Oogie, Correcting soil problems takes time. IMHO, a farmer needs to 'KNOW'
his farm before he can supply the necessary 'missing' ingredients, and that
can be a subtle process. The best 'guide' I found as I attempted to rebuild
this horribly abused farm I purchased back in '78 was the positive emergence
of native grass and legume species, to the point where they are now
consistently producing 12 tons/acre over the grazing season. All my crops
are fertilized based on the resonse of the natives. Dick Conklin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Oogie McGuire" <oogiem@desertweyr.com>
To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2004 1:19 PM
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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