------=_NextPart_000_0014_01C43A5C.7BF17340
charset="iso-8859-1"
Ian,
could you send me your e-mail address? I would love to exchange some
experiences about Biodynamics.
Thank you,
Altfrid
Altfrid Krusenbaum
W 3194 County Rd. D
Elkhorn, WI 53121
krusen@elknet.net
----- Original Message -----
From: ShortyB
To: graze-l@witt.ac.nz
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 4:15 AM
Subject: RE: [Graze-l] 'Dock' and grass grubs? and Biodynamics
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't know the bases of Bd (Biodynamics) a rather
simplified history lesson 8>)
In the 1920"s 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's and
60's, 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 "grass grubs" 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 "Why is there a grass grub
overpopulation?" 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.. 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 "good" 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't 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 "pugging" (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.
