[Gabe Ayers]

Jennifer,

We didn’t stay up but one night to watch the segment either. I don’t have TIVO, and the remote broke about five minutes before it came on so we have to get another remote so we won’t have to use the little buttons on the receiver box. Does anyone else find all these buttons to small to see without glasses….?

The feeding concentrates issue is a matter of personal preference in response to the effort required of the working animals. There are a few things we do that are not the normal recommended or standard approach.

We do feed more grain when the horses are going to work long hours of hard work. For instance – a time when the skid distance is long and adverse or uphill and the logs are generally large, we will bump the grain ration up to the 1 pound per 1 hundred pounds of body weight. But usually we are not working the horses that hard and just simply don’t need to feed them that much. If we do we just make fat horses that sometimes have higher headed attitudes and express the old saying of “feeling their oats”.

We find that with gradual adjustment of the grains in accordance to what is going to happen the next day we can change the ration without digestive complications with the horses. We feed with the thought that what we feed now will provide energy twelve hours from now. So when we know we have a hard day tomorrow we bump the ration tonight.

But the main thing is good pasture, grazing or forage. That represents the majority of the volume they eat so it is very important and the portion of the cost that the ground level practitioner can control or access cheaply, sometimes free – if you don’t count the cost of building a temporary electric fence around it. There are many instances where open land is just not being used and just mowed and that is where we graze on most logging jobs in the community. That forage is the captured solar energy that powers animals. Meanwhile most landowners are thankful for the manure.

So some of the things we do that are a little different is that we fluctuate the grain according to expected demand for energy, instead of a routine buckets of feed no matter what. It simply saves money and isn’t necessary. I know – fat is the best color on any horse, but sweat is even a prettier color for us.
Another thing is the introduction of yogurt into the digestive tract of horses.
I am sure their are some that don’t believe these beneficial organisms will survive the gastric acids of the stomach, but we think they are beneficial and have been feeding yogurt in various forms for years before it became a supplement available commercially. We have to dose them with the liquid stuff, you know -plain Dannon in a cup. We use an old big plastic syringe to administer it. We also have been feeding pure vegetable oil for a long time. Since we buy it in bulk (gallons) from the cheapest source and add it on top of cheaper grain it adds energy without attitude. We have been doing this for years. It also lowers the overall cost of feeding performance horses and after becoming used to it they love it. We have had sponsorship by Pennfield Feeds for a yearly supply of 10/8 protein to fat ration in the past. It is great feed and the horses love it also. Most feed companies are making something like this for horses now. The main point is you don’t need as much of it to get good performance without attitude from the horses or their loosing weight.

But the mainstay is forage. This is the majority of what they eat and by that alone the most important as well as cheapest, locally available and natural feed possible.

So keep working on pasture renovation, that is a good investment into any landowner’s ability to be self sufficient in supporting their working animals.

Now when it comes to feeding dry forage or hay the same is true. If you have decent well cured hay it can provide most of the energy needed for moderate work. Decent meaning good mixture of grasses and some legumes. Curing it the most important thing about hay. Farmer’s grow grass, but weather makes hay.

We promise to make the next installment in the series on RH on RFD-TV even better. Maybe we will actually get an airing in normal hours when the average viewer will have a better chance of seeing it….

Thanks for the kind comments.

[Gabe Ayers]

Well we stayed up late and watched the segment on RFD. I must say it is somewhat anticlimactic and served to inspire us to do a better job next time.
We put allot of work into producing the film. But the thought that stuck with me after, filming, editing and watching it is that there is nothing like the real thing. Going into the woods with someone that is doing this work is far more fun that watching it on TV.

I hope it is enjoyable for those who may be seeing it for the first time.

We are confident that the next segment will be even better. The site will be better and there will be more emphasis on techniques of worst first single tree selection, safety gear, felling, and of course lots of extraction including a team of mules and yoke of oxen.

It will show again tonight at midnight and Monday morning at 5:00 am. Not the best times for such a piece to be on the air waves, but it is the best we could do at this point.

We are thankful for the support of Rural Heritage in making this media available to help serve the public good.

The primary purpose of HHFF is to be a model that others may use to develop there own approach in their communities.

[Gabe Ayers]

Welcome to the DAP Forum Joel,

Good to have someone with a lifetime of experience that is willing to share their knowledge with this group.

Please know that I am not intending to look down on anyone for ground skidding. I do it myself regularly as mentioned. I might be one of the oldest hillbillies on this board. I certainly understand the reality of working on steep ground, which we have plenty of in the Appalachians. You are right – there is no other way to work that steep ground other than just with the horses and a loose evener. We pull log trains or multiple logs, held together with trail grabs, off ground as steeps as a cows face quite regularly. We don’t use an arch for that.

So I am a user of ground skidding when I have to – but I don’t like it as much as arch skidding.

A goal of HHFF is to educate the public about the benefits of restorative forestry. One of the benefits is the low impact on the environment provided by modern animal powered techniques. This is where the arch comes in – to provide front end suspension and the obvious benefits that device provides
to lessen the impact on the forest soils and increase the capacity of the animals and improve operator safety.

The primary effort of HHFF is to train mostly young people to do this work of restorative forestry. So the success of their efforts from the onset of going in business for themselves is very important. Most of the first start up jobs we find for our biological woodsmen are on relatively gentle sloping ground. Often they are small plots that also have short skids. But the important thing is that they are successful getting the wood to the landing safely and with limited impact on the forests.

New people getting started will be more likely to stick with it if they don’t have an accident early on in their career. This is important to the success of HHFF. So we really promote the use of the log arch for safety and efficiency. After they have more experience they can take on the steep ground if they want. As we both/all know, sometimes we don’t have a choice, that is where the wood is. But when we can, we put them on better jobs to get started and we provide an arch when our funding allows such a grant.

The demand for the service of sensitive harvesting is overwhelming. There are thousands of acres of forest available to this method that are not available to conventional mechanized harvesting. This is a good thing – for everyone.
We think that demand in our area, is the result of years of public education, demonstration and practice of modern animal powered extraction and restorative forestry practices.

Remember, the competition for access to the natural resources includes many detractors of the culture of animal power and look for every reason to call it
primitive and backward. So I am used to defending our work against those claims and being modern is important to that debate. I have been called a caveman more than once just for using animals. (actually I think most cavemen just ate animals and didn’t work them) Smart landowners see through this, but not all….especially those interested in liquidating their forested assets as quickly as possible. Meanwhile the conventional forestry interest try to dismiss, marginalize and reduce our services to production alone and we all know there is more to the forest than that. We can see the forest beyond the trees.

I also agree with the idea that some disturbance can be a good thing. Certainly some species seeds won’t germinate without contact with mineral soil, specifically eastern white pine. The forest dynamics are dependent on disturbance, but those disturbances may imitate nature and not be as heavily damaging as clear cutting and mechanized harvesting.

However I must disagree with any landowner that wants to run cattle in a natural Oak Hickory Appalachian type forest. This is a bad idea. The practice of agro-forestry can include the concept of food and fiber all at once, particularly in a savanna type forest. But a natural, mixed species, diverse, multiple age ranged forest will be healthier and more valuable without livestock freely grazing all the time.

That brings up an interesting question about sowing grass seed on skid trails.
Some state departments of forestry require this as part of their site inspection, BMP’s and closure on the job. Do they require that everywhere? The biggest problem is that allot of loggers use fescue (the cheapest grass seed) in the south which is terrible stuff and hard on wildlife, particularly young game birds. We often use yard blue grass and birdsfoot trefoil. Given a choice – I would prefer to put no seed on a skid trail but allow native vegetation to regrow. This is of course would be a modern animal powered extraction logged skid trail that has been traveled over by a log arch providing front end suspension of the log. Sometimes just some straw and pro passive water diversion with cull logs and limbs will work, particularly if the disturbance doesn’t expose an any sub soil. Our local public foresters are to busy keeping guys from running up and down creek beds with skidders to worry about our low impact restorative forestry jobs.

Thanks for posting and joining the discussion. And again, please know that I have my grandpa’s single tree and hook arrangement in my tool box at all times and will skid on the ground when I have to. I am proud to have that old hook of PaPa’s and hope I never wear it out. The swivel hook is hand forged with a nice ring on it and better than anything I could buy today, particularly with all the hardware made in China being sold everywhere.

Sincere Regards,

[Gabe Ayers]

Well Matt, I don’t have any feathers, but it does kind of rub one the wrong way.

It seems a bit dismissive, condescending, marginalizing and reductionism, although kindly patronizing, thank you, bless your heart.

Back at the original post I say “temporary altering of the human influence”, that is the gist of carbon positive forestry definition in a common sense way. Do what we can immediately to make the forest and soil as healthy as we can.

We know that our horses and culture don’t create matter.

But restorative forestry, using animal power – is the best thing to do anyway anyone really wants to look at it or measure it, strictly interpreted or not.

There are many small patches of old growth forest in the coves of Appalachian that are some of the deepest and richest soils in the temperate world.

We know that this work alone won’t erase the modern use of fossil fuels. Those fuels are finite so they won’t last forever.

When they run out maybe this culture will provide a way of survival for our future generations, evidenced by our agreement in it being the best thing to do today…

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, carbon positive is just one spin on the current buzz word carbon.

Thanks for your support Matt.

What is your draft animal power story?

[Gabe Ayers]

We have recently heard from a board member of HPD that they would not
look positively on the use of the words Horse Progress Days even with the word Southern added. So we are trying to come up with a different name to accurately decribe the event.

At this point the name Draft Animal Development Days – South (DADDS) is on the table. The name will be important, but the location and quality of the vendors and presentation will likely be the telling feature on the events success and ongoing presence in the community of interest.

The most common theme in the 50 or so responses so far is to keep the event small and appropriate to folks that would be starting up with draft animals as a part of their lifestyle. Small meaning equipment and techniques for a team and single animals, will less emphasis on multiple hitches that aren’t appropriate to start up folks. This will be the idea and every vendor available will be invited once we decide on a location.

We are working on forming a volunteer steering committee to work on this at the moment. We have three volunteers so far and invite anyone interested to go to the above mentioned site and log in and help with the project.

Hope the attendance at NEAPFD is record setting and an example of the growth among the community of interest. We are inspired by the work of this group.

Thanks for everyone’s interest.

[Gabe Ayers]

Well this is a fuzzy subject, but the forest is far more important than understood by the public in general. This post includes a recent editorial on the issue. Although much of what we do is a temporary altering of the human influence, it is beneficial to keep thinking about all of it. There is no question that using less fossil fuel to harvest timber or grow food is carbon positive, compared to conventional methods. That seems pretty simple. The values provided for the public good by proper forest management are yet to be quantified in a dollars and cents way. This understanding will further justify the cost of superior services, such as animal powered, low production, yet highly sensitive methods of man to age the forest. Look forward to the exchange.

SCIENCE: Old-growth forests found to be potent carbon storers (09/11/2008)
Christa Marshall, ClimateWire reporter

Old forests store more carbon than previously thought and should be considered in calculations of a country’s overall greenhouse gas output, according to a new study.

The finding challenges the long-held assumption that trees older than 150 years are “carbon-neutral” entities that neither spew nor absorb carbon dioxide into the air on average. After examining 519 old-growth forest plots worldwide, researchers found that they usually are “carbon sinks,” or natural storage containers with the potential to release large amounts of greenhouse gas back into the atmosphere if disturbed or burned.

“Many scientists today assume in their carbon models that old forests are carbon neutral. That needs to change,” said Beverly Law, a forest science professor at Oregon State University and one of eight co-authors of the research, published today in the journal Nature.

To reach their conclusions, the scientists measured carbon dioxide fluctuations at hundreds of spots, using chambers that measure gas output from soil. In some areas, they also took advantage of large towers operated by networks such as AmeriFlux that analyze carbon dioxide movements between land and the atmosphere.

The carbon-absorbing power of mature forests has been a hot topic of debate, with some arguing that climate change mitigation strategies should focus more on planting new trees, which can sap the greenhouse gas at high rates before they reach 100 years of age. Law noted, however, that it can take five to 20 years for immature forests to reach the point at which they absorb more carbon dioxide than they release.
A 1960s-era study is rejected

“In fact, young forests, rather than old-growth forests, are very often conspicuous sources of carbon dioxide,” the study’s authors wrote.

This is because decaying debris and soil that release greenhouse gases at a site often outweigh the carbon-vacuuming potential of very young trees, particularly if old trees have been cut down at the site or have been ravaged by fire or other natural phenomena, Law noted.

The study spotlights one of the flaws with the Kyoto Protocol, which assesses forestry threats to the climate based on whether widespread deforestation is imminent, said Laurie Wayburn, president of the Pacific Forest Trust. It also holds relevance, she said, for a potential cap-and-trade system in the United States and for the Western Climate Initiative, a multi-state collaboration which has been debating how to incorporate forests into a global warming strategy.

“We need to be giving credits for maintaining standing forests rather than just trying to protect the last stands,” she said. “That is a very different approach from current policy.”

Many mature forests also are not protected by international treaties, the study says, because of the false conclusion that they stop absorbing carbon after a certain period in their lifespan. That myth was derived from a 1960s-era analysis based on 10 years of data at one location, the study said.

Most old-growth trees sit on 30 percent of the world’s forest land mass, with half of that in the Northern Hemisphere.

[Gabe Ayers]

Press Release for Healing Harvest Forest Foundation

What if someone came up with a way to address human needs for forest products while combating the causes of climate change in the process?

This is exactly what Healing Harvest Forest Foundation is doing as a local “Treeroots” organization centered in Floyd County, Virginia. Despite being a small group this effort is growing and continuing their history of being on the cutting edge of forestry and sustainable development (pun intended).

HHFF will be featured in a series of episodes on the national cable network, RFD-TV Rural Heritage Show, starting at 12:00 noon on Friday the 19^th of September 2008. This series will be an educational and fund raising program that has primarily been filmed on privately owned forestland in Floyd County, Va. The series will feature the Biological Woodsmen of the Healing Harvest Forestry Coalition that founded and continue to work toward the mission of Healing Harvest Forest Foundation. There will be several practitioners and apprentices in the HHFF training program that are introduced and interviewed during this series on RFD-TV.

There will be presentations of the techniques used to practice “restorative forestry”, including, “worst first” individual single tree selection, modern chainsaw safety and directional felling, modern animal powered techniques, value added processing and the relationship this has with the local community, economy, environment and planetary health. Such topics as “Carbon Positive Forestry” and “Ecological Capitalism” will be presented, discussed and demonstrated as proven alternatives to conventional methods.

The modern animal powered component will include natural horsemanship, featuring teams of Suffolk draft horses and draft mules. We also will have a team of Devon oxen, all shown working in the forests.

We would like to thank our sponsors and supporters and ask that anyone interested in this work support them in turn. Rural Heritage Magazine, Mischka Press, http://www.draftanimalpower.com Bailey’s Forestry Supply – http://www.baileysonline.com

RFD-TV is available to 31 million homes through various cable services. Their byline is “Rural America’s Most Important Network”

We are happy to let our local and regional community of interest know of our upcoming national media that will show the entire nation some of the good work going on in the forest here in Floyd County, Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains. We hope everyone enjoys the show and let us know what you think. You may contact us at:

HHFF web site address: http: //www.healingharvestforestfoundation.org

Jason Rutledge, President
8014 Bear Ridge Road SE

Copper Hill, Va. 24079

540-651-6355

Email: rutledge@swva.net

PS- this is the first in a series and the mules and oxen will be on later segments.

[Gabe Ayers]

Carl,
Can you give us an exact address to see your latest interview on the Across the Fence segment? The first one was great.

Sorry for this bother, it is just a request from a computer challenged fan….

Sincerely,

[Gabe Ayers]

Wow Neil,

That is industrial hoof care for equine for sure. I have seen this used for cattle for years but never seen anyone put a horse in one.

I have also seen lots of folks use shoeing stocks for horses.

I have also heard of horses in shoeing stocks sort of freak out and give up. I have read that being prey animals creates some unusual behavior in conditions of complete subduing. Given that a prey animal instinctual evolutionary process includes the reality of being caught by a predator (s) they have developed an ability to voluntarily expire = die. When this completely restrained prey animals gives up it is a way to avoid the horror of actually being eaten alive….by a predator.

I have heard of this happening in shoeing stocks, where a horse would just collapse and stop breathing and die. No beating or physical stimulus brings them out of that condition. The only immediate remedy is electrical shock, such as a shot prod or a stun gun. That form of serious jolt will bring them back to fight some more and would save their lives in case their instincts tell them to give up and die.

Has anyone else heard of this voluntarily dieing event happening?

This method certainly looks allot easier that having 50 that are broke to stand quiet and have their feet trimmed traditionally. There are many folks using the high speed grinder with a body putty wheel on it for trimming. The horses have to be well trained for that while standing.

Thanks for sharing man. Hope your new house is coming along, since winter is coming and the folks in Vermont are getting a taste of it this morning according the national weather report…

[Gabe Ayers]

Erika,

Great questions to pose to this forum. I suspect some of the responses we propose may not be expected, but you have asked.

Timber theft is an issue that should be better understood by the public and in particular the private forest landowner’s everywhere.

There seems to be at least two contributing factors. First economic hardship in rural areas that puts pressure on a traditional old industry of logging as the front door of the forest products industry. The value of the products harvested and sold into the commodity defined industry is declining for a variety of reasons, maybe greater than this particular discussion can digest. But the point is that people that have traditionally made their living logging are having a harder time accessing timber and what timber they do get is worth less on the open market. Neither factor excuses stealing, and theft is theft. Having been a forester that has testified on timber theft issues in court I am very aware of the policy in place in Virginia to deal with this issue.

So despite the difficulty of prosecuting a timber thief, there are laws in place and a procedure in place to address it now. The idea of a conservative group that on one hand will promote less government and in reality create more “laws” seems obvious again. I don’t support any approach that creates more “laws”. The problem may be addressed through other cultural approaches and vigorous use of the laws and accounting information that already exist. Every sawmill keeps records of what it buys, what they pay for it and from whom.
All you have to do is threaten to get the law involved and they will give you any information they have.

The second factor that enables timber thief is absentee ownership of forestland. So much of the land in rural areas is owned by people that aren’t in touch with their land or their neighbors or any practitioners of “good forestry”. So they are sitting ducks, the equivalent of a roadside stand selling vegetables where the stand is out of sight from the home. People are not always honest and will steal the vegetables and display that the honor system only works with and for those that have honor…. There is an issue of people owning land and not being connected with that land other than an occasional visit. They also may not be connected to the people that already actually live in that community who would be the best protectors of the assets that all the natural resources have for the entire community. Generally speaking the folks that just outright steal timber are not members in good standing with the community at large. So having a connection with other community members is a good way to prevent or share the vested interest we all have in the forested assets of our communities.

Generally speaking most of the timber theft in our area is a matter of errors in the understanding of the boundary lines that are not clearly marked and since the rate of harvesting is so rapid it doesn’t take but a small amount of time before lots of trees are taken that don’t belong to the person that is selling timber to the loggers in the woods. A professional forester could play an important role in this situation. And as a matter of public education, people should know that about 78% of all timber harvesting in Va. is a matter of a logger and a landowner shaking hands and the work starts, often without a pre-harvest plan, a walking/marking of the boundary lines with the landowner or an agent and not oversight other that what is provided by state laws such as logger notification, as in Va. Again this is a matter of the landowner’s not
taking real responsibility for the management of their land. Of course there are outright deliberate thief of timber in a planned calculated way. The people that steal just valuable trees for the shear money value. Those people should be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law, including treble value for the stumpage, which is estimated to the value at total maturity in the top markets, plus any legal cost for investigating and bringing the thieves to accountability.

This is a complex issue. I think much of the community based forestry that we and others on this forum promote have naturally occurring benefits that include the reduced likelihood of timber thief.

On the issue of licensed logger’s I would submit that this began in California and other western states years ago. Unfortunately the real reason governments get into more laws like this is revenue collection. In Ca. it doesn’t cost anything to get a logging permit, but at the end of the year your landowner will get a letter wanting to know how much “money” they got for cutting their timber or you will be required to report their income. So that is an aspect of licenses – revenue collection, hidden under the mask of promoting better forestry, protection of the common resources of water quality and other issues of public concern. So don’t think that license laws are all of what they appear on the surface.

It would be good that private interests promote truly sustainable forestry or at least address the definition of these practices. It would be good if these interest groups look into to “green certification” programs and promoted that
strategy as a way to protect and preserve the forested assets of all rural communities.

A missing ingredient in all this concern is an awareness of the value of the ecological services a healthy forest provides for the public good. Ecological services such as water purification, shade creation and the resulting cooling,
wind blocking in the winter to save heating cost and many more previously
un-quantified values of the ecological condition of intact forests.

The reason organic folks roll their eyes over any mention of the Farm B. is
their record of being basically a mouthpiece for government control of everything related to agriculture, while being supportive of right wing politics in general. Meanwhile if you are a small farmer that uses the company for your farm insurance or auto insurance you will experience that they will cancel your policy at the drop of a hat.

It is funny how conservative groups are not about conservation at all. The language and use of words seems to be designed to be confusing. It is like the “wise use” movement which in reality was a use it all up as quick as you can bunch. Like conservatives saying “drill now” like using the last oil we have as fast as possible is a solution to the energy needs of the modern world.

It is good that open minded people are involved with FB, but don’t expect them to help organic farmers or small farmers or small sustainable forestry practitioners, unless they can see it as a profitable move for their company.

There is much more to these issues than this post can address but we will continue the thread if there is interest. Thanks for posting it. There is other
reading available on these issues and we can share them as time goes on.

[Gabe Ayers]

About 35 years ago I was skidding on the ground with a double tree and team and had a friend helping. We were also moving laps and tops from a previous harvest down a skid trail we didn’t build. My friend did the step over the log
move, got his foot caught and injured and basically at that time, ended my interest in logging with horses.

Skidding on the ground is dangerous, primitive, old fashioned, hillbilly, backwards,
inefficient, environmentally damaging (not be human centered here, but people are part of the environment and if a person gets hurt easily then it would follow reason that the rest of the surroundings may suffer also), and much harder on your horses, mules or oxen.

Then at the Mid-Atlantic Winter National Draft Horse pull I met a fellow that said he knew a fellow than ran a crew of 25 teams supplying his sawmill using a “Log Arch”. I went and found that fellow and he was my first mentor on modern horse logging. The device we give away blueprints for on our web site were designed by the late Charlie Fisher, of Andover, Ohio. He spent his life working in the woods with horses.

This “log arch” device is state of the art in many respects, but is not patentable because it is to simple and all the features are ancient, (with the exception of pneumatic rubber tires of course). It is a device because it has no moving parts other than the wheels. The parts that wear out can simply be replaced.

The wheel is a pretty cool invention. We even live on a round planet. So putting some of the load on the wheels, just enough to keep the front end of the log off the ground is an incredible increase in efficiency of moving tons of firewood, pulpwood, saw logs, beam logs, whole smaller trees, etc. It is estimated to increase animal tractive capacity many fold over the course of a days work. Those who have done much of both already know this.

A skid trail less than six feet wide is very reasonable for the spacial arrangement of a healthy vigorous forest made up of superior specimens and appropriate species.

The operation of a logging arch is safer, more efficient and modern.

Yet knowing all that to be absolutely true – we still skid on the ground sometimes. Short skids on step ground can be quickly bunched downhill
to be forwarded with an arch to the landing. But you better know what you are doing and have a great animal to work with.

I am totally sold on using a log arch. Yet I don’t sell them, I give the plans away. I know folks that manufacture them here in our community, but any good welder can make one from the blueprints you can download from our website and print and you keep the money in your community.

I wouldn’t consider and can’t imagine serious animal powered forestry without a log arch. Not if you see it as a part of how you make your living.

[Gabe Ayers]

I just posted a photo of a single ox in the photo gallery under working cattle. This rig seemed to work very well in the woods. I suspect it would work on a device requiring braking also. We didn’t get around to hitching the oxen to a log arch this time but will work on that in the future.

It would be cool if we had a way to alert readers to new photo postings also.

[Gabe Ayers]

Plowboy,

I have referred this opportunity to Guy Hunkle the forester for Troy Firth of
Firth Maple Products. They are contacting the NY Nature Conservancy Folks about this potential. Thanks for posting and networking in our community of interest.

Troy Firth operates several TIMO’s. This acronym stands for Timber Investment Management Organization. This is a new development in “green investing” and Troy and his crew do a great job in the woods. Ira King, one of the posters here is a member of that highly skilled crew.

This is a proven example of the usefulness of this site and our participation.

Thanks,

[Gabe Ayers]

Another point about renovation of soil is the fact that weeds are specific trace element accumulators. The presence of certain weeds can indicate certain micro nutrient needs in the soil and natures way of correcting that is reflected in the presence of these “weeds”. So mowing the weeds and leaving their above ground bodies and below ground roots to decompose may help with overall soil fertility as well as tilth.

There are also some studies that suggest some crops will grow better with some specific weeds. Makes sense.

This is an understanding based upon sound agriculture science and is not a part of rescue chemical dependent farming. It is also in agreement with other philosophies that advise a rotation that includes letting the ground go fallow once every seven years. I don’t think this means do nothing, but to take what the land has to offer and give it back to itself. The fact that weeds do reflect subtle differences in soil fertility or lack of and can be a contributor to the replenishing of the soil seems like a nice natural plan. Mowing them with a sickle bar keeps them right where they came from, to rot and add to soil fertility. If you have to mow several times, so be it, use your animal power and keep it carbon positive….

I also think subsoiling old cropland can be useful for rejuvenation, as a part of tillage for soil fertility not just crop production.

Let us know how it turns out. Thanks for posting…

[Gabe Ayers]

Lots of experience posted here about renewing pasture land.

I would add that I was introduced to Birdsfoot Trefoil when in the northeast as a legume used in old skid trail stabilization and thought it could be a great pasture addition and hay. So I did a little research and found a few different varieties and over seeded it into our pasture and hay fields. We call it poor mans alfalfa, but it is actually better.

It has done great. It last longer that any alfalfa and the taller varieties with actually make in the barn with just the right haying techniques. Trefoil doesn’t have the weevil damage that alfalfa does and doesn’t require the fertility or ph of alfalfa. So look into that legume to improve your grazing and soil conditions in the NE.

Inoculation is an issue, do what is recommended by the seed seller.

We have also over seeded yellow blossom sweet clover for a temporary legume presences that all the stock seem to eat. It is cheap and the number one nitrogen fixer and honey crop.

If their is not enough soil exposed then a light disking could help cover the seed that are broadcast over the ground. Frost seeding will work too. Dragging will tend to clump or make little doodles out of any organic matter left from mowing. Letting the clippings lay where they fall is best and just light disking after broadcasting seed with cover them.

All these recommendations are good proven sound farming practices. Good luck with it.

[Author]

Posts