# Armyrick's Land Healing Farm...



## ArmyRick (3 Aug 2013)

OK, A short while ago I said I would talk about how land healing, environmentally regenerative farms will/should be the way of the future.

Problem: Too much Carbon in atmosphere (Not argue it)
Problem: Population is going up
Problem: Livestock typically raised in an unhealthy manner

Solution: Farm holistically with healthy products that is financially feasible, socially acceptable and Environmentally regenerative. 

There are many, many farms that practice similar methods to mine (polyface's Joel Salatin is probably the most famous and Allan Savory is very well known) and guess what? We are growing!

I have critics, yes I get it. I am too busy farming to argue with these people.

Lets dismiss the myths

MYTH ONE: This is only possible on small farms.
Reality: Small farms, large farms or huge farms can practice these principles. Neil Dennis in Saskatchewan has 10,000 acres and raises approximately 1,000 beef steers EVERY year. 

MYTH TWO: This will not feed the world
Reality: Really? Hands on, farming and gardening in the methods our grandparents practice, produces WAY more food and in richer nutrition to boot. My grandfather would use chicken and cattle manure to add to the soil and grow 14 foot high corn plants in the 1940s (long before GMOs tried miserably and failing to do similar). Cattle can graze the same grass field 2-4 times in a year depending on precipitation and soil conditions. Once you try to get them by on corn or grain, the land requirements multiply 3-4 times. One acre of corn produces way less food than one acre of mature grass.

MYTH THREE: There is not enough land
Reality: There is plenty of land available that sits idle and not used or abused. Hop with me in my car and I can show you plenty of unused farms. Ridiculous mind sets such as land prices and quota systems make getting into farming near impossible. Society must change its attitude. I personally say if you own farm land, get it farmed or pay through the nose in taxes.

Thats just a few myths I wanted to scratch. Go ahead, counter my arguments, be logical though, thats all I ask.

So my livestock? I have a heard of Dexter cattle, chickens (layers) and some rabbits. The Dexters are my centre piece. Truth is any breed appropriate to your climate will do. I keep my girls corralled in tight paddocks and rotate them every 1-2 days. In this time, they eat a large portion of the grasses, sedges, legumes, forms and other green life. They will trample the rest, manure and urinate on the ground. The cow gets it nutrition and the land heals.

Cows Eating Grass/green life
Cows are a ruminant animal that have a rumen (first stomach chamber) that breaks down cellulose walls of plants before the remainder of digestion. Cows need only a small portion of seed and the rest in fibrous plant matter. Feeding cattle/goats/sheep concentrated energy in the form of corn or grain, causes the rumen to turn acidic and creates many health issues for the cow. Think of raising children, if all we wanted was a 150 LBS child, no matter how, we could feed a child twinkles, cookies, pizza, pop and by age 12, they will probably be at that weight. Is it healthy? Hell no. That is the approach we take with raising livestock. We need our animals to be raised healthy to enhance their nutritional value when we eat that tasty steak or burger (Omega 3s, Vitamins A and E, CLAs, trace minerals, etc). So lets enjoy a damn good steak and make ourselves healthy too!


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## ArmyRick (3 Aug 2013)

More to follow, hold questions for a bit please


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## ArmyRick (3 Aug 2013)

Trampling the Ground
Ruminant animals that trample the ground as they walk (remember animals like cows and bison are quite heavy), they break up the top layer of soil, adding more surface layer. Some of the seeds from grass plants get pressed into the ground and naturally start growth. It makes the ground more porous which allows rain to be more effective. Hard capped soil does NOT absorb soil where as porous soil absorbs water.

Manure and Urine on the ground
To build soil, you need the raw materials. Ruminant manure is amongst the best! It is loaded with bacteria that helps attracts larger life including bugs. This is broken down and sometimes really fast to become humus (life filled soil). Seeds are also passed in some small quantities undigested through the animal or with outer seed coat broken down, allowing rapid growth of grasses and other plants. The urine adds moisture and nitrogen to the ground, naturally. Huge herds of bison on the western prairies used to be able to build half to a full inch of top soil every year! The trick? Is to hit the ground really hard with tamping, manure and urine and then rest it for a while. How long? Depends on climate. In Ontario, we have a non brittle or very moist environment, so plants can re-grow during the growing season in 4-8 weeks. In a more arid region (less rain fall) such as South Africa, you would probably want to rest it 6-12 months. Hit hard, rest, recover, hit hard. Creates a cycle of plant and soil growth!


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## ArmyRick (3 Aug 2013)

So what are the results, Rick?

With this continuous cycle that mimics nature, you build thick rich soil that promotes amazing grass swards. Grass in thick abundance, SEQUESTERS carbon. That is a win-win situation.

My own results? So far, amazing. I trained my cows to get used to tight paddocks. The re-growth at first, was slow but then exploded. a month after the cows had been in an area, you could see dark rich grass compared to the grass in the next field. I do offer my cows some natural minerals. Its makes the cow healthy and some of the minerals are passed through the animal into the ground, further enhancing plant growth.

I have had grass get five and six feet tall this year. Grass that tall usually has an impressive root system.

Is it mean to keep cows in semi-tight paddocks? No, quite natural. Cattle are herding animals and respond better to being in a herd. Portable electric fencing and us (people) replace the role of predators. Predators in the wild such as wolves or lions would keep herds of ruminant animals in herded formations. The protection of numbers.

This is a rare night that I had the chance to do this. I will do my best to answer questions, but please be patient.


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## GnyHwy (4 Aug 2013)

You are on target. This problem runs parallel to the blue collar shortage of workers.  People are still chasing the dream of having a shot at attaining the job of Bill Gates' assistant's assistant.  People, for the better will realize that job is taken, and they will also realize that there are many blue collar jobs that can provide a very comfortable living, especially if you're talented.

It is quite simple.  In north America, people shit, they use electricity, and they need stuff fixed/built.  They also need too eat. What we don't need is persons taking a few points off the top, in the promise (not guarantee) of producing more points for return, and having zero accountability when they fail.

Hail to the commodity producers and booooo to the fukheds that mark them up unnecessarily.


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## a_majoor (4 Aug 2013)

Living in the suburbs does not provide much scope for cattle raising. While I have been tinkering with some gardening (quite difficult since I am not physically here much), I wonder if you have some points for people in similar situations who are trying to grow their own veggies?


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## ArmyRick (4 Aug 2013)

Grow your vegetables, compliment planting (Fruit veggies combined with root veggies) or get old cat litter pails, drill holes in them and make an improvised raised garden. Weed it until the plants get higher than the weeds and then let the weeds be. Weeds or forms can actually add nutrition to the soil. Need urban manure? get a meat rabbit or three. Save their manure and add it your garden, feed the rabbits clippings from your lawn and garden. My personal favourite for my bucket garden last year was tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins. I could also drag the tomatoes around in the yard to get optimal sunlight, a little effort though.

Plant a fruit tree if your yard is big enough. If your local bylaws allow it, get 1-4 egg laying chickens ('pending on space available). Rotate chickens around your yard (same with rabbits). Use pet cages, with no bottoms. Rabbits go into new spot first, followed 2-3 days later by chickens, never the other way around.

If you raise your own urban livestock, DO NOT mow your garden down to a stupid golf course 2 inch level. Your grass will die in July and there will not be enough for the rabbits to eat. Let rabbits mow your lawn. Feed chickens combination of laying mash and table scraps.

nuff to get you started?


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## a_majoor (5 Aug 2013)

Local bylows prevent much of the animal husbandry, but the rest is pretty straightforward, will use it to refine my techniques.

You might like this: all the principles you listed in the opening are repeated here on a much larger scale, as African wildlife is released and returns the land back to its "natural" state. As a BTW, one of the people I work with iterated many of the same ideas WRT the praries. In particular he was disturbed by the growth of forest in the Wainwright training area and suggested the best thing to do was set the area on fire (may people concur, but not for the reasons he is suggesting  ) and release heards of bison to "work" the land and bring it back to the natural state of grasslands Photos at link:

http://metanoodle.blogspot.ca/2013/08/vegan-alert-mass-herds-of-meat-animals.html



> *Vegan alert: Mass herds of meat animals will save the planet and reverse climate change.*
> 
> Before and after pictures will stun you.
> Massed herds of grazing animals moved to mimic nature will heal grasslands and stop desertification.
> ...


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## ArmyRick (6 Aug 2013)

Allan Savory is one of my heroes. I trained under HMI (Holistic management International) one of the organizations he helped created. He is a very logical and well spoken man. Listen to him speak once and he will hook you onto his concepts!


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## PanaEng (6 Aug 2013)

A friend of mine has Red Highland cattle - raised in similar fashion, all organic but not certified as it costs some - and the meat is delicious   (very lean as they have a good insulating layer of hair and roam about).

Thucydides, at my Ottawa backyard, I made some 4x4' boxes and the results have been great.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening and check out the refs.

I've seen other ideas for gardening in small spaces and for restricted mobility; everything from window box, balcony, deck/patio containers, etc.

cheers,
Frank


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## Navy_Pete (6 Aug 2013)

Thanks ArmyRick, very interesting info.  Some cattle would be nice but not sure how I'd explain it to the Ottawa by law officers!  Also, I can see occasionally tamping the heck out of the ground would be a good stress relief.

Thucydides, the square foot gardening works great; will dig up some links to it later, but it works particularily well in the city as it's meant with small footprints in mind.

If you have some more space you could also try this; http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

Built a small 4x10 bed to try it out this year, and so far kind of blown away by the resulting growth.  In theory this should also capture and hold water on its own, so shouldn't need much maintenance after it's established.  I left about 18 inches all the way around and have no problem reaching in for the minimal tending required.  Even though it's been pretty much a perfect growing season, it's still flourished more then the other sections of garden with the same plants, soil, etc we planted at the same time.  Can't confirm but the vegetables are also supposed to have noticeably more flavour as well.  Have a few of the same variety of tomatoes in different raised beds, so should know in a few weeks when they start to ripen.

In a related vein, you may want to try some 'pollinator' gardens (http://www.pollinationcanada.ca/).  Primarily for butterflies (I have a five year old girl that loves them) but generally a big fan of bees, so probably improves any fruit and veg you may be trying to grow.  Not really sure if it's had much effect as this year seems to be awful for bees and butterflies in particular, but if nothing else it's a nice bit of colour and good for the soul.  The downside is some of the good butterfly friendly plants are bad for livestock (milkweed, thistle etc), but not really an issue in the middle of the burbs.

If you have a really small space something like this may also work; http://www.instructables.com/id/VERTICAL-VEGETABLES-quotGrow-upquot-in-a-smal/

One of my favourite sites, if you look through there you'll find a mindblowing variety of ideas on gardening, carpentry, metalworking, and general mad scientist/tinkering type ideas.  It's kind of a virtual gathering hole for all the weird folks that like to make random things, like turning a microwave into a smelting oven.


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## a_majoor (6 Aug 2013)

I have been using a system based on a book called "The One Minute Gardener", which uses raised (or at least segregated) beds, drip irrigation and using mulch or some sort of tarp to cover the soil and prevent the infestation of weeds.

A few mistakes I made (and like I said, I haven't been around in person to correct them) include: not being careful with the soil covering tarp. Where it wasn't fully staked in weeds and insects infested the soil, but where I did cover it, I should have added a covering of mulch to keep it shaded and cool: the soil and plants were cooked! I also neglected the advice of the author to build a covering frame and netting; the damn bugs ate everything last year. Final issue, not investing in a timer system to add water and nutrition to the plants, the rest of the family are not into gardening and the watering was erratic to say the least. I could be moving soon, so I will be trying out some of these ideas in the new place.

The book is now out of print but can be bought used on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.ca/One-Minute-Gardener-Derek-Fell/dp/0894715844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375831868&sr=1-1&keywords=0894715844


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## ArmyRick (8 Aug 2013)

How many people on here keep mowing their lawns super short? Starting in spring? Bad idea. If Grass is left to grow a little longer in the spring (and establish a better root system), then mowed on a weekly basis until the grass goes dormant (usually during late June to early August depending on precipitation and tempuratures.

DO NOT MOW grass when it goes dormant in the middle of summer! You can easily kill the grass and allow forbs (weeds) to grow in place.

Also, this is a personal pet peeve. People are obsessed with gold course green lawns in their yards. Nothing is more unnatural. I would prefer a mix of white clover and grasses (not a single grass species). This improves soil quality, tolerates heat stress better and looks better IMO.

In late fall just before snow fall, over seed with compost or do in very early spring when nights are below freezing and days just above.


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## Infanteer (8 Aug 2013)

I don't have this problem because I'm simply too lazy to mow the lawn every week.... :bowing:


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## ArmyRick (8 Aug 2013)

Scale. Here is another issue I want to address. Some people go on and on about we need mega farms. With proper management keeping environmental, financial and socially acceptable principles in mind, you CAN manage livestock in these similar manners on a large scale.

Neil Dennis in Saskatchewan has 10,000 acre ranch and raises approximately 1,000 beef steers on a rotational grazing system (with some cool high tech equipment). 

I would add that as the farms and ranches get bigger, its more PEOPLE employed and not fancy and expensive machinery that is truly needed to help run them in a manner as I have described. Bottom line though is it starts with a change in peoples attitude.


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

I haven't posted on here in a while. The rotational grass feeding of my ruminants continues to go well, as does my regular practice of playing "dodge bull" (If I can get a picture of the bull I have on two year loan, you can see why I don't like sparring with him).

Sold almost all of my first 2 lambs that I butchered (Not me personally, the abbatoir) and I now have people screaming for more. So far all I had sold was alot of eggs (from chickens living out in the field).

A few observations...
-Rotational grass feeding on a daily basis is simply awesome (I have seen excellent changes already this year)
-The meat taste like meat!!! Not like grocery store cardboard
-Chicken manure is like steroids for plants (the natural source of nitrogen works excellent)
-Ruminants (Cows, sheep, goats, bison, deer, moose, etc) manure is practically soil when they pass it out, it only needs a little time (like a few days to a few weeks) and plants grow out of it
-Cattle are excellent at trampling ground, enhacing soil drainage and nutrient absorption
-Sheep are like vapour mist. They appear on whichever side of a fence they want to
-Bulls with big horns are best given respect
-Ontario is lucky in that we have a high moisture content in the air, rain fall and what is retained in soils. Grasses can re-grow 2-4 times in a single season
-Ontario is not so lucky in that again, we have high moisture high content. Left a few large bales of hay outside for too long and they rotted out (oops). In Alberta, I have friends who said this is not quite a problem
-Looking forward to bale grazing experiments this winter (ask for more details)
-Cows with horns encourage you to be nimble and quick on your feet (I have avoided a few charges this year)
-A touch of cow manure in your composter is like putting gas to a fire (worm population exploded and biological breakdown rapidly accelerated)
-Diversity on the pasture field is incredible when you look at the insects, birds and worms that flood a naturally cared for pasture. You can not see the microbile and fungal life in the soil but its there
-Everbody should handle cattle and sheep manure on occassion, it really boost your immune system
-Farm work is excellent PT!

I am going to try and put up a few pictures, no promises.


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

The bull


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

The cows when they should be working


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

The cows at work


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## Colin Parkinson (17 Oct 2013)

As I understand it, you have to watch the protein intake that they get, to rich of feed can cause problems, I think Oats are at 7% protein which is fairly high.


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

I do not feed them oats. They eat grass and legumes and a few forbs. Either fresh on pasture or cured in the form of hay. I let the cattle select their feed. I supplement with sun dried kelp, trace mineral salt, dietamocious earth and black earth (for mineral mostly). I have been told my cattle are in excellent health and great condition.

Feeding them annuals such as oats, wheat, grain, corn is NOT a part of my operation.


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

One more photo for fun. My gutsy wife took this picture. The bull, having a munch...


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## Colin Parkinson (17 Oct 2013)

Got one cousin raising cattle and the other bison. The cattle spend most of their lives on the range, but he supplements their diet with various feeds at different times of the year, he grows his own oats for that. the Bison are kept in large fenced areas as you will likely not see them again. They require some feed, but no need to assist with calving, unlike the cattle who calve in March in middle of snowstorms and like to hide in the bush.


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## ArmyRick (17 Oct 2013)

Cattle do not require supplemental feed. people do it usually to get them larger faster.

My cows, pure bred Dexters are excellent calvers due to their smaller size and all my calves are born on pasture with no human assistance. Highlands and White Park Cattle are very similar in this manner. Standard industry dairy and beef cows that usually require assistance.

You can time calving anytime of the year you want, expose the bull 10-9 months prior to planned birth time and you will have calves. People typically want March calves because it puts calves on feeding in time for spring grass. But is has drawbacks. march is still too cold for calves and you may be forced to keep calf and cow indoors (never good).

Bison keep more of their natural qualities. They require 70% the feed that a cow of equal size requires. They are less selective and will eat more variety of plants. Bison however are challenging to keep in with electric fencing (or any fencing except concrete and rebar). Bison bulls are far more dangerous than cattle bulls. Most Bison operations I know of cheat and feed them grain and/or corn as well (kind of defeats the purpose of raising "game meat").


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## Colin Parkinson (17 Oct 2013)

I suspect the supplements is also based on the range feed available, in this case the Cariboo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cariboo

I suspect it varies from year to year depending on how much range grass there is.


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## ArmyRick (19 Oct 2013)

Do you mean caribou or Cariboo? As far as range vegetation being available and quality, it is up to the farmer to make decisions. if it is going to be a rough year, cull hard and thin out the herd. keep only the strongest and best breeding animals. So in terms of a semi drought or drought year, there should be lots of steaks and burgers available. Why try to sustain animals at huge expense to the farmer?

The quality of the vegetation will improve with proper rotational cycles, ideal stocking density and supplemental minerals. the minerals will pass through the ruminants and back into the soil. Good stocking density and proper rotations will allow for improved soil health. Good soil health will result in better plant quality on ranges, farms, ranches, etc, etc. It is similar to an OODA loop. You must constantly monitor and replan depending on the feedback on the animals performance and the condition of the plants.


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## Navy_Pete (19 Oct 2013)

Thanks ArmyRick,

I find this stuff fascinating.  You mentioned you trained under HMI; do you have any particular recommendations for reading?

Some background; our long term plan is to have a small farm and to be more or less self sufficient.  We have some land in the family and some of the know how already, but would like to manage the entire thing as a whole.  Have been reading some permaculture books and have been having some small scale successes in the urban setting, but don't think I'll have much chance of raising a few hens in Orleans at any point in the near future! (Yes, I live in the nearly dead suburb of the NCR; we stumbled across an old bungalow on our HHT and it just felt like home when we walked in the door).  Have lots of time though; think this is at least 10-15 years down the road once I'm out of the mob.  I think ideally though we'd have a few cows, some chickens, possibly some goats/sheep and some various crops.  I think it might be kind of a hard go normally financially, but if I do at while semi retired with a pension and figure out something to do on the side, should be okay.


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## ArmyRick (19 Oct 2013)

For grass fed cattle operations, there is a book, I will put the name of it and the author on here later when I get home. it is almost a bible.

HMI has a lot good literature on its web site and their workbook is awesome. If you get the chance spend the money and do their training session, it's worth it.

How much livestock experience do you have?


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## Navy_Pete (20 Oct 2013)

I have none; fortunately my wife is an animal husbandry guru and has done cows, chickens, goats and a few other random animals before (assisted with alpacas I think) as well as some time working in a vet clinic.  I'm more of a green thumb and a tinkerer.  I think I'll probably doing the fun stuff like putting up fences, digging ponds, building things, etc.

May be a pipe dream, but also would like to have some bees.  Aside from the benefit to the foodstuffs, seems very zen.

I think for now though it will be confined to converting most of the yard to raised beds for food, some pollinator/butterfly gardens, and a bit of landscaping.  It will give me a chance to play around with the sq foot garden concept and a few other things.

Incidentally, took your advice on the grass and didn't cut it all that often; might have driven the neighbours a bit nuts as it was relatively shaggy looking (at 4" long) but it is now really thick and a nice mix of clover and some other wildflowers as well.  All I did was weed every few days to get rid of the spiky plants but it turned out great.  Also did the same with the food/flower beds.  Aside from the areas with low plants (parsely etc) after the tomatoes etc were established just left the 'weeds' alone and it all turned out great.  Had no issue with erosion despite the frequent rain, and all the plants pretty much flourished. It was pretty much an ideal growing year, so hard to tell if they grew any better, but the fact there was no washout despite the frequent heavy rain was a huge plus.


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## ArmyRick (20 Oct 2013)

Thick dense plant life provides good drainage and a proper water cycling system. Deeper and healthier roots are part of the equation. 

The book you want is called "Raising Grass Fed Cattle" by Julius Ruechel and it is a MUST

http://www.amazon.ca/Grass-Fed-Cattle-Produce-Market-Natural/dp/1580176054 

WARNING if you plan to keep any cattle at all, you must understand how to safely handle them. Even if your wife has the experience, you need it to. Volunteer at a nearby cattle farm and volunteer to handle and look after calves, steers, bulls and cows. Learn how to move them, understand their instincts, etc. Be calm and patient. Cattle are great creatures but can be real dangerous real fast,


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## Colin Parkinson (21 Oct 2013)

ArmyRick said:
			
		

> Do you mean caribou or Cariboo? As far as range vegetation being available and quality, it is up to the farmer to make decisions. if it is going to be a rough year, cull hard and thin out the herd. keep only the strongest and best breeding animals. So in terms of a semi drought or drought year, there should be lots of steaks and burgers available. Why try to sustain animals at huge expense to the farmer?
> 
> The quality of the vegetation will improve with proper rotational cycles, ideal stocking density and supplemental minerals. the minerals will pass through the ruminants and back into the soil. Good stocking density and proper rotations will allow for improved soil health. Good soil health will result in better plant quality on ranges, farms, ranches, etc, etc. It is similar to an OODA loop. You must constantly monitor and replan depending on the feedback on the animals performance and the condition of the plants.



Cariboo as in the region. The difference I think is he is ranching and you are farming, they may look the same to a city type but are very different operations with different outcomes. Last years Wolves and cougars were a real problem, lost around 22 calves to them.


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## ArmyRick (21 Oct 2013)

Ranching is spefic form of farming or agriculture that raises livestock specifically on land. So while a feedlot can be a type of farm, it can not be a ranch. There are many, many ranchers in the organization I trained under (HMI) and our farm follows a similar pattern to many western ranches BUT scaled down for a smaller pasture. 

Modern ranches may or may not use horses, ATVs, electric fencing, even helicopters in some cases.


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## ArmyRick (5 Nov 2013)

Standby. Rant about to begin.

I watched a video about a buffoon name Dr Richard Oppenlander. It was Titled "Is Grass Fed Beef sustainable?". 

His arugment and his points were SO far off base, misleading and very little fact (or deliberately putting different facts together to make a "slanted" argument).

I am going to rip apart some of his weakly worded arguments and GO royally to town on him. I will para phrase him.

"Grass fed beef still puts cattle on the land, we have too many cattle"

What a ridicolous notion. Its the amount of cows/sheep/goats whatever livestock. First off, Its not that we have too many cattle, it is in how they are managed, a large difference. North America had a mega-huge amount of Bison roaming the land only 400 years ago. These bison (A bison and cow are 99.9% the same animal, they can breed together) grazed, pooped, urinated, trampled and moved on. The herds were very, very large and in winter time they usually broke down into sub herds. This is similar to the practice that I use (and Joel Salatin, Greg Judy, etc, etc) and it is the base of the practices that Allan Savory reccomends. This practice of eat, poop, move and let the grass recover is the basis of rebuilding top soil. Healthy top soil in turn grows stronger grasses, legumes, forbes, sedges, etc. These stronger and denser grasses nuture the animals that eat it, sequester carbon (and in the case of legumes, nitrogen as well) out of the atmosphere and promote microbial life. Microbial life is ESSENTIAL to all life. Without this invisble ecosystem, we would all be dead really fast (not just people).

Feedlots are a different story. I agree that we should get rid of these within the next 20-30 years. Feedlots accumulate manure in massive dosages and in toxic amounts. The cattle are being forced fed corn and/or grain which in turn causes huge health problems. It turns the rumen acidic, burns out their liver and eats away their digestive system. Ruminants can eat seeds but NOT in concentrated dosages. For example allowing a cow to eat an entire grain plant (Seed head, stalk, leaf) would be a much better option. But that is not the feedlot option.

Comparing grass fed cattle to feed lot cattle is like comparing Race cars to econo cars, their both cars but yet very different.

"Cows put out all this methane"

Sigh. here we go again. Methane this and that. First off swamps are the number one producer of methane in the world. Yet swamps can help an eco system. However swamps are loaded with the microbial life that breakdown methane rapidly. So is grass fed cattle and sheep. Both of these animals are ruminants, the rumen (first stomach) is a giant bacteria tank that ferments and breaks down cellulose matter (Fiborous plant material we can not digest). When cows poop, their is a nice percentage of this gut flora coming with it. Also having grass fed cattle, the manure is spread out on pasture and the methane breakdown is not even noticeable. Do not believe me? Go ahead and try and smell manure on my pastures. You won't unless you stand right beside the cow while they crap. You will only smell it for a few minutes.

BTW, every living animal puts out methane. By that logic, we better slaughter all the elephants, wiildebeast, cape buffalo, kudu, zebra, etc, etc that number in the thousands running across African wildlands. Syurely their methane must be destructive? Oh wait, no its not.

Again, feedlots are a different story with concentrated manure piles in massive quanity. Please learn the difference Dr Oppenlander.

More to follow


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## Privateer (5 Nov 2013)

ArmyRick,

When and how will your beef be available to consumers?  Will it be available in the Vancouver area?


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## ArmyRick (5 Nov 2013)

"Grass Fed beef requires cattle to age even longer so it puts more cattle out there for longer periods"

I was thinking at this point, this clown should pull his bottom lip over his head and swallow. But here we go (Getting out the puppets). Grassfed beef requires longer because the caows grow on a more natural cycle and timeline. With the cow actually being managed properly, it helps the environment even more by living longer before slaughter and allows accumulation of more nutrients. End story on that.

"Eating meat is murder.."

Stop. STOP. PLEASE STOP, I am going to lose it. Eating meat is murder. Then by that logic please round up every single lion, wolf, bear, shark, wolverine, mink, bobcat, dog, house cat, seal, etc, etc and GET RID of them. Or we can let nature take its own path, Dr Oppenlander. There are herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. End story. Without predatory animals, bottom level food chain animals would explode out of population control. Then we would have wild ruminants actually causing over grazing. Predators play a key and vital role in the eco system. 

People need to eat meat. We have evolved over the last 2-4 million years to eat meat. This is why our brains are SO large and capable of complex problem solving. Heck, even the chimpanzee (the animal most closely related to man) eats a small fraction of meat in its diet (They will eat birds, reptiles, monkeys yes I said monkeys, rodents). We need Vitamin A and E, as well as a whole host of minerals and other fat soluble vitamins. Only obtained by eating meat. Ideally we should eat muscle tissue, organ tissue, fat, bone marrow, etc. Personally I love Grass Fed bone marrow from my Osso Bucco cuts of my mooos, it is delicous and very nutrient dense.

Yes we need plants (I personally believe that over 50% of our diet should be plant based) such as nuts, berries, vegtables, fruits, herbs, etc.

Eggs from field raised chickens rock too! I will go with the option of bigger brain from my hunter gather ish diet.

"..We are degrading the planetary resources.."

Really? First we shouldn't eat cows because of its murder and now we shouldn't eat them? Get with it. For you vegans out there, all those lovely CROP vegetables you love and need (Soy, potato, grain, corn, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoe, etc, etc). DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DESTRUCTIVE IT IS ON THE ENVIRONMENT? Mass crop fields are very destructive and allow HUGE amounts of carbon loss to the atmosphere (Enjoy all that tofu). The more vegan you go, the more of that crap you need. Here is a news flash, if you compost and degrade plant matter by itself to re-build top soil, it takes a long, long time. Something to the tune of 100 years for an inch of soil. Ruminants in large numbers can build a half to a full inch each year. Get over your selves.

"Cattle need so much water...." 

Oh good god. Not nearly as much as Humans seem to use up. Get with it. My herd of cows (11 at this time), in cooler weather go through about 20 gallons a day. In the hot, hot summer around 40-50 gallons a day, unless I provided shade, then it was around 30 gallons a day. Considering my cows weigh around 800 lbs each and the bull weighs around 1200 lbs, not bad. What does your average person use in cooking, cleaning themselves, their car, their dishes, laundry, flushing toilet, etc, etc.

How about an elephant? I will bet you they use huge amounts of water? Do we get rid of them? Wake up.

Another fact loss on this dorkish crowd. Well conditioned pastures and fields can hold and retain water efficiently. So cows urinating on the ground in well plant covered areas, help water (and add nitrogen) to the soil, where it stays locked up longer.

In a garbage crop field, all that exposed soil, allows huge amounts of water evaporation (and carbon loss). On that note, crop fields (irragation) uses way more water than cattle on pasture. 

Extremely weak argument, Dr Oppenlander.

That is the start of this ridicolous verbal beat down. Why does this bother me? Mostly because this guy states that he still has more people to get his message out to. Sorry buddy, I will stand in your way, Dr Oppenlander.


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## ArmyRick (5 Nov 2013)

Privateer, 

go to this web site, and look up a local grass fed beef farmer

http://www.eatwild.com/

I am TOO far away to help you my friend. But grass fed Moo and bah (lamb) is delicous!

For BC try http://www.eatwild.com/products/canada.html#BC


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## Privateer (5 Nov 2013)

Thanks!


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## ArmyRick (6 Dec 2013)

Today I wanted to throw a tid bit out there about some soil enhancements you can use whether you have a tenth of an acre or two hundred acres.

Biochar. I only recently learned about this from Robert Kinkead. It's an amazing substance I guess you can call it. it is organic matter reduced to a char form using pyrolisis. It has also been called carbon char or terra pratta. Your basically making char by burning something without oxygen, you can do slow or fast. The end product ends up being an amazing substance that can sequester carbon and retain water in your soil. Your gardens and lawns will thank you for it. If you have livestock, your grass will grow very well.

For those of us who have our own cattle or sheep, use raw milk on your gardens, lawns or pastures during the growing season. The microbial life will give the soil and the plants growing in it a major boost.

Don't have ruminants? Try using molasses and fish grounded up. Also you can use compost tea if you have the time and no what you are doing.

An experiment we are trying on our lawn is to cover it completely with old and rotting hay this winter. I want to see what kind of boost our lawn gets by April or May. I have run a calf there before when she was living in the house (long story). However I have no intentions of getting my herd off the pasture and into my backyard. Basically this hay covering idea is a biomass covering. 

Need to give your composer a boost? Visit your local farmer and get some buckets of cow, goat or sheep manure. Toss in some poultry manure as well if you can but in very small doses. The microbial life in ruminant poop will give your stalled out composer a big kick. Wait until early spring though.


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## ArmyRick (18 Feb 2014)

Heads up and a bit of a "leak".

Anybody here is a Joel Salatin (polyface Farms) and Greg Judy (Green Pastures farm) fan, we have BOTH coming up here to Guelph, Ontario and speak about practical and sustainable farming practices on 17-18 October 2014.

I am one of the board members of Practical farmers of Ontario. If your interested in knowing more, check out the web site 

http://www.practicalfarmersontario.ca/

If your interested in attending the event, please do contact myself and I will keep you posted on details.


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## ArmyRick (26 Feb 2014)

For those that are a big fan of Joel Salatin of Polyface farms, he will be presenting on the 18 Oct 2014 (Saturday) and Greg Judy (more aimed at Grazers) will be presenting friday 17 oct 2014. Jack Kyle from OMAFRA and Ontario Forage Council will present as well on Friday (Ontario specific grazing concerns).

We are anticipating several hundred seats available and we will decide the ticket prices before April. HOWEVER, the reservation list is already up past 80 and we have not even laid out ticket prices. The last time Joel Salatin came to Ontario, the event sold all the seats 3 weeks before he arrived. If interested, let me know and I will give you a ball park figure of what cost could be (worse case to best case), you can decide if you want to reserve ticket spaces. 

This is aimed at all farmers, big to small, young and old, rookie and experienced. Its aimed at sustainable, environmentally regenerative and profitable farming. We even have people like chefs and small store owners signed up.


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## ArmyRick (23 Jun 2014)

Correction to the above, Joel Salatin will be appearing in Guelph on October 4, 2014 and Greg Judy in Arthur on October 18, 2014.


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## ArmyRick (23 Jun 2014)

So once again, summer or "grazing season" as I call it, is here. I have had the herd out on pasture for a full month now. Expecting calves any day now. This spring, many observations were noted.
1. The areas of the pasture that were hit hardest with last years cattle impact (1 day in a 1/4 to 1/2 acre paddocks, moved every day) resulted in super rapid grass and legume growth this spring! So What? The dense and taller grasses results in more carbon and nitrogen being locked up in the plant and soil. The areas were the cattle had the least amount of time or impact have very, very slow growth. 

2. A big part of this growth is the "micro herd" on and in the soil. Worms, bugs, spiders, nematodes, fungi, protozoa, bacteria, etc. The less sun that hits the dirt (NO BARE DIRT!) and the more food there is for the microlife (Poop, saliva, hair, urine, crushed plant matter on the ground) the more this mini and base eco system works. And it works very well. A little shot of molasses mixed with water helps as well. 

3. What about bare dirt spots that are inevitable? Old, dirty hay sprinkled generously on the ground makes for great canopy!

4. The cows themselves are doing very well, shiny spring coats and very vibrant personalities. Pregnant cows have big bellies and full udders.

I have unintentionally given several farm tours and people are amazed at how well we are doing. I also got offered up a developer owned farm property (no dirt to be turned for five to ten years) and was forced to turn him down. I simply do not have enough cattle at this point to make it work on 2 properties. I never thought I would be turning down a developer for use of land. However I was very polite and the door is open for future discussions.

Yee haw!


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## Colin Parkinson (24 Jun 2014)

The Bison altered the habitat and kept the prairies as prairies. From what my cousins tell me the nice thing about Bison is that the calves need little if any care, where out here calving with cattle can lead to high mortality rates as the calves have difficult standing on their own and the cold can cause hypothermia to set in quickly on the newborns. Throw in a booming wolf and cougar population with a crashing deer population and you have problems.


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## ArmyRick (22 Jul 2014)

Update. So very, very tired. All calves are born and doing very well. They have almost all understood the theory of electricity. One is still painfully figuring it out. All bull calves except one heiffer. Some bulls banded to make steers, some of the nicer ones left as is, intended for breeding.

They were all born outside on pasture (in the field) with no human intervention what so ever. Dexter cattle are simply awesome, no wonder Gordon Ramsay prefers these to all other breeds for his meat and milk choices.

The re-growth in the first pastures is simply thick and dense but not as tall. Lots of Tufted vetch, red clover and birdsfoot trefol. 

I nearly got a concussion last night from a 60 lbs calf when my wife and I tackled her and then tagged her ears. Strong beasties. Anywho, pictures should follow soon.


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## ArmyRick (30 Oct 2014)

More updates. The Joel Salatin and Greg Judy seminars were an absolute HIT! 

This fall, our pastures are staying rich and green to this day due to our higher density and frequent rotation. Grass may ceased growth on this date (Oct 30 2014) but the steers, lambs and heifers are still out on the pasture getting "winter fat" on pasture. The drainage in the soil is excellent and the microbial life is still good. I know this because I am witnessing week old manure piles still breaking down with plenty of bug life.

We have slaughtered some lambs earlier in october and have had a very positive feedback from our customers. More to go next week and then later in November the steers go in (Grass fed and finished beef yum). We will most likely put the breeding herd of cattle back out to eat dormant and thatch grass until snow burries it. Right now the breeding herd is in with last years fantastic bull, Dreamland's Big Red. He gave all healthy and strapping bull calves so lets see what 2015 calves look like.

With this intense rotational herd management, our grass is still green when most others have "browned out" (which means carbon still being sucked out of the air and tucked into the soil) and the wildlife has boosted on the farm (More deer, turkey, many species of birds, rabbits, foxes, coyotes unfortunately, skunks, raccoons, bats). When we first occupied the farm, these animals were all there but not seen nearly as often as they are now.

Life builds from the soil up (microbes- soil - worms - bugs - plants - herbivores - predators- people) and the water systems have taken on a new dynamic (no more flooding on the fields) thanks cattle and sheep hooves!


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## ArmyRick (13 Nov 2014)

So November is upon us. Snow is coming (came but went) but will be back with a vegence. Anywho, in 2016 my wife and I will be making our way to our own purchased farm (98 acres) and we may still be leasing a 30 acre and 114 acre farm as well for our regenerative agricultural practices.

We have our yearling steers and heifers STILL grazing grass (got lots of green out there yet!). They get a small, emphasis small night treat of hay. Health wise, they look great. My intent is to run them another couple of weeks yet. Its kind of a practice run for next year, when we run the main breeding herd on grass until hopefully early-mid December. Or later. I can feed hay to them out there.

This should have loads of benefit to the environment. We slaughtered this years run of lambs and man were they ever tasty! We pulled them off grass 10 days ago and had them processed within 5 days. I have never enjoyed such tender yet tasty lamb. BTW, its all sold out, so sign up for next year if your interested. When the steers go in later this month, I am looking forward to it. Can you say snowy BBQ?

When we move onto our own farm in early 2016, we have some pasture, loads of cedar trees and some mixed bush. I intend to thin out the cedars (will need fencing) and introduce a savanah style environment for my cattle and possibly sheep. The trees will work well for mid summer brutal heat (2014 doesn't count) and mid winters brutal winds. Trees are shelters and the wild extinct aurochs was believed to have sheltered up in treed areas.

The so what? Well, with my extended grazing plans I am hoping to reduce hay feeding by 50-75% in the next five years. Shift those paradigms people!

On another note. I happened to be in a field recently where the brilliance of the government tunnel visioned tree dudes put in a long triple row of pine trees, all the exact kind (I will look up exact species). It was planted ten years ago and most of the trees look like shyte. Why? Here are my theories on it
1. WRONG soil profile. If you look at edge of this field, there are mostly decidous trees that are thriving. 

2. Monoculture. Always a bad idea. Where does nature ever plant ONE type of plant over and over again in the same area without anything else? It doesn't. Each plant species has different nutrient and mineral demands, roots and dormancy times. Mixed plant species thrive and compliment each other quite well.

3. Trees planted on top of trees. I have seen this too much lately. People plant the same trees about 5-8 feet apart and then a decade later one or both of the trees are weakened? Why? They are competing for the same mineral and water consumption. Its like feeding 2 baby boys off the same plate, when they are little, the plate is big enough for both of their food demands. By the time they are teens, look out, nutrient demands sky rocket and that same plate can not possible feed them both.

Think thats all for today folks


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## kratz (13 Nov 2014)

I've enjoyed your posts ArmyRick, please keep them up.

I have family who have experienced the same issues that you mentioned,
WRT tree planting and monoculture. Their comments mirror your own.

Thank you for sharing.


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## ArmyRick (13 Nov 2014)

On the farm we are going to own, my wife and I are looking at spacing trees about 20-40 feet apart. We are looking at a Black Walnut, Apple, Pear, Cedar, Maple type combination. No same two trees next to each other. This will provide summer shade for cattle, cattle and sheep poop nutrients for the trees and increases our food production per acre considerably.


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## a_majoor (13 Nov 2014)

I have been reading a bit about a technique called "SPIN" (Small Plot INtensive agriculture) that was developed by a couple in Saskatchewan, but really haven't found an easy to understand explanation. 

Do you know anything about this?

Just curious


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## ArmyRick (10 Dec 2015)

The grazing season for 2015 comes to a close soon. Weird part is , we have both our cattle and sheep still on grass (mostly due to the mild fall we are having in southern Ontario).

The cattle and sheep did eat alot of stockpiled grass (grazed or hayed once during the growing season and then allowed to grow back thick and bushy, once late fall/winter hits, allow cattle/sheep to graze it. It keeps hay feeding down).

This last spring, we noticed the areas that we hay fed cattle on last fall/early winter, showed an explosive growth in grass. It was so thick and bushy at one point, my sons could not walk through it. 

I failed with trying to establish some warm season native grasses (Big Blue Stem, Little Blue Stem, Indian Grass, Switch Grass) but I was also advised by the OMFRA grazing specialist that due to Ontario's wet weather, warm season grasses rarely due well.

Need not worry though, continued awesome success stories with cool season grasses and more legume growth. All our calves born outside and healthy. They were up on their feet and nursing in very little time.

I have been following alot of information on Gabe Brown's cover cropping cocktails.


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## mariomike (10 Dec 2015)

I love this thread. It reminds me when my grandfather retired. He bought a little hobby farm. Dad and I used go there and help. But, none of us knew what we were doing. ( Ever watch Green Acres?    )


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## SeaKingTacco (11 Dec 2015)

I also enjoy this thread, Rick. I have dabbled a bit in range land restoration and a lot of things you are proving are things that I have long suspected. Keep up the good work!


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## ArmyRick (26 Jan 2016)

I want to vent and get this out....

I am sick and tired of Vegans. Yup. Vegans, I am ok with vegetarians but vegans and their spreading of absolute crap on the internet and complete junk with blatant misinformation is really getting on my nerves. The mocumentary "Cowspiracy" was abolute garbage, it took me only a few minutes to break down most of there misinformation.

So what it is it that I have an issue with? Simple.

Vegans decide what their version of the truth should be regardless of facts. It has nothing to do with their not eating or using animal products.

The arguments I hear that drive me crazy are as follows

"All sentient beings have a right to live"
Really? First rule of nature to consider on this one, everything that lives, must eventually die. There is no escaping death, from the tiny ant to the largest whale, plants, bacteria cells, even people. We will all meet the end sooner or later. Most grown ups, can accept this and move on. The idea that any living creature should be allowed to live at all cost is ridiculous. We humans, have imposed a moral and legal obligation that life for humans will be preserved and unnecessary death for other animals /living organism will be avoided. However nature throws us curve balls. People drown. Airplanes crash. So on and on, those people had every right to live. How about the person holding a gun on innocent people and the police kill him? That is preservation of life. 

To expand further on this. In the natural animal world, we have carnivores, omnivores and herbivores. There is a simple mechanism of natural control established by nature over millions of years. Predatory animals kill off herbivorous animals (usually) and keep populations under control. Think a 1,000 strong herd of wildbeest being controlled by 30 lions. Without the predators, you get a repeat of the Yellowstone National Park issue from years ago (No wolves, Elk population grew vastly out of control and began damaging the environment). So death is not just a mandatory part of the life cycle but it is essential to a functioning eco-system. 

"We have grown beyond needing animals for food"
This one is worth a chuckle. As Dr Nicolette Hann Niman puts it, you can meet most of your nutrient requirements on a vegetarian diet but not very well. Protein, iron, other minerals and vitamins can be obtained from meat sources, in the best form. You need 20 times the broccolli to meat the same protein requirements as a simply 6 oz lamb chop. I know of many medical doctors that will not state this publicly but they have insisted that pregnant woman consume red meat. I personally know of one Vegan who nearly died from her dietary choices and needed a blood transfusion from her sister to survive (extremely low blood iron). Our brains have adapted from millions (yes millions) of years of eating meat and fat. Our ancient ancestors needed animals for a bulk of their nutrition. Especially during the fierce cold winters of the ice age (and inuits on traditional diets do very well with 90% hunted meat!!!). Humans in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa hunted Mammoth and Elephants species to live. We also hunted Aurochs, Deer, Elk, Seals, Wild Horse, fished to survive. We evolved to eat an omnivores diet. Want to compare us to Chimpanzees? They have been known to eat meat as well including hunting and eating monkeys. 

The harvesting of food is another issue these morons do not consider. If we go with an ALL plant based diet (lack many nutrients NOT available to humans, we are not ruminants), then we will need to eat triple or more times the calories. That means harvesting more crops (nuts, fruits, vegetables and grain) which can have a more devastating impact on the land (the more land we cultivate, the more Carbon loss to the air). Many places inhabited by humans on this globe that can support any kind of crop and can only grow grasses, sedges, mosses, lichens, forbs, etc. These lands only herbivorous animals can survive. We can not eat GRASS or similar plants (we can not ever digest cellulose or hemicellulose matter) but we can eat the animals that eat those plants. Or milk them. Or take wool from them.  

Sorry Vegans, you lose on this one, huge. People should get a portion of their diet from wholesome protein sources.

"Cows need HUGE amounts of water"
This is another number that gets overinflated (As in Cowspiracy). They calculate the number of liters a cow will need to have a calf, they then calculate how much that calf needs in water over its 18-24 months of typical life before slaughter. Then they calculate how much grain that is grown to feed cattle (THey make the mistake of assuming ALL cattle are even fed grains), for this they assume the diet of the cattle is all grain (NO ONE ACTUALLY DOES THAT). Then they add in a few more calculations for washing the cow, transporting to slaughter. A few more for washing the carcass. In a nut shell, their numbers are Grossly overinflated for shock value (The propaganda spreaders of Vegan movement know this and do not care).

First, my cattle, sheep and goats are on pasture from Late April to Late November/December. In all that time, they are given clean water pumped from a nearby source. They drink the water, they pee it back onto the ground. That helps with plant and soil hydration which is essential for a healthy eco-system. Hydrated soils function better allowing their micro-organism to function at peak capacity. Pound for pound, a cow, a deer, a bison, a muskox what ever will drink the same amount of water per the conditions.

Second, in the early spring and mid fall, I hardly have to give my cows or sheep any water (sometimes I go days without pumping any into their troughs) because the RAIN does it all for me. Ya, of course that is not considered by closed minded Vegans trying to make their point. 

Third, In the winter months, the ruminant animals barely drink anything and will take a protion of their water in snowfall. Kind of the same as point two really.  

"What about all that Methane?"
First consider sources of methane. Its always been there and always will be. Methane comes not just from Cattle but horses, many other living creatures as well. It also comes from rice fields, swamps, marshes, etc. We will always have methane in some quantity. 

Next, methanatrophs or Methane Oxidizing Bacteria. This is bacteria that is naturally present (yes ruminants carry them) that feed solely on methane as their food source. Mother nature had this one figured out LONG time ago. 

More to follow....


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## ArmyRick (26 Jan 2016)

I have already shown how many of us farmers and ranchers are using livestock on a rotational grazing system to excel the benefit of the soil microorganism which in turn produce super healthy plants which in turn feeds both soil and livestock. Those super healthy plants also pull loads of carbon out of the air. Grasses and similar plants put lots of carbon in the soil where it belongs!!! Read back over to get more details of how this works. 

Now, Vegans, I go on the offensive (dig in to stage six, your gonna need it!).

You are constantly slamming on ALL farmers and ranchers that raise livestock as pure evil and unnecessary. For those of us that are regenerating the environment, you are causing harm to modern day society. This is genuine progression that those of us involved (the numbers keep growing) in these principles of farming yet you want to slam us down and put some silly notions of a false utopian existence in people's heads. 

How are we going to feed the world?
How are we going to sequester Carbon?
How are we going to feed soil micro-organisms which are the basis of all land based life?
How do we grow food in places where no crops can be grown?
What is your answer to reversing desertification which is environmentally destructive?
How do you account for all the ex-Vegans who have walked away from this lifestyle of yours?
How do you expect many aboriginals (that are left) on this planet to survive without meat?
What do you think we are going to do with all these cattle, sheep and goats?
How do you plan to maintain biodiversity at all levels?
How do you think eco-systems function without animals?
Why do your arguments go all over the place and very incoherent?
How come you Vegans always compare us Field/pasture/forest regenerative based operations to animal confinement operations?
Why do you assume us Farmers do not care about our animals?

I could go on and on. If you folks are interested I can post many links just slamming down Vegan arguments.

If you choose to be a Vegan, fine. Do it. If you start spreading misinformation, I will get on it and shut you down!

I am tired of Vegans selecting what they want to be true and trying to bend or twist facts and information to suit the distorted reality.


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## a_majoor (13 Jul 2016)

For fans and people interested in the sort of thing Armyrick is doing, here is a link to what seems to be a similar venture in the United States. Armyrick can tell us if this is legit or FoS:

http://www.polyfacefarms.com


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## ArmyRick (16 Jul 2016)

Very legit. I know Joel Salatin personally, great guy. Kind of the American leader on sustainable and regenerative food production. Also look up Gabe Brown and Greg Judy.


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## ArmyRick (24 Aug 2016)

What a crazy summer....

We have moved to a new larger farm that was badly abused with herbicides, GMO crops and tillage cropping. I have had to basically HALT soil erosion, establish a "microscopic eco-system" and still keep the animals healthy, breeding and gaining weight. Oh and the abundance of coyotes that hang around has made for some sleepless nights!

Halt the soil erosion. With exposed dirt you lose soil carbon big time, lose glomalin and decrease microbes big time. First solution. Feed the cattle and sheep, HEAPS of hay on this crappy ground. Yup. Feed 'em hay in the middle of summer! Oh yes crazy. But guess what? Those hay bales have seeds, minerals (lots of them especially potash), organic matter and by feeding it to ruminants, we are adding their bacteria and methantropes to the soil. The results? Six weeks later, even with little rain or almost none at all, we have fully covered these spots with huge patches of grass and legumes. The hay has mostly broken down into soil and the top layer provided a natural earth "bandage"


More to follow


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## ArmyRick (9 Nov 2019)

Hello everybody. I am back. It took me six months to figure out how to get back into my account. 

Since I last posted lots happened
-Grew the farm big time
-Produce excellent forage
-Making high end soils
-Still slamming down on Vegan myths
-Released from the Canadian Army (What a sh*t show that was)
-Started working at the local tiny but high quality abbatoir (Silence of the lambs is now my new skill)
-Implementing silvopastures
-Passed my farm environmental audit with flying colours
-Still heavily involved with international grazing/soil/HM organizations
-Our meat, second to none in quality

Hoping to get some pictures up soon

Rick's Farm
-RHQ (4 humans)
-C (Cattle) Company (31)
-S (Sheep) Company (18-usually 20-25 lambs) Will soon be the main effort
-P (Pig) Company (6-They are the pioneers)
-FS (Farm Support) Company (2 dogs, 4 cats)
-LH (Laying Hens) Company sadly was completely lost in battle (three times) to the Minks and Weasels insurgency 

More to follow


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## ArmyRick (9 Nov 2019)

Talking a bit more about what we have done....

PIGS! 
What a pain in the ass and yet what an amazing blessing they are. They are highly intelligent, so when they escape and want to stay out, what a pain rounding them up. HOWEVER, you can use same intelligence to convince them back in or to follow you with tasty treats.

When you have a problem weed patch that even the cows, sheep or goats have trouble with, send in the pigs to rip up the ground a little and suppress with a cover crop (Fall Rye the best, its a bully to other plants)

Got too many old apples falling off trees? Pigs
Too many left over pumpkins after Halloween? Pigs
Vegetable and fruit crops gone a little off? Pigs
Need to dig up and aerate an older cattle manure pile? Pigs (and then watch the magic of faster and better composting)
Too many snakes on your farm? Pigs

Feeding pigs a huge variety diet, get them outdoors lots and keep their health good = EXCELLENT pork and loads of lard to render

Apple trees got too much blight? Send a cattle herd in. They rub the hell out of the trees and and break the fungus path. They also rip down all the low hanging branches that catch rain splash up. 

Late fall bale grazing
We had some good results boosting our worn out hayfield by bale grazing (leave the round hay bales on the pasture and unroll just prior to feeding). We had to watch the space between bales unrolled (A little heavy on the trampling)

Sheep
The bad asses will eliminate any weed you want gone. The got rid of a goldenrod population in my front field.


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## JesseWZ (9 Nov 2019)

ArmyRick said:
			
		

> Hello everybody. I am back. It took me six months to figure out how to get back into my account.
> 
> Since I last posted lots happened
> -Grew the farm big time
> ...



As someone closely related to farmers (beef cattle, sheep and grain) and growing up in the prairies, I am loving the updates.


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## garb811 (9 Nov 2019)

Welcome back, I missed the updates as well. Keep them coming!


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## Colin Parkinson (9 Nov 2019)

Welcome back farming is hard work. Luckily it was only the chickens that got lost, my cousin raises Bison and lost half the herd because they broke through a fence and ate water hemlock. 

Interesting that a shortage of certified abattoirs is a big issue for small scale farms to get their product to market.


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## OldSolduer (9 Nov 2019)

Hey Rick!!!

Good to see you back. 👍


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## JesseWZ (9 Nov 2019)

I've got tons of respect for farmers (and I'm not just saying that because my father in law is one). Long hours, constant crisis management, so dependent on weather, I couldn't do it.


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## SeaKingTacco (9 Nov 2019)

Welcome back, Rick.

I, too, enjoy your farm tales. Please keep us updated!


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## ArmyRick (10 Nov 2019)

Thanks gang.

I also worked part time at a dairy last year (milking 90 head of cattle) and still working at an abattoir (part time).

I have seen where their are many economic "holes" and possible opportunities within the meat processing.

I have engaged the Ontario Ag minister, Ernie Hardeman on this.

I strongly believe in nose-to-tail use of the animals when killing them for food.
-Hides (typically thrown out or buried in deadstock piles) I actually bring back our own cattle and sheep hides, salt the hell out of them to preserve them and will be looking for future uses. THIS is the biggest missed economic opportunity. We should not waste the hides. Why should we not wear animal skins or use them? Animal already dead. Makes no sense to wear BS "kind" clothing made out of synthetics (save the fossil fuel for machines) and cotton (very destructive crop)

Rumen Contents
All ruminants (cattle, goat, sheep, bison, musk ox, deer, etc) have four chambered stomachs. I bring pails to the abattoir, cut open the rumens and save the contents. EXCELLENT fertilizer and compost "kickstarter" because of all the live microbes.

Horns and Bones
Cattle horns are just plain cool, who doesn't want a set? The bones? Let dogs chew on them raw. Bones can also be ground up for mineral for acidic soils.

Blood
By law, not allowed to harvest the blood at our plant because of the lack of proper blood collection hygenic tools required.  But the old timers have told me a dozen nutritional things that blood was used in. Again, missed opportunities.

Trim
When cutting up animals, there is loads of fat and human inedible meat (but dogs and cats no problem), more pet food. 

As part of my holistic vision, I am pushing to eventually see very little of the carcass wasted.
We have a world to feed and look after, lets do it. Biggest hurdle? Government "safety" regulations are a little too overbearing (and too paranoid IMO).


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## Good2Golf (10 Nov 2019)

Rick, glad you’re back online!  I too appreciate your experiences and updates.  You touch in an element of hypocrisy that some of the vegan/other types put out about not using leather, etc. which as you rightly point out, the requires use of hydrocarbons or destructive crops like cotton.  Talking out of both side of their mouths.

Good on you and others similarly trying to maximize the respective use of animals supporting our own existence. Too many people, particularly in large urban centres, have little to no appreciation of the fragility of their great lives, particularly as supported by farms.   Perhaps a ‘life-experience’ butchering training/PD session in an abattoir would give them a greater appreciation of how things ‘magically’ appear in their corner market.


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## Old Sweat (10 Nov 2019)

Echoing the above, Rick. One of my earliest memories was watching pig rendering, and many times I saw our Sunday dinner begin as a chicken running around with its head chopped off.


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## SeaKingTacco (10 Nov 2019)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> Rick, glad you’re back online!  I too appreciate your experiences and updates.  You touch in an element of hypocrisy that some of the vegan/other types put out about not using leather, etc. which as you rightly point out, the requires use of hydrocarbons or destructive crops like cotton.  Talking out of both side of their mouths.
> 
> Good on you and others similarly trying to maximize the respective use of animals supporting our own existence. Too many people, particularly in large urban centres, have little to no appreciation of the fragility of their great lives, particularly as supported by farms.   Perhaps a ‘life-experience’ butchering training/PD session in an an at our would give them a greater appreciation of how things ‘magically’ appear in their corner market.



Good point, G2G. I have been lectured a few times by Vegans on the "errors" of my meat-eating ways. When I begin to quiz them on soybean or pulse crop (peas, lentils) production methods, it quickly becomes clear that most them have no clue how things are farmed and what the inputs (diesel fuel for machinery, fertilizer and chemicals) are to make those crops successful. I have read a few proposals to make all of North American farms vegan (ie no animals raised for food) in order to "save the planet" from climate change. If farmers cannot use the manure from (now non-existent) food animals to fertilize crops or artifical fertilizer (largely derived from natural gas), it is not clear to me how we avoid mass starvation. Animals play an important part in the entire food web for humans. To suddenly remove them would have dire and immediate consequences.

In short- I too think there is a massive and growing disconnect between those who produce food and those who consume it. Most Canadians have never been to a farm. Fewer still actually farm. 

Rick- you are doing an important service. Keep up the good work!


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## mariomike (10 Nov 2019)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> Perhaps a ‘life-experience’ butchering training/PD session in an an at our would give them a greater appreciation of how things ‘magically’ appear in their corner market.



I doubt most could handle it. 

My employment used to take us into the slaughterhouse at Keele and St. Clair. It was second only to Chicago. It was also Canada’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. The animals came in by rail.

There was another down on Tecumseth St. Slaughtered about 6,000 pigs each day. They came in by truck.

It has all migrated to 905 and beyond, where property taxes and real estate are cheaper.


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## Jarnhamar (10 Nov 2019)

Really interesting stuff. I never considered how wasteful we were with animals.

Never knew about destructive crops either something to read up on.


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## YZT580 (10 Nov 2019)

Tanneries went out of vogue long before the vegans got their two cents in.  Places like Acton were shut down more because the towns grew up around them and the smell and the noise made them bad neighbours.  Particularly the smell.  With the cost of real estate and of course the minimum wage increases being what they were there wasn't the profit in re-locating.  Cheaper to build off-shore, use their hides as well so profit margins went up at least for a while.  Once it was gone, it was gone can you imagine the stink if a tannery were to locate in your neighbourhood?

But, back on topic, keep these adventures coming.  It makes for a great read.  Thanks


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## ArmyRick (10 Nov 2019)

I will talk a little about typical crop production.

For this will discuss Corn, Soy, Cereals (oats, wheat, rye, triticale, barley, etc), Canola, sugar beets, (Cash crops) 

No till (means using a disc drill to slice ground a thin trench and deposit seeds)
-Mostly better for carbon soil retention
-Usually field gets blasted with Round up or liberty to kill anything growing
-No till plant in your crop seeds (sometimes even these guys will still disc a field prior to planting)
-Hit it with chemical fertilizers (to make it grow)
-Hit again with round up (usually a Round Up Ready or Liberty link GMO crop)
-Harvest

Old school, ploughing, tilling, disc, etc
-Rip up the fields (Lose a boat load of soil carbon to atmosphere evaporation, bad for hippy protest and bad for plant growth)
-May or may not use chemical fertilizers or X-cides (herb-, insect-, Fung-)
-Again harvest when done
-May or may not be a plough under

Both of these standard methods tend to use lots of fossil fuels, chemical inputs, time, time, time, very weather dependent. COMPLETELY not sustainable.

Ask any hunter, when can you harvest an animal (if laws allowed)? Jan 1-Dec 31. Anytime you can slaughter it, you can eat it. We humans evolved on high meats and animal fat diets. Think we got through the ice ages on berries and grass seed? Lol, not a chance.

Gabe Brown has a brilliant Crop (no till), Mixed Cover Crop, Livestock grazing rotation. Look him up on youtube, he has tons of stuff and its very detailed. He is the model for future crop farming (The triple win-Nutrient dense crops, healthy animals, healthy land).

I only do some annual forage cropping mixed with perennials. I typically use oats, peas, sunflowers, fall rye, winter barley, winter wheat, Balansa Clover (Frigging dynamite). I will interseed via broadcasting late grazing season on paddocks in August and early September so the animals can graze these annuals in late October to early November.

Hilarious watching cattle beet up 6 foot tall sunflower plants pretending they are tough.


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## BeyondTheNow (15 Nov 2019)

Glad you’ve made it back. Informative as always!


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## ArmyRick (15 Nov 2019)

Its good to be back. I have been very involved with Lana Salant's Ethical Omnivore Movement on facebook (I am an admin). 

Food production done with holistic planned regenerative agriculture is both a solution to feeding the world and generating a healthy environment. On a side note, Allan Savory used his British military training to plan in depth for holistic management of ranches and farms. As he puts it, mankind has centuries of expertise at warfare planning and he wanted to use the process.

On another note, how about three cheers for Newfie Bren Smith and his Green Wave Sea ag which does for the oceans what we are doing for the land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ViaskDSeI 

cheers


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## ArmyRick (19 Nov 2019)

Latest pet peeve..... Trees are somehow magic. ARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

Time to unload some nasty truth bombs.

First backgrounder. I am very involved with holistic managed regenerative farming. It is not a one piece fits all solution. HMRF (Holistic Managed Regenerative Farming) involves a complex planning process, an execution followed by a monitoring period. 

In short it is very similar to the Combat estimate. The combat estimate is created by the commander and his/her/its team based on mission assigned and the context to which they must plan then execute said mission. HMRF is very similar. Some examples of context.
-If you live in Nunavut, you would not plant banana trees as part of your farm
-If your customers are 99% muslim, raising pork would be self defeating
-If the law forbids you to sell raw milk without quota, it would be foolish to do so
-If your farming in the tropics, don't raise something like highland cattle

You get the drift, right? Its important to understand this portion before we move forward. My hero and mentor, Allan Savory (himself long ago an infantry officer), makes sure people understand context and language as part of your Holistic framework or context (similar to a concept of operations).

Many of the organizations I deal with, both in person and through the internet, are full of well intended BUT UNREALISTIC wish washy people or at least their thoughts.
"Meat/beef is bad for the planet"
"Permaculture is what we all need"
"Carbon is bad and we must get it out of the atmosphere" Thats a good one, we will all die without carbon. We need to cycle it, not remove it.
"We only have X years left/The cities will flood in X years/The world can not change course if we wait X time"
"Planting more/billions/all trees will save the planet"

Lets take the last one and tear it apart. My fellow soldiers/sailors/airmen...ooops, not very Trudeau, air people? YOU will understand this and get it. Why? Be cause military deals with FACTS. Cold hard straight up mean FACTS. We have to deal in facts or we all die doing our jobs (facts such as incoming fire is bad, gravity with a failing aircraft is bad, blowing up is not fun, thirty foot waves are best avoided, enemy combatants want to kill us, you guys get the gist of what I am saying). Facts allow us to succeed, not wish washy ideals. 

Trees. Trees are plants. ALL plants (trees, weeds, legumes, shrubs, grasses, flowers, annual or perennials) have a place in functioning ecosystems. All land based plants do pretty much the same thing. Pull Carbon out of the air through Stemata pores in the leaves (active growing leaves ONLY not dormant), they pull up Hydrogen-2 parts Oxygen (H2O or water, that shit that all infantryman see plenty of on ex) through the roots.

The Carbon is combined with the Hydrogen and some of the Oxygen to make a Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen chain AKA Carbohydrates. Some of the oxygen is split and released to the atmosphere (where anything with lungs is thankful). The carbohydrates usually start off as simple sugars but eventually some are formed into starches, then cellulose, hemicellulose, lignins which are structual, etc. 

"Rick, your fooking killing me with this, get to it" OK troops, patience. Getting there.

To sum it up. ALL land based plants take carbon, grow and release oxygen. Got that? Cool.

So trees. Trees are simply plants. In some part of the global ecosystems they are naturally in a large abundance (amazon and BC rain forest for example). In other areas they are very scarce (prairies, steppe or tundra environments). Or they are somewhere in between (Ontario woodlands with meadows, African Savanahs, etc). 

So depending on the context and how trees are planted, they can be a real benefit or an environmental detriment. 

Here are some of my observations on trees

-Never plant in a monoculture. Natures does not do this, it destroys the soil and eventually kills the trees. I have a 2 acre jack pine forest on my farm planted 35-40 years ago as an "environmental incentive" and the whole damn forest is DEAD. No animals or birds, or anything. Just 2 acres of standing firewood (please lightning, don't strike) with only a few branches in the top 10% of the canopy still green. ish.  Now, go to a walk to the other side of the property and the natural 100+ year old forest has many species of maple, birches, cedars and a whole slew of other trees and bushes. The wildlife is abundance their and the trees are all healthy looking. Monoculture for trees = BAD.

-For the Ontario farm context, meadows and northern savanah seems best. Having grasslands mixed with spaced out trees (we call a silvopasture) provides an excellent base for a fully functioning ecosystem. Grass provides "skin", trees provide the "shade" and the herding ruminants keep the whole system functioning. 

-Grasses (for an understanding, a ten foot by ten foot plot of land can easily grow 500-1,000 lbs of grass leaves, thats alot of carbon getting pulled into the plant) start greening up (in my AOR, Grey County) about early April-May. That means they are pulling carbon in. Most of the trees don't start emerging leaves until very late May (in other words, grasses have probably pulled in a few thousand pounds of carbon by the time trees get started). Hows that for a paradigm shifter?

-Spacing. Your section commander was absolutely correct when he kicked your backends for not spacing out enough in your formations. So goes with trees in Ontario. Please for the love of common sense, stop planting trees on top of each other.  I have saved several maple and apple trees by culling off the weak ones and letting the strong persist. I also had my cows have access to my some of my trees. They saved a badly blight infected apple tree. They rubbed off the fungus off the bark and destroyed every branch below six feet. Now that apple tree is booming, providing excellent fruit and with branches so far off the ground, its hard for fungal infections to take hold. 

-Grass first, then trees. Nature has a natural plant succession on dead ground (think post fire, volcano, etc). There have been many examples of well intended oxygen thieves trying to "green up" deserts by planting trees and failing miserably (Israel, Saudi Arabia, China, Many places in Africa). You MUST follow plant succession. Weeds and Annual grasses. Perennial grasses. Shrubs and bushes. then forest. 

Anywho. I think I will end it for tonight. I may come back to this or I may move onto tear apart the other wish washy male bovine excrement.

Tootles.


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## SeaKingTacco (20 Nov 2019)

Good stuff, Rick! Keep it coming!


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## ArmyRick (30 Nov 2019)

I have two podcast coming up sometime in the near future (as a guest)

More to follow, dates and times will be posted


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## ArmyRick (5 Dec 2019)

Carlo Volpe, host of Fatso podcast (Its ab out eating meat and fat for health) recorded the podcast last night with myself and Lisa (my wife).

Will post dates, times, links soon


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## ArmyRick (15 Dec 2019)

And ta da, without further ado

https://anchor.fm/fatsoradio/episodes/Fatso--Radio---EPISODE-45---Rick--Lisa-Waechter---Double-D-Pastures---e9ci6a


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## ArmyRick (3 Jan 2020)

Not too much else to update people on. Winter is here and things slow down.

Very excited about my silvopasture project. Thinning out overgrown forest so I can run my ruminants through the woods and create an undergrowth (double carbon sequestering) 
.

Been slamming hard on a certain dietary belief structure lately (Don't care how celebrities jump on their bandwagon or how many mockumentary with cherry picking or false info) 

My pigs are doing their miracle work (They presently turning up last winters sheep pen so the compost can breakdown faster). Their Berkshires, excellent looking pigs (and tasty bacon)

Also looking at a Huegelkultur (Hill culture) pasture garden system. Its taking logs, lay them down, pile up organic waste material high in carbon and covering with a non seedy mulch. It is a triangle shaped hill. Veggies are planted in (yeah we do those too BUT its not vegan because you are not allowed to use animal waste) and harvested. 

My principles/rules/thoughts/concepts/rickism for growing veggies
-No till or plough up (carbon loss, soil structure loss and begging weeds to move in)
-Low labour maintenance (I don't have time during grazing season to baby a garden)
-Use of on farm by products (such as bull shyte which I literally have loads and other such waste)
-No chemical control or fertilizers
-When annuals such as veggies are done, mulch them in place
-If possible grow a fall rye/daikon radish/hairy vetch cover crop after growth termination to over winter
-Also feed dead plant matter to ruminants
-Sunflowers are awesome
-Pumpkins are easy
-Cabbage is super veggie food (saur kraut one of the best gut healers in the world but don't be a pussy and eat with MEAT)
-Tomatoes are a pain in the ass
-Sunflowers are awesome

Thats all for now folks. How many of you listened to or watched my podcast interview with Carlo Volpe?


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## SeaKingTacco (3 Jan 2020)

Why no sauerkraut with meat? We have it with sausages, all the time.


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## ArmyRick (6 Jan 2020)

Woops, yes indeed eat saur kraut with meat. My woops


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## observor 69 (6 Jan 2020)

"Thats all for now folks. How many of you listened to or watched my podcast interview with Carlo Volpe?"
I did and enjoyed it as much as  I do from reading your thread. I love learning and you are a rich source of info I don't normally come upon. 
Happy New Year! Looking forward to more of your observations and activities.


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## ArmyRick (13 Feb 2020)

I am back. I am at the level of a low functioning primate when it comes to logging in/out. oops

Second podcast gang 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l37KfFFe_dM


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## TCM621 (17 Sep 2020)

I have become more and more interested interested in retiring to some sort of farming and have become intrigued at natural, or otherwise unorthodox, methods of working land. I fell down a regenerative agricultural rabbit hole the other day stating with Peter Andrews and his Natural Sequence Farming, which has had great success in Australia, then I watched a documentary about a fella who transformed a section of Saudi desert in to a lush grass land. Then I ended up watching a documentary on Allon Savoy. His thoughts of using cattle reminded me of this thread and sure enough he is mentioned here a couple time.

It seems to me the main similarities between the 3 different projects are helping water stay on the ground long enough for it to absorb it and using plants to further hold water in the ground, provide shade (slowing evaporation, and store water. It has been very interesting, so now I need more study to see how it adapts to a colder climate than Australia, Saudi Arabia or Zimbabwe.


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## ArmyRick (18 Sep 2020)

Simple. Watch Gabe Brown videos on YouTube. Ta da, very big and awesome rabbit hole


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## ArmyRick (21 Sep 2020)

So the California wildland fires RAGE on, again and seemingly out of control.

In my circles of holistic management and regenerative agriculture, many of the top voices (very informed voices) have been singing the same song for years!!! Brittle grasslands environment NEED herding ruminants to stay healthy. They also need elephant species (like California native Columbian mammoth and american mastadons that existed a mere 10,000 years ago, in the time of earth, that was two minutes ago)

Massive herds of WILD bison, columbian mammoths and ground sloths are LOOOONNNNGGG gone. 

So we need to mimic that effect.

Mammoths, mastadons and Giant ground sloths were natural "tree managers"). They thinned out overgrown brush, kept lower branches OFF larger trees (sunlight on the canopy floor allows grasses and other ground plants to flourish with trees) and fertilized the soils, keeping soil organic matter HIGH (every % of carbon soil increase, you greatly increase water holding capacity, we are talking TONS per acre) Moist soils do not burn so easy.

Well since they are gone, WE the people need to fill in this role. We need to let the strongest trees stand, thin the weaker ones and maintain an open canopy. Wood is a totally renewable resource for energy and building material and when harvested intelligently, very non-extractive.

Next, we need herding ruminants moving through these thinned forest and building up soil organic matter with grazing, trampling and manure/urine spreading. We can use bison, cattle, sheep, goats, etc to do this (sheep and goats are very effective for high steep ranges) and then we can harvest for meat, milk and fiber (win-win-win). These livestock must be managed in a similar control method to natures predator dangers to get the correct action and not overgraze. We also have a modern component of human social values not wanting herds of livestock in the their towns and highways. 

We can also increase biodiversity in these managed wildlands with mobile chicken and turkey tractors or small groups of pigs. 

End result? Moist healthy plants of all types thriving in an ecosystem providing tons of food and limiting fire dangers.


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## Colin Parkinson (21 Sep 2020)

BC has a program to go into a cutblock in about 5 years after planting to thin it out. While they mainly plant one species, they will mix in others depending on terrain and region.


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## FSTO (23 Sep 2020)

A good description of why we need grazing animals for healthy grasslands.

From "Cattleman" Magazine

https://www.canadiancattlemen.ca/features/the-impact-of-herbivores/


*The impact of herbivores*

From the Ground Up with Steve Kenyon


Grasslands need the herbivore just like the herbivore needs the grasslands. It is a symbiotic relationship that has lasted thousands of years without us. Nature already had this figured out long before humans came into the picture and we need to respect the laws of nature. The problems occur when we try to manipulate nature.

Wait a minute, we can’t just look at one part of the whole. We need to add in a few more critical interactions. Enter stage right, the predator. Because of predators, the herbivores would bunch up for safety, graze an area pretty hard for a short period, then move on. Picture what that would look like afterwards. There would be high hoof impact in the area, all of the plants would be grazed or knocked to the ground and there would be lots of manure and urine left behind. The predators caused the herbivores to regeneratively graze the land. This would provide a great environment for a huge number of bugs, beetles, insects, mites and birds; just adding more symbiotic relationships to our show.

Then man came along. We scared away most of the predators and replaced the wild herbivore with a domesticated herbivore. We had to keep our animals safe and in our control so we used cowboys. Their job was to herd our animals. The cowboys still mimicked what the predators did. The herbivore still regeneratively grazed the land. No harm, no foul yet, right?

But humans naturally have to keep improving systems (which we usually screw up). We invented barbed wire. Barbed wire was one of the worst inventions we have ever had in the livestock industry. We now removed the herding management of the cowboy and allowed the animals to spread out. The devastating production practice of overgrazing began.

With one invention, we messed up the symbiotic relationship between the grassland and the herbivore. Thousands of years of perfect harmony and we can screw it up in less than 100 years. Now the herbivore is damaging the forage, the soil and the biodiversity of the whole ecosystem. Congratulations to us.

A lot of environmentalists, animal rights groups, vegans and vegetarians want to now blame the herbivore for the devastating results. Did I miss anyone? Sorry, I wouldn’t want to miss anyone who might be offended.

It is not the fault of the herbivore, or the predator. It is our fault, our management that causes damage.

Regenerative grazing is a management method that mimics what nature used to do. The four grazing concepts are the tools we use. These are: graze period, rest period, animal impact and stock density (GRAS).

We need to manage for a short enough graze period to prevent animals from grazing a plant for a second time once it starts to regrow. We don’t want them to take a second bite. We also want a long enough rest period to allow the plant to fully recover and replenish its energy stores after the first grazing.

Graze period and rest period have to work together to prevent overgrazing. Every environment is different but the most important thing to manage is the timing of the grazing. It’s the number of total paddocks in a pasture that is more important than the size of paddocks or the number of animals. In reality, when we manage a hay field, we do an excellent job of the graze period and rest period. We cut it all in a short period of time and allow a long rest period for the plants to fully recover before we cut it again. But that’s only two out of four with nature’s design.

We also have to manage the animal impact and the stock density. This is where we need the herbivore. A high stock density gives us two benefits. We get even plant use. Again, we also do a good job of this in our hay fields. Every plant is cut. When grazing we want every plant to be grazed or at least stepped on and flattened.

But the haybine does not give us manure and urine. This is provided by the herbivore. This is where our lead actress enters. She recycles 80 per cent of what she consumes. The higher the stock density, the better the spread of nutrients on the land.

The last concept is animal impact. I used to say this was the physical stimulation on the soil by the animal’s hooves. This physical stimulation can break the soil cap to allow water infiltration. It can create seed-to-soil contact and cause new seedlings to germinate. It can push plant material to the ground to help speed litter decomposition.

These things are all still true, but there was a huge side to animal impact that I was unaware of for many years. Enter stage left, the biology: bacteria, fungus, protozoa, nematodes, earthworms, insects, etc. The physical impacts you might be able to mimic with a set of harrows, but you won’t get the biological impact without the herbivore. It is the biology that comes with the manure and urine. It adds biology and is also food for biology. That manure is the greatest compost you can ever add to your soil. The urine is the greatest biological tea you could ever add to your soil.

Everybody loves new equipment. So here it is, the most effective piece of equipment you will ever own. The herbivore is a self-propelled and solar-powered forage composter with an automatic manure spreader attachment out the back end. They are also a fantastic compost tea applicator. Some models have the sprayer nozzles out the rear of the applicator while others have the sprayer nozzles beneath the undercarriage. Are you interested?

There is also biology added to the soil from the saliva of the herb­ivore as well as the phlegm. Even the hair coat sheds biology that can stimulate the soil. I would guess that there are more symbiotic relationships between the herbivore and the soil than we can count. You don’t get that from the haybine.

The action of grazing also stimulates the plants to grow. The “tug” on the top of the plants pulls at the roots just enough to stimulate more growth. This could cause deeper root growth or even cause tillering of the upper plant. The herbivore not only shares the environment with thousands of other species but they also enhance and stimulate it. It’s the whole ecosystem that works together. Plants, predators, herbivores, soil critters, insects, birds, bugs, beetles… need I go on? The world is a stage, and we need all of them to play a part.

Animal impact is crucial to the regeneration of our grasslands. It’s a part of the big picture. We need the herbivore on the land and we need her to be managed in a regenerative manner. Remove her from the play and the whole system falls apart. We need to mimic nature. It worked for thousands of years without us.


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## ArmyRick (23 Sep 2020)

Steve Kenyon is a friend of mine and an excellent rancher


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## Good2Golf (23 Sep 2020)

This continues to be a fantastic learning thread, thanks Rick and others!


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## SeaKingTacco (23 Sep 2020)

Some years ago, I had reason to be in contact with land managers from the Praire Farm Rehabilitation Agency (PFRA). Amongst other things, they manage community grazing pastures in the Prairie provinces.

They were a fascinating bunch to talk to. They had a deep love for the land how herbivores benefitted and (potentially) could harm an ecosystem.

One thing that always stuck with me was a conversation about Plains Bison. Before Europeans showed up in North America, the Natives managed the open plains by fire which created habitat for an estimated 60 million Bison.

Today, we have about 60 million cattle in North America. Cattle are not perfect replacements for Bison. As noted above, Ranchers and Farmers tend to use barbed wire instead of herding animals. With said, in community pastures, the PFRA really tries to herd the cattle and move them around to prevent overgrazing. From what I observed, community pastures had healthier soil structure and much more diverse ecosystems than the surrounding mono-culture farms.

That really opened my eyes.


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## Staff Weenie (23 Sep 2020)

ArmyRick - one of the eye-opening things I learned years ago, is that some biomes need to periodically burn. Certain key native plant species have adapted such that their seeds will only properly germinate after exposure to fire. Regions of California fall into this category. That, coupled with the fact that much of California is naturally a very arid environment prior to our interference complicates it. Humans have moved into the area, and created conditions ideal for massive landslides and fires.   

I wish I could remember the reference, but there was an interesting article on how large mammals were vital to the northern ecosystems, especially in Siberia. Through their elimination (partly climate, partly us), those ecosystems are being forced into change.

Final trivia point from my daughter - apparently our garden variety earthworms are not native to North America. They were introduced long ago. They've been outcompeting the fungal networks that were key to the ecology of our Boreal Forrest floor, and disrupting it badly.


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## Donald H (23 Sep 2020)

Staff Weenie said:
			
		

> Final trivia point from my daughter - apparently our garden variety earthworms are not native to North America. They were introduced long ago. They've been outcompeting the fungal networks that were key to the ecology of our Boreal Forrest floor, and disrupting it badly.



Fortunately they're still hard to find in forests that are ten miles away from civilization. In B.C. at least. But around remote lakes where people go fishing, pretty easy to find.


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## SeaKingTacco (23 Sep 2020)

Staff Weenie said:
			
		

> ArmyRick - one of the eye-opening things I learned years ago, is that some biomes need to periodically burn. Certain key native plant species have adapted such that their seeds will only properly germinate after exposure to fire. Regions of California fall into this category. That, coupled with the fact that much of California is naturally a very arid environment prior to our interference complicates it. Humans have moved into the area, and created conditions ideal for massive landslides and fires.
> 
> I wish I could remember the reference, but there was an interesting article on how large mammals were vital to the northern ecosystems, especially in Siberia. Through their elimination (partly climate, partly us), those ecosystems are being forced into change.
> 
> Final trivia point from my daughter - apparently our garden variety earthworms are not native to North America. They were introduced long ago. They've been outcompeting the fungal networks that were key to the ecology of our Boreal Forrest floor, and disrupting it badly.



Re: earthworms. Absolutely true. They are an introduced species and have totally changed the soil structure of North America. Look for a book called “Prairie: a Natural History” by Candace Savage. She goes into detail about earthworms and much, much, more.

Re: North American megafauna. Most of that (Mammoths, Sabretooth Tigers, giant bears, etc) disappeared about 10,000 years ago. The jury is still out on whether that was caused by the end of the ice age and climate change or by hunting pressure from humans. But, you are correct- once they disappeared, things changed. Giant Condors, evolved to feed on dead Mammoths, have almost gone extinct themselves. Avocado trees evolved to be eaten and propagated by Mammoths, as the seed is “designed” to go through the digestive tract of a very large mammal before getting deposited in a big pile of dung. They were nearly extinct, too, before being commercially cultivated.

Had all of the megafauna of North America not disappeared, would the landscape look more like African Savanah country, than large forests stretching for 1000s of Kms? It is an interesting thought experiment.


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## ArmyRick (24 Sep 2020)

Some things to add.

When looking at grazing effect in the biomes here in Canada, one should understand the Savory brittle scale (very dry low rainfall and moisture to very high moisture areas). It is influenced by the presence of bodies of water and the presence of plants (surprisingly, as an area turns to desert, it gets worse for local H2O cycling as the high heat energy reflected off the ground from the sun acutually creates heat pockets that repel clouds, see Dr Walter Jenhe for detailed explanation)

Here in Ontario, we are fortunate to be surrounded by the great lakes and a million other lakes. Lots of moisture. Unfortunately it allows cash croppers to believe in plowing and earth ripping frequently as the moisture keeps damage to a minimum. In the prairies, not so.

Our stock density for well managed grazing is much lower than the west. We generally can run about 50,000-100,000 lbs of ruminant to the acre for 24 hours. Go much higher. and you have to move more frequently.

In the prairies, they can go upwards of 500,000-1,000,000 pounds of ruminant to the acre for 24 hours.

Now our high moisture allows us in Ontario to return more frequently (3-7 weeks depending on time of year), where as the prairies need 3-6 months recovery.

Got to scoot. Feed time. Will continue later.


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## Gunnar (24 Sep 2020)

I have this vision of myself, sometime in the future being asked "why do you know so much about environmentally neutral farming?" and being able to proudly answer "Army.ca, of course" to mystified looks and confusion...

See, it's all about teaching the bovines the elements of good drill....;-)

A good read however.  You clearly know your stuff.  Thanks.


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## daftandbarmy (24 Sep 2020)

SeaKingTacco said:
			
		

> Re: earthworms. Absolutely true. They are an introduced species and have totally changed the soil structure of North America. Look for a book called “Prairie: a Natural History” by Candace Savage. She goes into detail about earthworms and much, much, more.
> 
> Re: North American megafauna. Most of that (Mammoths, Sabretooth Tigers, giant bears, etc) disappeared about 10,000 years ago. The jury is still out on whether that was caused by the end of the ice age and climate change or by hunting pressure from humans. But, you are correct- once they disappeared, things changed. Giant Condors, evolved to feed on dead Mammoths, have almost gone extinct themselves. Avocado trees evolved to be eaten and propagated by Mammoths, as the seed is “designed” to go through the digestive tract of a very large mammal before getting deposited in a big pile of dung. They were nearly extinct, too, before being commercially cultivated.
> 
> Had all of the megafauna of North America not disappeared, would the landscape look more like African Savanah country, than large forests stretching for 1000s of Kms? It is an interesting thought experiment.



Welcome to the Pre-Columbian Savanna!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_savannas_of_North_America#:~:text=The%20Eastern%20savannas%20of%20the,52%25%20of%20the%20upland%20areas.


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## ArmyRick (31 Oct 2020)

I may be a some what smart farmer but most definitely an idiot in other areas. Oct 31 (Halloween) and I just spent five minutes trying to get flies off my computer screen only to realize they were bats on the army.ca page display.


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## kratz (31 Oct 2020)

;D  :rofl:  :rofl:

Thank you for the morning smile Rick,

Happy Halloween.


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## ArmyRick (17 Dec 2020)

A few months ago, my third podcast with Carlo Volpe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50f6sjC-vgI&t=2700s


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## ArmyRick (4 Jul 2021)

Hey cool. I finally was able to figure out how to find my post. I am a computer idiot and still figuring out the new site layout.

We have are having yet another kick ass grazing season with our ruminants. In fact 5 years of decent to excellent management on this land resulted in a new problem. My hay pastures grew so fast I had to start cutting hay at the end of May. And I had to balance this with late snow fall, heavy rains and looking after the animals.

My pastures grew so damn fast that some of my fields are now way over due for hay making. Most of the other farmers around here just started cutting hay in the last week. I will be possibly ready for second cut (which I hate doing, would rather graze) in a week or two. No one else I know does second cut in early July.

However, its not just me. I really have no new ideas of my own. I am a pirate and a thief. I steal ideas, concepts, info, trials from others and try them with tweaking on my own farm. I am careful to monitor closely. Believe me, I screw up lots too. Like in the infantry, we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. 

Now, I hope to let you guys know of my trials with reed canary grass on highlands and tillage radish in my compacted areas. next time.


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## Weinie (4 Jul 2021)

ArmyRick said:


> Hey cool. I finally was able to figure out how to find my post. I am a computer idiot and still figuring out the new site layout.
> 
> We have are having yet another kick ass grazing season with our ruminants. In fact 5 years of decent to excellent management on this land resulted in a new problem. My hay pastures grew so fast I had to start cutting hay at the end of May. And I had to balance this with late snow fall, heavy rains and looking after the animals.
> 
> ...


Some problems are good to have. My Grandfather always had to buy some hay to supplement over the winter.  Sounds like you won't have to.


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## Colin Parkinson (4 Jul 2021)

You may find this article interesting








						Scientists have revived extinct Israeli wheat strains. Now comes the taste test
					

***




					www.haaretz.com


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## FJAG (4 Jul 2021)

While I'm all for reviving heirloom tomatoes and ancient wheat strains, I'm also somewhat cognizant of the fact that our modern strains, and those yet to come, are all there because they have been selected to be resistant to major insect or disease attacks and because of their higher yields (it would be nice if producers would throw in more nutritional as a goal but that doesn't affect their bottom line as much)

I think bread production hit it's zenith with the French baguette. German Brötchen are a distant second and then comes everything else.


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## dapaterson (4 Jul 2021)

Monoculture agriculture carries significant risk of novel disease wiping out the crop (anyone Irish out there)?

As well, certain varieties have been chosen not based on taste or texture, but on their ability to survive long transportation.

I get a wide array of heirloom tomatoes from a local farm.  When I'm forced to resort to the grocery store's California or Mexico tomatoes it's always a huge disappointment.


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## ModlrMike (4 Jul 2021)

Colin Parkinson said:


> You may find this article interesting
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Scientists have also resurrected brewer's yeast from the time of the Pharaohs. They even made ancient beer with modern wheat. Next logical step... ancient beer with ancient yeast and wheat.


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## FJAG (4 Jul 2021)

dapaterson said:


> Monoculture agriculture carries significant risk of novel disease wiping out the crop (anyone Irish out there)?
> 
> As well, certain varieties have been chosen not based on taste or texture, but on their ability to survive long transportation.
> 
> I get a wide array of heirloom tomatoes from a local farm.  When I'm forced to resort to the grocery store's California or Mexico tomatoes it's always a huge disappointment.


Wish we had that here. Most "local" farms and farmers' markets get their tomatoes from the same hothouses in SW Ontario as the supermarkets (albeit US and Mexican ones make it there as well)

There is one roadside stand here, which is principally know for their absolutely splendid sweet corn, that also provides their own beefsteak tomatoes which are great but unfortunately only available for a month or two at best in the summer.

When it comes to cherry or grape type tomatoes I grow my own (Sweet Millions) but again limited to a couple of months in the summer. The rest of the time its the US stuff.

🍻


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## dapaterson (4 Jul 2021)

I'm fortunate that there's a local organic farm with greenhouses for year round greens which delivers; my wife and I get a four person basket delivered every two weeks.


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## Oldgateboatdriver (4 Jul 2021)

FJAG said:


> While I'm all for reviving heirloom tomatoes and ancient wheat strains, I'm also somewhat cognizant of the fact that our modern strains, and those yet to come, are all there because they have been selected to be resistant to major insect or disease attacks and because of their higher yields (it would be nice if producers would throw in more nutritional as a goal but that doesn't affect their bottom line as much)
> 
> I think bread production hit it's zenith with the French baguette. German Brötchen are a distant second and then comes everything else.



Actually, Wolf, you may remember  that my wife and I operate a small heirloom tomatoes farm. We plant about 125-30 different varieties every year for about 600 plants in total.

So let me disabuse you: Large commercial producers of tomatoes  do not "select" their strains to be insect/disease resistant as their primary goals. Those two effects are achieved mostly by genetic modification. And I can tell you that a  good deal, if not most of my heirloom varieties yield a lot more per acre than the commercial varieties.

The primary characteristics sought by commercial producers in their pick of varieties are: (1) ease of mechanical/mass picking; (2) resistant to heavy handed handling (i.e. hard to bruise); and, (3) capacity to ripen at known rate after picking.

If you wonder about that last one it is because you probably don't know that most tomatoes for the grocery market are picked before they are ripe (some variety are green at picking) and are left to ripen in the truck used for delivery while in transit. That's why most of them taste like cardboard, as far as I am concerned. A nice ripe tomato would bruise fairly easily but it is not "pulpy" like the ones in stores.


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## Weinie (4 Jul 2021)

Oldgateboatdriver said:


> If you wonder about that last one it is because you probably don't know that most tomatoes for the grocery market are picked before they are ripe (some variety are green at picking) and are left to ripen in the truck used for delivery while in transit. *That's why most of them taste like cardboard*, as far as I am concerned. A nice ripe tomato would bruise fairly easily but it is not "pulpy" like the ones in stores.


Most vegetables that we buy in Canada taste like cardboard, compared to fresh. I grew up on a farm, where we had either fresh or canned/pickled veggies almost year round. The difference in taste is substantial.


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## FJAG (4 Jul 2021)

Oldgateboatdriver said:


> Actually, Wolf, you may remember  that my wife and I operate a small heirloom tomatoes farm. We plant about 125-30 different varieties every year for about 600 plants in total.
> 
> So let me disabuse you: Large commercial producers of tomatoes  do not "select" their strains to be insect/disease resistant as their primary goals. Those two effects are achieved mostly by genetic modification. And I can tell you that a  good deal, if not most of my heirloom varieties yield a lot more per acre than the commercial varieties.
> 
> ...


I'd forgotten that you were in the biz but, of course, you're quite right about the processing. When we lived closer to the lake their were thousands of acres of Roma's growing all around us but they were all bound for processing into sauces etc. at Heinz when it operated in Leamington.

I always dislike the tomatoes in the supermarkets because they had (and still have for the most part) these coarse, hard tendrils snaking in from the stem which I always assumed was part of being robust during shipping. And yeah - pretty much flavourless.

This little thread today actually got me to cook up a few of the heirloom carrots Kath had picked up at the Farm Boy on Friday. That and my world famous pork tenderloin medallions in a port, mushroom, cranberry sauce. Them's good eatin'.


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## ArmyRick (5 Jul 2021)

FJAG said:


> Wish we had that here. Most "local" farms and farmers' markets get their tomatoes from the same hothouses in SW Ontario as the supermarkets (albeit US and Mexican ones make it there as well)
> 
> There is one roadside stand here, which is principally know for their absolutely splendid sweet corn, that also provides their own beefsteak tomatoes which are great but unfortunately only available for a month or two at best in the summer.
> 
> ...


In the "chem ag" market most vegetables are small fry not a big deal.  The real money makers are the cash crops such as Corn, soy, canola, canola, canola, canola, wheat. 
Most GMO varieties are the corn, soy and canola. GMO Wheat isn't as popular in Ontario. Not necessary really. Most cereal grains grow easily in Ontario. 
Growing your own heirloom varities of veg crops is best. Save some of your seed and that genetic line may start to micro adapt to your land.


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## ArmyRick (5 Jul 2021)

FJAG said:


> I'd forgotten that you were in the biz but, of course, you're quite right about the processing. When we lived closer to the lake their were thousands of acres of Roma's growing all around us but they were all bound for processing into sauces etc. at Heinz when it operated in Leamington.
> 
> I always dislike the tomatoes in the supermarkets because they had (and still have for the most part) these coarse, hard tendrils snaking in from the stem which I always assumed was part of being robust during shipping. And yeah - pretty much flavourless.
> 
> This little thread today actually got me to cook up a few of the heirloom carrots Kath had picked up at the Farm Boy on Friday. That and my world famous pork tenderloin medallions in a port, mushroom, cranberry sauce. Them's good eatin'.


Our Berkshire pork kicks ass! However we are selling off the last of our pork meat for awhile. We focus mostly on beef and lamb.


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## FJAG (5 Jul 2021)

ArmyRick said:


> Our Berkshire pork kicks ass! However we are selling off the last of our pork meat for awhile. We focus mostly on beef and lamb.


This chat has actually reminded me of the daughter of our next door neighbour in Brandon. Their kids and ours were fast friends and constantly playing together and exploring the woods all around our houses. Long story short, they moved away shortly after the kids graduated high school and spread all over the world. Sara ended up going to the UK, got married, moved to Texas for four or five years and then a few years ago ... decided to move to Prince Edward County where they set up a cidery. Their specialty is taking heirloom apples from trees that have survived the last century or two or more by hiding out in ditches and hedgerows and on property lines and growing wild and cultivating from them and turning out unique ciders.

Here's their webpage:



> Cidermakers and Orchardists: Starting a Cidery in Prince Edward County
> 
> 
> Changing careers and moving across the continent to plant an orchard and start making cider. Why we did it and our gnarly apples.
> ...



We were hoping to travel out to see them last summer but ... Covid.

Anyway if you're into that sort of thing, and I'd bet you are, they sell online as well.

🍻


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## TCM621 (17 Jul 2021)

So I just spent the last week driving through hours and hours of fields. I was surprised how empty the cattle fields were. It was odd to see cattle within a hundred feet of each other unless it was near shade or water. All I kept thinking was just how badly the land was being used.


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## ArmyRick (27 Aug 2021)

TCM621 said:


> So I just spent the last week driving through hours and hours of fields. I was surprised how empty the cattle fields were. It was odd to see cattle within a hundred feet of each other unless it was near shade or water. All I kept thinking was just how badly the land was being used.


Your observation is keen.

Many, many negative factors cause this effect from economic to over dependence on machinery and chemicals to BS anti-livestock campaigns. Remind me to tackle this much deeper in the future. I can go into the long spiral of social mishaps that have resulted in this.


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## Weinie (27 Aug 2021)

ArmyRick said:


> Your observation is keen.
> 
> Many, many negative factors cause this effect from economic to over dependence on machinery and chemicals to BS anti-livestock campaigns. Remind me to tackle this much deeper in the future. I can go into the long spiral of social mishaps that have resulted in this.


So, my observation is that you see a significant degradation in agriculture. 

That is horrifying to me. Agriculture is the impetus/backbone of our nations wellness.


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## ArmyRick (28 Aug 2021)

The destruction of agriculture or the minimum sustainable ag, was a series of "bright ideas" that were never properly tested and failed epically.

First, The commodity market. The commodity market controls almost every aspect of food processing and distribution (In Canada looked to the ultra wealthy buddy of Trudeau, Galen Weston). One of the biggest issues with this is farmers getting lower and lower prices for their raw products (live animals and/or crop). You can't afford to earn $2.50 per pound of cattle if your expenses cost you $4 per pound of cattle. The farmer doesn't even cover operating expenses, let alone make a profit. 

Next, the "get bigger or get out" mentality is another uber failure. Earl Butts (from the Nixon administration) said one of the dumbest things to farmers in the 1970s when he told them to "plant fence row to fence row". Along with this, farmers have been buying larger and more sophisticated machinery for haying, plowing, tillage, planting, packing, hauling, combining, etc. I personally know several cash croppers who are borderline being bankrupted or have been who purchased $1 million plus heavy machinery and try to farm thousands of acres. They hope the price of whatever crop they grow stays reasonable. Add to this the extreme time consumption and you easily see why cash croppers will tend to ditch cattle and other livestock. Also factor in the enormous fuel and maintenance bills. Going bigger for the hope of making a few more dollars doesn't work without a plan. 

Chemical farming vs Biological farming. Around the time of WW2, with surplus of chemicals for available in industries for blowing people up, scientist with little scope for full impact encouraged farmers to use plenty of N, P and K fertilizer. Yes, it fools us into thinking its progress because plants grow huge, dark green and tall. Their are many problems with this. The plant needs to take nutrients up into a balanced and slow manner to avoid things like nitrate poisoning (among many other issues). Add to that poor practices like plowing and all that expensive fertilizer ends up getting washed away into forest, swamps and waterways (BAD bad bad). Biological farming using the six soil health principles that Gabe Brown promotes (Minimal soil disturbance, keep a living root in the soil at all times, Animal impact, cover the soils at all times, natural biodiversity and farm within your context) is biology based farming. Many, many farmers are seeing huge success transitioning to some or all of these principles. Chemical farming is just giving away more of your money for an illusionary gains.

Plowing, tilling, disc ripping, etc. are all heavy forms of soil disturbance. They create an illusion of relieving compaction and bringing up lower minerals. Both of these paradigms are false and very outdated. The soil is a living ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, insects, worms, nematodes, plants, animals, spiders, etc, etc. Its the many bacteria and fungi in the soil that makes nutrients available. Its things like glomalin (liquid plant carbon exudates) that help form a natural nutrient dense binding agent in the soil. It is plants with powerful tap roots like daikon radish, turnips, dandelion, burdock, etc that aleviate soil compaction. Mechanical disturbance destroys soil structure and rapidly oxidizes the soil nutrients. Forcing farmers to use more chemical fertilizers. Putting more cash into someone else's pocket. Its a terrible treadmill. 

Next, we move more and more of the human population into urban environments and create that distance from farming. Next thing you have is hatred and at the very least unsympathetic feelings towards farmers for many, many issues.

In our so called civilized western societies, Farmers are down right crazy to keep going. I am, so good to go (most soldiers are a little or a whole lot cray). In all seriousness, I will not play the commodity market game and I design my farm ecosystem on the six soil health principles. We minimize fossil fuel use. and encourage our customers to eat lots of meat, especially ruminants. Personally, my wife and I are 90-95% carnivore November to May and then more plaeo based rest of the year (my mother cooks many of our meals in the summer, so veggies are added back in).


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## Colin Parkinson (20 Dec 2021)

Armyrick you like this









						The Italian Farmer Returning Chickens to the Wild
					

His chestnut forest is home to thousands of hens.




					www.atlasobscura.com
				




_A few months later, Rapella saw that the birds looked healthier—with shiny feathers and bright-colored wattles—and that their eggs had a fuller taste. “I started wondering if I could take on more chickens and create an ‘Alpine egg’ to sell in local markets,” he says. Today, he sells his uovo di selva, or egg of the woods, to about 400 direct consumers and 40 restaurants._


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## Colin Parkinson (26 Dec 2021)

Another one for Armyrick and history nuts, the story of Darwin and Ascension Island is very interesting.








						Is it possible to turn an entire desert into a lush green rain forest?
					

Answer (1 of 17): Yes it is. Both China and Saudi Arabia are taking steps to green their deserts. Even using the best science, you’ll suffer heavy losses at first. However, with continued efforrts, you’ll get more successes.  https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/05/saudi-arabia-plans-plant-1...




					www.quora.com


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## ArmyRick (26 Dec 2021)

first turn deserts into grasslands, than add forest where appropriate. Use herding ruminants as your primary tool


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## ArmyRick (26 Apr 2022)

So still rocking out the Rick's ecosystem farm with the help of my wife and my two sons. Some updates. 

Cows have been on grass bale grazing for 3 weeks now. Want to learn more about bale grazing? Lemme know.

Lambing is done. Rough year, 15% mortality rate (I usually have less than 5% mortality rate). We figured out the causes though.

My ZERO waste concepts have been turn up a huge notch. As many of you know, I am also a slaughterman Butcher (I mostly do kills, skinning and gutting). I have returned to the original abattoir I was at, which is Grey County Meats (Stayner had an arsehole there I was about to pound senseless, so to stay out of jail, I left). 
My zero waste philosophy? 
1. The ENTIRE animal should be used on slaughter
2. All pig, goat, sheep and cattle hides should be kept for clothing and material (I have a shit ton of sheep and cattle hides)
3. All gut contents (especially ruminants) should be kept as short ready to use fertilizer
4. All bones should be rendered for protein meal for pets/zoo animals or bones ground into soil fertilizer
5. All fat (A single 1,000 lbs steer can easily have 30-80 Lbs of pure fat trim thrown out.) This stuff should be rendered for cooking fats (healthier than bullshit plant seed oils) or it should be considered seriously as a fuel source (its potent stuff)
6. Skulls make awesome decorative pieces! 
7. I am scooping up dairy bulls and tweeking their initial nutrient uptake to make them beef powerhouses (early stages) 

I have been practicing as much of this as I can lately (like last year or two). The cattle hides have come into use lately as shelter covers for winter sheep and rabbit shelters (my wife made an awesome light weight geodesic dome last year)

Ohh, and if anyone says "Beef and lamb farming is the worst impact on the climate/environment/globe...blah, blah" Slap the ever living crap out of them (only if you know for sure you won't get to jail or get beat up)

More to follow


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## Bruce Monkhouse (29 Apr 2022)

I thought everything not used went to Rothsay?

(Or as my Father called it driving to Port Elgin in the summer " The smell of heaven")


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## ArmyRick (29 Apr 2022)

Bruce Monkhouse said:


> I thought everything not used went to Rothsay?
> 
> (Or as my Father called it driving to Port Elgin in the summer " The smell of heaven")


Rendering plants like Atwood do something with guts and trim but not very efficiently used. Incinerating it and some of it being used for fertilizer is to be blunt, not the best option. By a long shot.


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## mariomike (29 Apr 2022)

This is a great thread, Rick.

Reminds me of when my grandfather retired, he bought a little hobby farm. I used to go there. But, he didn't know much about about farming.
It's was like the old TV show, "Green Acres".


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## ArmyRick (17 Jun 2022)

More updates. 

So this year, I am having one hell of a great grazing season with both cattle and sheep. Its kind of funny because normally I give them some supplemental treats such as sun dried kelp, minerals, powdered mollases and every week or two, whole oats and barley (as a reward treat). 

since my financial woes of 2022 have gone through the roof (Partially or mostly to blame on CRA), I can't give my critters any of those things. So instead I have really ramped up the grazing management (multiple paddock moves, variable stock density, variable rest times and re-locating farm seeds and nutrients). Surprisingly, my animals are in excellent health and do terrific land management.

Nothing like ruminants as probably the most efficient food source. In almost any land environment.


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## OldSolduer (17 Jun 2022)

ArmyRick said:


> 6. Skulls make awesome decorative pieces!


Yes yes they do.

My grandkids love cow skulls.


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