And cows given shorter hay stems and a teeny supplement of seaweed produce less. The ones round here are all grass fed except it's drizabone at the mo and all gone brown so they're getting sileage..
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Was just listening to a really interesting talk about the Knepp estate rewilding project. They have cattle, deer, ponies and pigs as a crucial part of their ecosystem renewal and have established that if you take the animals out of the process, it is far less successful at increasing soil carbon storage (which is probably the largest carbon sink we have, apart from non-exploited fossil fuels). There is a strong argument for eating less meat and eating extensively reared meat. But as Dove, I think, said, the carbon storage potential of permanent pasture that is 'naturally' managed and grazed, has been shown in that experiment to be much higher than land that is actively and intensively farmed for arable crops.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
@raisingirl Knepp is a wonderful place to visit, if you get a chance. They have tours and workshops and full courses for land managers to replicate/adapt/incorp elements of systems used at Knepp. They are working v hard with Sussex farmers to support them in transitioning out of intensive models and advocating on their behalf. Isabella's book about the twenty year process of converting Knepp is full of a great deal of agri detail and stats on how exactly they have managed the land and comparative yields. She also reads the audiobook version herself, which gives another layer to the writing. She is a writer by profession, and it shows.
They now also have an online delivery service set up, as of this year, so you can buy wild meat from the land - Tamworth, venison and long horn beef. It much richer and gamier in taste, very low carbon in production - even with transport.
I'd love to go @Fire. The talk was by a work colleague who was given a 'safari' on the estate as a gift from our company for a Significant Birthday. It looks really interesting. I may have to settle for a course at the Agroforestry Trust instead. Not quite the same but part of the same argument and nearer to me
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I'd love the visit the sister projects in the Cairngorms and Norfolk. Knepp is all open land, with public footpaths running through it. Anyone can basically wander anywhere (which brings its own problems, with dogs etc). They have a regular camping ground and well as huts and things, so it can be cheap to visit, or wander through for a day for free. The clouds of butterflies are a thing of wonder. Nightingales, storks, beavers, world class dung beetles, turtle doves.
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“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Fire - the estate at/round Glen Feshie [Cairngorms] is the place to go, but you'll need a lot of time to wander there. It's a rather large place....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...