REGENERATIVE GRAZING: Using Cows to Rebuild Soil After a Century of Tillage.
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- This episode shares the story of Stephen Brass of Walnut Grove Brass Family Farm in Stillman Valley, Illinois, and how he successfully transitioned his 160 acre farm from a chemical intensive, commodity crop operation to a regenerative 100% grass-fed beef operation. He shares the methods he is using to regenerate soil after a century of tillage and decades of chemical usage.
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My favorite way to describe this is the cows act similarly to bison back when 100s of millions roamed the plains, and moving them from pasture to pasture simulates predators that would force the great herds to keep moving
I love the fact he chose the Red Devon Cattle which is finally recovering on the livestock conservancy list. Unfortunately the Milking Devon is still on the critical list.
Man, that into got my heart warming ❤ Wish your family plenty of health and rain just when you need it the most
Loved this story…way to go man and best of luck from Ireland !
Great video! Very informative. Love to see these stories of conversion. We need more of this in America!
Hey John! Thanks for watching. I'm glad you found it informative.
Great video. You explain things well. Wish all farmers had your mindset.
I hope that by sharing stories like this, more farmers will adopt this mindset and farming practices. Thanks for watching the video and your comment.
Eye opening video. Really inspiring.
Glad you think so!
Good job. Keep up the good work.
CHEERS FROM ITALY! KEEP GOING
Love it I use electric fence and great post called timeless
He's definitely improving, but he needs to try out tighter paddocks, more density and faster moves. Perhaps moving 2-3 times per day would show more improvement faster. Hopefully they are feeding hay where it was cut.
Would love to see this go to native only grasses
I just picked up an order there yesterday, and had burgers today! Thank you Stephen, they were amazing! I'm happy to support this, it's better for the soil and all the things that live there (insects, nematodes, birds, frogs, etc.), and it's so much healthier for us. Next time I'll buy a 1/4 or 1/2 cow.
Stephen likely won't see this message so you may want to leave him a note on his facebook page: facebook.com/WalnutGroveBrassFamilyFarm. I created the video about Stephen's ranch and therefore see all of these comments but he does not. I think he'd love to hear your feedback.
Dr. Elaine Ingham (on RUclips): learn how to make compost, compost teas and use sprays to accelerate the regeneration of heavily damaged areas. Also used as a foliar spray to kick start the recovery of yesterday's paddock. Cheap, easy, in both time and money.
Great advice. Thanks for sharing.
Love what this rancher has done for his land and his cattle in his care. I was curious about the kinds of grasses that he use on his pasture. When he had dug it up it felt like the roots of those grasses were short in general and given that he has not tilled or used chemicals on it for 10 years I was a bit surprised, maybe it was an odd patch. The earthworms were a great sign of soil improvement. Would love to know if he uses locally native prairie grass species and if he notices a difference in quality of soil health and cattle health when using those grasses versus non local ones.
To get answers to your questions it would be best to reach out to Stephen directly through his facebook page. I created the video about his ranch but don't have the answers to your questions. Here's the link to his facebook page: facebook.com/WalnutGroveBrassFamilyFarm.
Great job Stephen. I eat for optimal nutrition. Just had a chuck roast from one of your bovines. It was awesome!! I would love to see you do grass fed lamb. I would be a customer for that also.
Thanks for checking out the video about Stephen's farm. It's great to hear from one of his customers. He's a great guy doing good work. Keep supporting his business if you can!
Excelent and well done Stephen, I wonder if you have thought in getting some hybrid Chestnuts to improve the cows diet, besides having protein they are rich in good fats and enhance the flavour of meat.
Keep on trucking, All the BEST. Greetings from PERÚ.
Great video I just learned about American grass which has a deeper root system and specifically thrives with cattle/bison rotation wonder if that will catch on in the coming years.
I think it is catching on. People are starting to better understand the mutually beneficial relationship between grazing animals and the ecosystems in which they live.
Compared to 4 years ago when I first heard about regenerative agriculture and hardly anyone else had, I've been able to buy pasture-raised eggs, beef, lamb, pork, and chicken easily. It's really delicious, too!
very interesting , i thought they would have had some clover in with the grass , where is his nitrogen input or is it big enough not to need it and the cow muck is enough , does he harrow the pasture to spread out the cow pats and they can harbor worms that will infect young stock , but the cattle look in great health , just would have been good to get a bit more of that sort of stuff , i am going to plant a new pasture this autumn with a mix of grasses and clover for regeneration , I am in the UK England and we are getting Government subsidies' to do these things , also what i am planting is for silage crop as the field has no water supply so cannot be grazed , if it works I shall plant another field the next year too , i am worried about the weeds that may creep in to the crop and as i do not think herbicides can be used and of course that is pointless as it will kill the clover which is one of the main reasons of doing it to fix the Nitrogen , If any one has any advice please reply
This is all great as long as you don't have land payments.
Would you tell us more about your Devon cattle and how they fit in with regenerative grass farming.
Your best bet is to reach out to Stephen on his facebook page. You may be able to get an answer there: facebook.com/WalnutGroveBrassFamilyFarm.
I started doing this on a smaller scale to restore my overgrazed farm. When i started off i admit i didn't have a clue and my mom (who supposedly grew up on a farm) didn't either. I guess her farm was probably overcrowded and overgrazed too?!
Anyway, better late than never. It only took a year to fix years of ignorance. And all i did was go back to tried and true methods my great great grandparents used.
But first I had to clear my head of all this newfangled modern homestead garbage that was perpetuated by greed. All these so called "homesteaders" and backyard "farmers" are obsessed with turning a profit not knowing it will not happen. Not with their methods. They become animal flippers and hoarders. End up killing most of their stock and keeping others as pets, or "rescues"....
Every single one I've visited had over grown islands of weeds among huge muddy bald spots and waaaay too many animals. Oh and don't forget the LGD.... on a chain because it eats the merchandise. These people are always scrounging for money to buy feed and medicine for animals that seemed to stay sick and never flourish once they're weaned.
Most of the time these folks couldn't eat what they raised because it was too scrawny or they'd invested so much money and emotion into saving it from worms, emotionally they couldn't do it.
But they WOULD breed the crap out of it and try to sell the offspring (only to turn around and buy more feed and meds... for the animals and themselves)
Farming is a trade off. You realize why groceries go sky high when you start raising your own. There's a lot of overhead and even more work. And if you're not able or willing to do the work then DON'T buy livestock. Abd you treat it like a campfire: keep it small, keep it contained, keep an eye on it.
And learn to barter for what you need if you can't grow it yourself.
I know one person who has created a feral pig infestation by "rescuing" pot belly pigs from homesteaders who were breeding them by the dozens and selling them cheap rather than eating them. She stopped counting after 60. There were no pigs until she moved in.
Yeah the surrounding farms just love her for that.
I do too because i have so much pork in my freezer i might as well stop raising my own.
Either way it makes great free dog and cat food!!
Anyway, pardon my deviation from the subject.
It took a year to recover my grass. I sectioned off my fields and built holding pens until it all grew. Yes i had to buy feed and hay in the meantime. It was that or sell every animal. Instead i downsized. And i don't keep more than seven goats, seven sheep and four cows.
I got rid of my muscovy ducks (they're a nuisance if you're trying to feed animals in pens) they're impossible to keep penned up. They'd rather die. And they frequently would.
Now i need to downsize rabbits and chickens. Those are the only animals i want to buy feed for.
The hooves critters are now able to graze and browse all summer. The only trick will be winter. But if i butcher the offspring in fall... it's still fewer mouths to feed and my freezer is full!
How do you water in each area? And do the cows need salt? We are just starting with four head (2 cows and 2 yearlings)in Texas and trying to learn as much as we can!
Hi Sarah. Stephen talks about those things in more detail in this video: ruclips.net/video/7QqShbd44aE/видео.html.
@@RegenerativeJourney thank you so much!
What brand of seeds did you use to grow for winter feed?
Stephen worked with the Green Cover Seed company. They recommended specific seed mixes. I'm sure they'd give you specific recommendations based on your goals and local farming conditions. Here's their website: greencover.com/. Give them a call.
Honestly, your grass doesn't look all that thick. I see a lot of dirt showing through.
What do ya do about water for the cows?
Stephen talks about that in detail in this follow-up video: ruclips.net/video/7QqShbd44aE/видео.html
I have been farming in the Texas Panhandle for 60 years. Cattle grazing is a sure fire way to deplete the soil of organic mater and minerals. This video sounds good but is not the real world.
Hey Robert, thanks for checking out the video and for your comments. Understanding how and where these techniques work is an important conversation to be having. So I appreciate your input. Cattle grazing, and overgrazing in particular, has definitely had a damaging effect in many places all over the US. I don't know much about the Texas Panhandle but I wonder if the damage you've witnessed from cattle grazing can be attributed directly to overgrazing. Do you know of anyone in Texas grazing cattle using techniques similar to Stephen's, e.g. rotationally planned grazing? Do you know if Bison ever historically grazed in that region of Texas?
@@RegenerativeJourney This was Bison country. This was the southern part of the dust bowl. probably about 6" of top soil was lost. Over grazing is the norm here as it takes 30 acres per cow. Also no ranches just millions acres of flat farm land. Many plant wheat to graze. No fertilizing just removal until just grassless dust is left so when it rains the water runs off. Many buy 10 acre and put a few horses and several cows. Real ranchers put 30 ac to the cow.
The loess clay loan soil here is some of the best in the world easily producing 280 bu/ac under irrigation.
It's a shame so much soil was lost during the dust bowl. Thanks for sharing the info on farming/ranching practices in your area. It got me curious whether there's anyone in that area attempting to implement regenerative practices. I didn't find anything in the panhandle area but came across this article and thought you might find it interesting: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/regenerative-ranching-texas/.
@@RegenerativeJourney The area is 400 south in north Texas. They get 36" to 40" rain where we get 18" That area was good ranch country but now about 1/2 million people move there each year...with lots of hobby ranches. Most of the ranches here in the Panhandle are the same soil as 200 years ago. regenerative to what for large ranches?
@@robertreznik9330 Sounds like a big difference between your area and the areas mentioned in that article. I'm not sure I understand your question at the end there.
I suspect that some of our Pre ww2 ancestors probably farmed somewhat like this.
Not exactly. They didn't have electric fencing to easily move the cows every day. That has made a huge difference in managing the herds.
They may not have moved them as often,or had the paddocks as tight. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Pre WW2 they practiced some form of rotational grazing.@@wendyscott8425
Closer to pre-industrial revolution. It isn't far off traditional methods of livestock management in England and Germany.
Notice they have great coats and aren't covered in piss shit and mud.
What about vaccination? Are you vaccinating your cattle?
Mistake number one start a farm and think the next generation is going to take it over what's the biggest mistake in farming you do it because that's what you want to do don't do it because you think the next generation of the generation after that is going to want to do it let them figure out what they want to do and move on and then you get all pissed off because their dreams not your dream
Absolute BS...
Can you give more facts please? How many animals running, size and quantity of paddocks, animal breed etc. that would be great. Thanks