Oogie
You bring up some very good points. An example of this is that we tried
the once a day milking system for most of last year. It worked very well
for us but would not suit the high input / high output housed cow
situation. I expect there would be too much production loss and mastitis
would be a problem.
One of the foundation principles of organics is that every farm is a
separate ecosystem within a larger one. You are always encouraged to
adapt and use what is on hand before sourcing off farm resources. But
that doesn't mean we cannot learn from totally different systems. I have
learnt a lot from this group and adapted much of the thinking to our own
situation. I am sure problem areas in your farming system are no
exception, so tell us about your system.
What are your soil / herbage and blood tests for these sorts of soils.
What animal health issues are there? What preventative measures are
used. What soil labs do you recommend for farmers with these conditions?
What recommendations do you suggest?
Ian Buckingham
Maungatawhiri
New Zealand
> -----Original Message-----
> From: graze-l-admin@witt.ac.nz [mailto:graze-l-admin@witt.ac.nz] On
Behalf Of Oogie
> McGuire
> Sent: Monday, 17 May 2004 1:20 a.m.
> To: graze-l@witt.ac.nz
> Subject: [Graze-l] Question on soil/forage test results
>
> Most of what I've been reading here, and on other lists that have
> been discussing soil and forage test results there seems to be a
> feeling that all you have to do is feed the soil to deal with the
> lacking items and things are fine. Also most of the folks are from
> NZ or Aus. While I agree with the concept of feeding the soil first,
> it seems as if there is a disconnect because the assumptions are
> coming from a completely different base.
>
>> So my question is do any of those soils have significant amounts of
> molybdenum? Very high Selenium? Is the PH ever over 8? If the water
> usually PH of 8-9 for irrigation?
> There doesn't seem to be much info on how to deal with extreme
> excesses, assumptions are always to lime, for example, yet one of the
> recommendations here to improve soil health and increase fertility is
> to introduce sulfuric acid to the irrigation water if you can.
>
> In some cases we cannot legally add enough trace minerals to feeds
> and mineral mixes that we would like to. And there does not seem to
> be any way to fertilize soils with a a single trace mineral according
> to need. Everything I can find is based on adding everything to the
> soils. There is no concept of mixing individual trace minerals to
> tune the soils.
>
> --
> Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
> Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
> Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
> http://www.desertweyr.com/
> Paonia, CO USA
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