[Jacob-list] soil

[Carl Fosbrink]

That's quite alright. I find this stuff interesting.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Neal and Louise Grose 
  To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 1:48 PM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] soil


  Let me just add that, while 8N Fords have wide front ends and remarkable longevity, they often don't have brakes. But hey, after 50 years driving their immediate ancestors, 861 and 601s, brakes are over-rated.

  We are have done real live documented research on no-till and residue on our farm in a 5 year long University supported trial. The results are surprising to many. 
  1) Fertilizer doesn't kill earthworms, salt does. We use agronomic levels of commercial fertilizer and have seen a dramatic increase in earthworm numbers. Round -Up, by the way, is actually slightly beneficial to soil organisms. (I still see Monsanto is a necessary evil.) We have found that we can drastically decrease the amounts of fertilizer that we use with no-till.
  2) The best way to increase soil organic matter is to leave the residue on top of the ground and let the topsoil build from the top down. Roots and earthworms extend the active soil zone down into the soil unless they are stopped by tillage.
  3) We spray with herbicides (and use almost no insecticides, which tend to be more toxic) as little as possible. We have to balance that spraying with the amount of damage that would be done with tillage. One of the reasons organic farming has to repeatedly add soil amendments is that the organic matter is destroyed with tillage. 
  4) Fertilizer (commercial or organic) and herbicides adhere to soil particles when applied at agronomic levels. In order for these chemicals to reach water ways, the soil particle itself must be displaced. No-till stops this process. In NC, Wal-Mart sells more fertilizer than does the large ag company where I buy fertilizer. Lawns are now the largest source of water pollution.

  Sorry if I went on a bit about this. 

  Neal Grose


  ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Carl Fosbrink 
    To: Neal and Louise Grose ; Betty Berlenbach ; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
    Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 10:01 AM
    Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] soil


    Hi Neal and all,

         Neal, I agree with your no-till farming. The  thing that bothers me is the spraying that is done with no-till. 
        Another thing that bothers me is that commercial fertilizers kill the earth worms that we need to aerate the soil while natural fertilizers like chicken, sheep, cow, horse etc. manures have a much longer effect and do not kill the worms and also adds organic material.
        Another thing I would like to mention is that the 8N Ford tractor has a wide front end and is much harder to turn over than a tractor with a narrow front end. Many farmers have been killed by narrow front end tractors turning over.

    Carl
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Neal and Louise Grose 
      To: Betty Berlenbach ; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
      Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 8:31 AM
      Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] soil


      Hey Betty,

      I think we have had your winter. 34 degrees and snow yesterday. We have been well below normal in temp and WET. Yuck.

      What we have found is that tillage destroys soil. Period. They used to say that NC soils could not be more than 1% organic matter. Since we switched to 100% no-till, we have fields that are over 3%. More importantly, good soil structure depends on a build-up of microfilaments of fungus and air spaces that are wiped out by tillage.  Our row crop land now has better water absorption capacity than pastures.

      Neal
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Betty Berlenbach 
        To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
        Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 7:19 AM
        Subject: [Jacob-list] soil


        Sounds to me, Neil, like we threw the baby out with the bathwater; that is, using organic matter to improve the soil, sounds a good thing; I agree that tilling is not good.  But "modern" farming gave up the organic matter in favor of chemical fertilizers.  Now, we want to make sure we stop the tilling, but keep the organic matter!  At least, that's the way we've decided is best up here in Vermont, which is NOT frigid this year, which worries me a great deal. To have temps of 48 in early March is unheard of; we've only had about 10 days below 20 degrees this year, I think...instead of six to eight weeks of it.  It means I might even have to worm the sheep this Spring!  Generally, since the ground is frozen all winter, and right up to the time they go out on pasture, I don't much worry about such things...It is seldom needed...
         Betty, in Vermont,who now has a blog, thanks to help from Walter and Linda.  See Betty's blog at http://sheepwoman.wordpress.com.


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