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Your last sentence makes me soooo happy!!!
Quite simply Biodynamics is about developing a sustainable system where
inputs are kept to the very minimum. After many years of Biodynamics, I
look back on the many inputs we thought were necessary, to find that
they were actually only crutches propping the system up.
For those who don=92t know the bases of Bd (Biodynamics) a rather
simplified history lesson 8>)
In the 1920=94s Doctors, teachers, veterinarians, farmers kept asking
Rudolf Steiner how to solve their problems. Doctors were reporting
people were not, naturally as healthy as they had been. Teachers
reported increased learning difficulties in the children. The farmers
and vets reporting more animal health problems, more disease, cows not
getting in calf etc. Steiner felt it was the quality of food and so
gave a series of lectures on how to rectify the problem. And so Bd came
into being.
For me the secret really does lie in the soil and since adopting the
principles of developing a system where we do not need to rely on large
amounts of inputs (be it from chemical or organic sources) we have seen
many of our nemesis all but disappear. For us Bloat and metabolic cases
were our largest headaches. Now they are just slight nuisances. An
example would going from treating over 25% of the herd for metabolic
diseases (using all the recommended preventative methods) to now an
average of 1% with no recognized preventative measures (e.g. mineral
supplementation)
Now some 20 years later, I look forward to the day when I have, what I
believe is, a truly Biodynamic farm. It is ever changing and evolving,
so many surprises along the way. I do not see any reason to go back to
using many of the old methods we employed many years ago. But I cannot
stress strongly enough Biodynamics (or organics) is not about replacing
a chemical product with a more organic one. It is about developing a
total system. I shy away from using any routine preventative measures
wherever I can.
Your questions on grass grub is what we ask ourselves. Grass grub is not
really much of a problem in our area now (was back in the 50=92s and
60=92s,
but not now). We have encouraged rather large bird / insect populations,
through a major tree planting programme, which assists to maintain some
degree of control over some of the farm pests. Black field crickets do
not do the damage they once did. Both the clover flea and clover weevil
do not appear to have such lasting effect on our pastures as many of our
neighbours. Clover weevil appeared in NZ a few years back and with no
known natural predators it has caused considerable damage to clover
populations on many NZ farms. We had initial large areas affected, but
now our clover levels appear to have come back to pre weevil levels. Not
what a lot of NZ farms a finding, if one reads the farming papers.
Ian Buckingham
Maungatawhiri
New Zealand
I was also reading Liliana mails on =93grass grubs=94 and I would like
to
read someone=B4s opinion with the same biodynamic approach. In her case,
the discussions and comments have focused on insecticides and mechanical
controls. My question would be =93Why is there a grass grub
overpopulation?=94 Is it totally widespread over the farm? Do they
attack
only certain paddock with a common background? What natural vectors
would naturally control grubs in any given paddock?
It seems so easy to go to the store to buy the magical solution=85. To
cure the symptoms. It would be so useful to find the reasons first. I
hope many other that know so much about this would participate.
Carlos Batallas
Quito, Ecuador
cbatall@uio.satnet.net
-----Mensaje original-----
De: graze-l-admin@witt.ac.nz [mailto:graze-l-admin@witt.ac.nz] En nombre
de ShortyB
Enviado el: Lunes, 10 de Mayo de 2004 3:52
Para: graze-l@witt.ac.nz
Asunto: RE: [Graze-l] 'Dock'??
Hi Carlos
>From what I have read Docks (in general) can indicate low calcium, high
potassium. These go with what you are saying. Areas that animals camp on
(rest or sleep at) are generally more fertile due to fertility transfer.
Lots of animal dung usually means soils are more acidic. High nitrogen
areas can also cause dock population explosions. Not being overly
familiar with farming volcanic soils I would still look at your calcium
levels and if it is practical top (cut) the dock at flowering to prevent
seeding.
>From the sounds of it your soils can be difficult to manage, low organic
matter levels. Like all =93good=94 pioneer healing plants Dock love bare
soil, one of natures ways to try and clothe herself. Use of minerals to
correct a problem can take several seasons to get good results.
Unfortunately the more we damage (mudding) the longer it will take. So
look at cutting the seed head to try and limit the reseeding. Remember
the adage one years seeding seven years weeding. Dock also love to grow
from any little root segments, so cultivation (chopping up all those
roots) will add to the number of plants. Sorry I cannot give a more
positive answer. Being biodynamic I have no real knowledge of chemical
sprays to use. In NZ there use to be one called Asulox which was for
Docks. But remember spraying is not really the answer as we are not
getting rid of the problem, only the symptoms. Don=92t use a product
such
as roundup as it will only leave large bare areas where dock and every
other weed well love to visit.
Hopefully others may have some good advice for us all.
regards
Ian Buckingham
Maungatawhiri
New Zealand
I=B4m writing from Ecuador. We have good dark volcanic soils in
temperate
climate areas. We tend to see a lot of dock showing up in areas where
cattle round up to sleep. I don=B4t know if this happens due to the
localized compaction or due to the high manure concentration. Dock is
also visible in paddock areas close to the barns or roads where there is
a higher effluent concentration. Cattle has no problem eating it when
it=B4s very young when it=B4s supposed to be very low in tannins. We see
its
palatability reduced as it grows older. We thought it was associated to
a rapid increase in tannins concentration. In some cases it becomes very
aggressive and grows very fast taking over important areas in our
paddocks. Where it takes over we don=B4t get any grass or clovers to
grow
because the broad leaves shade the area rapidly (there might be other
reasons we don=B4t know about). In those areas the soil becomes loose
and
washes off when it rains hard. The leaves show a very healthy and rapid
development when the fertility is high and the area receives a lot of
Nitrogen. We have tried adding different minerals to the plants to
understand what it respond to. The better more visible responses are to
lime. When we add lime around the plants, the leaves tend to become weak
and thinner and don=B4t look so green and healthy. We haven=B4t been
able to
reduce dock infestations by liming. The amount of forrage we get in the
dock patches is less than ryegrass + clovers, and our main problem is
related to the loose soil that will wash away in the rainy season. Those
areas are very sensitive to =93pugging=94 (we call it mudding) when we
have
to graze under wet conditions. It spreads be seed. The plant produces a
large seed head easy to grab it you want it. I think the seed is viable
in a high %. It establishes well in grazed paddocks even when new have
short rotations (21 days).
We consider dock a pest when it becomes too aggressive and overtakes
large areas from our paddocks.
It would be interesting to know better what it responds to so we can
manage its populations in our paddocks.
