For an equally good follow-up, I'll link to this one again as well:
Wow. That was amazing.
I'll be doing an internship with Greg Judy from Jan-May of 2012. I'd love to share my experiences with you all. Maybe a podcast Paul?
Agricultural Insights Daily Podcast/Blog about Sustainable Agriculture with a focus on livestock and grazing.
Jeffrey Hodgins
Joined: Nov 14, 2011
Posts: 137
Location: Yucatan Puebla Ontario BC
posted
0
I feel the need to add that young trees must be protected from grazing in order to perpetuate savannah like the one in the photos. It Is well documented that cattle will choose acacia over grass eating the vast majority of new acacia trees. I wonder how long savannah could last if new trees were not planted due to poverty and lack of interest in preservation. I wonder how many acacia saplings are eaten in savannah world wide on a daily basis. I'm not trying to discredit just clarify.
Diversified Food forest maker . Fill every niche and you'll have less weeds (the weeds are the crop too). Fruit, greens, wild harvest, and nuts as staple. Food processing and preservation are key to self self-sufficiency. Never eat a plant without posetive identification and/or consulting an expert.
Chris Stelzer
Joined: Feb 17, 2011
Posts: 74
posted
0
Jeffrey Hodgins wrote:I feel the need to add that young trees must be protected from grazing in order to perpetuate savannah like the one in the photos. It Is well documented that cattle will choose acacia over grass eating the vast majority of new acacia trees. I wonder how long savannah could last if new trees were not planted due to poverty and lack of interest in preservation. I wonder how many acacia saplings are eaten in savannah world wide on a daily basis. I'm not trying to discredit just clarify.
Young trees don't really need to be protected from grazing, IMO. You just adjust the density of your cattle, and that will create the opportunity for trees to flourish. Moving the cows every hour (to a new grazing area), lets say for conversational purposes, at a desired density, can protect tress. Greg Judy and Ian Mitchell-Innes (South African Grazier) have used density to control the growth of trees. These guys really know what their doing!
I am putting together a book/dvd/magazine page for Paul, and to save him some time from making a (short paragraph) written review of everything, I figured I'd ask permie folks to write "what Paul would say" in each thread something is talked about.
Greg's lecture is awesome. I have a question. When he is talking about trampling litter on the ground as carbon bank. Can someone please explain what carbon bank means? I'm not sure how to explain this to myself, i know it has to do with fertilization, building top soil, but...
John Polk
steward
Joined: Feb 20, 2011
Posts: 4030
36
posted
0
As organic matter breaks down, it releases carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a contributor to 'greenhouse gasses', which are being blamed for global warming. If this organic matter is buried in the soil, the CO2 does not escape into the atmosphere.
A "carbon bank" is essentially sequestering this organic matter in the soil, where the gas helps build soil, rather than releasing it all into the atmosphere.
Besides Allan Savoy and Greg Judy, Colin Seis also offers another good sustainable way to manage pasture.
He uses 'pasture cropping', where cereal crops are grown on the pasture during the grasses dormant season.
He (and others) have had a huge increase in productivity, while benefiting the soil.
http://www.winona.net.au/farming.html
I'm always amazed to see the results from people using Savory's systems. I love it.
I wonder if there is a way to scale down some of these concepts. A lot of people are managing 10 acres or less, and don't have the space to run cows or large herbivores. A few sheep might be possible, or maybe a few goats or pigs.
I've done pastured pigs and goats in my brittle climate with mixed results. A lto depends on the breeds and history of the animals you have.
also, getting away from needing the fences. In my rocky, hilly area, it is a lot of effort to move paddocks, and step in posts are a joke. So, basically I need permanent fencing or another solution. And for poor areas (like here in MExico), you can't convince anyone to invest in fencing, even cheaper stuff like electric, just because people don't have the money to make it work.
Herding dogs might be a solution, or something like the invisible dog fences.
Wow! Amazing! I watched the TED video that Paul posted and I have to say it is awesome. We CAN change things for the better here and WE ALL WILL!
Fl Sunshine
Joined: Mar 10, 2011
Posts: 11
posted
0
Please help me to understand. At 5:30 this man says "No sooner had we removed the hunting drum beating people to protect the animals". Is he saying they "removed" the indigenous people of that area?!?!?!?! Where were these "drum beating people" removed to? Was this by choice or was there force involved? It seemed to me, that he just kind of glazed over that part. And then proceeded to massacre 40,000 elephants?!?!?!?!
Mike Underhill
Joined: Feb 12, 2012
Posts: 42
Location: N. Sac. Valley
posted
0
@Fl, from what I understand (European-ruled) governments in Africa displaced native peoples to form large parks, similar to how Europeans in America displaced natives in favor of land claimants. Who knows which hunting tribe(s) Savory is speaking about. "In 1969 the Makuleke community was forcefully removed from their native land at gunpoint while they were made to burn their homes and become refugees for the cause of natural conservation. This deserted land then became the northernmost part of the Kruger National Park." After apartheid ended, they were allowed back.
In the Serengeti: "it was the Maasai pastoralists that were affected the most. With their entire livelihood based on their ability to move across the landscapes according to ecological patterns, the fencing in of massive amounts of their land inhibited their migration and stripped them of self-sustainability. When pressed to provide the local tribes with some land rights due to their historical inhabitancy, conservationists supplied the Maasai with limited land use permits considered fit by the preservationist’s terms. Further repressing these local tribes, restrictions were also placed on weaponry and means of survival which stunted their growth as a society and culture. In order to maintain any rights to land in the reserves limits, the tribes would need to remain within these restrictions or else they would be considered detrimental to the natural ecology."
I take Alan to have learned a lot from these regrettable actions and now he's on a quest to show us how to heal landscapes.
Joined: Apr 13, 2012
Posts: 716
Location: Kansas Zone 6a
6
posted
0
There are always some very harsh consequences from the central planners "knowing what is best" for the little people.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
"Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words." --Francis of Assisi
0
