alan..fertile soil and quality foods

[Guest guest]

Alan

what do you consider the most important factors contributing to

nutrient dense milk/meat? I see three principle attributes: 1.

diversity of forage 2. actively growing forage 3. organic matter in

soil

1. diversity of forage. a cow out to pasture can produce a good

volume of milk by grazing a mono culture that is high in protein and

energy...such as alfalfa or rye grass. but a mono culture does not

address the need for a healthful, nutrient dense diet. just as we

need to eat a variety of foods to be healthy, a cow needs to include

a wide range of forages in its diet including; weeds, legumes,

minerals, grasses, annuals etc.. each plant reacts with the soil

differently and utilizes different soil elements. chicory will

utilize many minerals in the soil that other plants to not use...some

plants are deep rooted that allow mineral absorption from deep down

that shallow rooted plants can not reach (such as alfalfa).

2. plants need to be actively growing to be palatable, nutritious,

and full of protein and energy. Weston A Price wrote on the nutrient

effects of rapidly growing grass on the quality of the cows milk.

and it has been recently studied that the CLA content in milk is

higher as the speed of grass growth increases. fast grass growth is

attributed to temperature, moisture and organic matter. from what I

have seen moisture is the key with temperature and organic matter

variability can be compensated, to a degree, through control of the

moisture.

3. organic matter in the soil. the soil has been mined in our

country for the past 100+ years. we have been spoiled by the deep

rich top soil that seems to never end. there is only one way to

bring the soil back to life and that is through a paradigm change in

our farming practices. a few keys are: A). proper crop rotation .

returning crop land back to pasture c) reduce the size of farms D)

more animals back on the land..an end to manufacture farming of our

animals. this process of improving the organic matter in soil takes

time. no quick fix. I read an article that included an example of

this process on a north dakota farm. it took the farmer 8 years to

improve the organic matter from 1.4% to 4%. and it took another 8

years to bring it from 4% to 5%.

my farming practices include:

1. forage diversity for my dairy cows. including: alfalfa,

wheatgrass, orchard grass, brome, rye, oat, wild sunflower, milk

weed, hemp, white clover, red clover, alsike clover, tall fescue,

dock, dandelion, bind weed, morning glory, millet, fox tail, sand

burr, crab grass, lambs quarter (this plant has 30% protein level at

peak growth), cicer milk vetch, chicory, cone flower, flax, joe pye

weed, garrison fox tail, pig weed, barn yard grass, blue grass, and

others

2.actively growing forage. i have 130 acres under pivot irrigation.

the forage has ample moisture to grow even during the driest periods.

3. organic matter. i have implemented strong organic matter

production principles through rotational grazing practices. and

returning all the crop land on the farm back to grass land.

in your opinion, am i off base in my conclusion on what makes quality

milk/meat. it is more than just fertile soil... fertile soil is only

part of the equation. fertile soil be compensated for though

diversity of forage and moisture as long as the fertility is a

postion to contribute a healthy diverse pasture? is fertility of

soil the same as organic matter in your book? or how would you

measure fertility of soil?

you are on the money in your comment that the farming practices have

to be consumer driven.. consumers have been buying on price for a

long time. and farmers have responded by producing on price. even

our laws governing the agricultural community have been geared

towards manufature farming practices.

the consumer demand has to be load enough for the farmer to hear the

demand shift and the load enough to change the laws binding the

farmers from farming and marketing quality products.