He has started a main path to the upper area at about a 25 degree angle. He needs the path to be large enough to get a wheel barrel up the hill to where we will have chickens in a hoop house on deep litter. This deep litter will take up the nitrogen from the chicken droppings. After the chickens are finished, we will grow heavy-feeding, heat-loving plants such as squash, peppers and tomatoes in the hoop house.

After Shaen finishes the main path to the upper area, he plans to run smaller horizontal paths off the main path. We will be planting the slope using permaculture principles. We will be using a drip system for watering to get the plants going. We are trying to decide what type of plants we want on the slope. Blueberries, currents, hazelnuts, black walnut, fruit trees, and other edible perennials will make up the base planting. We will plant Russian olives, honey locust, and other plants for wild animal, bird and insect consumption. We want a place for the wild in our garden.

middle-hill-looking-west

This is about half way up the hill looking west. As we move closer to the gully and the trees there is more ground cover.

We have also leased four acres from a local farmer, which we are hoping to develop into pasture for cows, pigs and chickens. The four acres are covered with mature pine and alder trees. There is native sage, sedges and forbs. The area is covered with bunch grass. The land has well water at the top of the property that we can gravity feed to the area we want to convert to pasture. We have done a lot of reading about pasture development and management. We would like to put some of that theory into practice, if we can.

We will have access to the leased property later in the summer. We will move Patty, our Jersey cow, to the new property after we have built a hay shed and shelter for her. We have plans to try out Joel Salatin’s intensive pasturing system using electric fencing and controlled grazing. We can run the hens or broilers after the cow to eat the maggots out of the cow’s patties and spread the patties, fertilizing and improving the pasture. This sanitizes the pasture for the cow’s later return. We have dreams of hogs digging up the gully and doing the heavy work of turning compost for us.

I will continue to update through the summer about the progress of these two research projects.

top-hill-looking-east

This is the top of the hill looking east. There is a flat area and small road to my right. The treed area is right behind me.

Updated May 13, 2012: Please read Brittle Grassland Pasture Undated: Photo Essay. We decided to shelf terracing the slope while we focus on the pasture project.