The pasture mineral variations you refer to can be because of
different soil types in a paddock.
When taking soil and pasture samples stick to one soil type.
High organic matter soils are usually lower in copper and can (not
always) be higher in molybdenum.
What are the problems you've had with molybdenum or selenium?
What pasture levels do you have?
What animal health problems do you have?
You have an orchard. Are the copper tests from an orchard? If so,
pasture under trees which have ben sprayed with copper will be higher.
Re your - 13.1 ppm zinc on a DM basis while the other section has 25 ppm.
Both are below the minimum of 45 ppm so about 8 kg/ha of zinc
sulphate should be applied (7 lb/acre).
How many samples did you take. 30 to 40 should be taken and mixed,
all after washing hands in pure clean water, or using clean gloves,
especially in hot weather & if you perspire, and not touching
anything, especially galvanised gates or wires.
Figures in ppm require extreme cleanliness and care.
Vaughan Jones
>>What are your soil / herbage and blood tests for these sorts of soils.
>
>Some history: <smile> Most folks here are growing beef cattle, range
>sheep, orchards, wine grapes or hay. Almost no one does pasture
>except for the ranch horses kept near the house.
>
>The major livestock is traditional ranching. Cattle and sheep
>locally are mostly raised out on range all summer. Hay is cut from
>irrigated fields and the same fields are used as the winter feeding
>grounds for the same cattle or sheep. Due to restrictions on age of
>calves that go on range, most folks calve in January and February.
>There are several large sheep outfits, (2-5 bands of ewes per ranch,
>a band is 1000 ewes and her lambs) they lamb in March and April.
>There are a few large bison and elk producers but they follow
>similar management except their animals never go on range.
>
>We have a large organic orchard and vegetable crop segment. Orchards
>and vineyards typically mow or disk to keep grasses out.
>
>We're odd, we have an orchard, but use sheep and geese to mow it. We
>are not certified organic due to cost and restrictions on vaccines
>and no effective safe dewormers for our sheep.
Re your - In our case the biggest problem is sheep not eating their minerals.
In the drinking water is the best for most animals, but sheep drink little.
You could try dusting the pasture with the elements needed.
>Here is a document that describes some of our soils.
>
>http://www.desertweyr.com/hops/soiltest.php
>
>We did soil tests in the main grazing orchard section again last
>year and those results are similar. We were not testing molybdenum
>or selenium initially but will add those rather expensive tests
>because we have such a problem with those minerals. Forage tests
>have varied widely.
>
>For example we have hay from one particular field. We tested the top
>and bottom separately as a trial
>to decide how much additional testing we needed to do, the field is
>about 10 acres total and is managed the same (same water,
>fertilizer, same mix of species of plants across the entire field,
>hay cut the same time etc.) One section has 13.1 ppm zinc on a DM
>basis while the other section has 25 ppm. We can see similar changes
>in other minerals. Hay from one source has 7.7 ppm copper while from
>another field we have 15.8 ppm copper. Pasture grasses from our
>orchard (the section with the tees in the aerial photo on the page
>above) have 9.8 ppm copper but from the adjacent pasture (same soil
>test results, same basic mix of pasture grass species but no trees,
>the section to the west or left side in the photo) we have 7.5 ppm
>copper. Sodium levels from the forages we have available range from
>.02% to .1% and it goes on. We see huge differences in mineral
>balance from top to bottom of small fields, each mesa in the valley
>has a different mix and each ditch has different water which affects
>the mix. Also the water tests change dramatically from spring
>through the summer irrigating season on most mesas. Our water comes
>from Terror Creek Ditch and we are fairly consistent in water
>chemistry although it does get more alkaline as the summer wears on.
>We can go from Selenium deficient to selenium toxic between fields
>and between areas of the same field.
>
>>What animal health issues are there?
>
>In our case the biggest problem is sheep not eating their minerals.
>So we've been working with a vet and a nutritionist to custom mix a
>mineral with extra copper, extra zinc and much less salt than
>normal. Overall fertility and fecundity was poor but is improving.
>Lambs weaned percentages of all ewes exposed to a ram (my bottom
>line figure as that is what I can sell <G>) went from below 70% to
>over 118% with increased trace mineral supplementation. We were
>seeing butcher sheep whose liver test samples showed deficiency in
>most trace minerals to the point the vet thought the sheep should
>have been dead. That they were basically ok was a miracle. We do see
>respiratory problems, exacerbated by the nose bot fly carried by the
>local deer. Our pastures appear to be relatively worm free, in terms
>of internal parasites. fecal tests rarely show any egg counts worth
>doing anything about but we have lost sheep to nose bots. We have
>not had any external parasites for over 3 years so no dipping has
>been needed at all. We are endemic for most of the clostridial
>diseases and bluetongue. We may still be having a severe problem
>with atypical bluetongue but since we can't do anything about it
>both the federal and local vets have said not to even look.
>
>>What preventative measures are
>>used. What soil labs do you recommend for farmers with these conditions?
>
>We've been working with the lab recommended by the agricultural
>research station, precision agri-lab in CA because they use a
>different process that measure actual availability rather than total
>amounts. Unfortunately we cannot buy in custom mixed fertilizers for
>trace minerals, something that appears to be common in NZ and Aus. I
>can only buy in a total package of trace minerals, that often has
>way too much of some things.
>
>>What recommendations do you suggest?
>
>That's why I'm asking. We're just about the only folks locally doing
>MIG on irrigated pasture on western soils. Almost all of the info is
>based on different soils and most is targeted to dairy cattle. I
>can't believe I am the only one so I keep asking for more info. We
>have managed to take our pasture area from almost no clover to
>almost 40% clover with grazing management alone in the last 4 years.
>We have not done any fertilizing or overseeding at all so far.
>--
>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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--
Leon
