Project Overview
The award was declined due to changed business opportunities.
Commodities
Practices
- Soil Management: composting, organic matter, soil quality/health
Summary:
As we have shifted from crop to livestock production and a more natural treatment of the land on our farm, we have come to realize that a barrier to applying a sustainable model of livestock management is the unnatural condition of the soil. Low fertility and organic matter, poor structure and water holding capacity (results of crop farming and poor livestock management) make replicating nature's sustainable system very difficult. Clearly, a replenishment and rejuvenation of the soil to a state closer to its pre-settlement condition would enhance the prospects of success of a low input, sustainable system.
The agricultural operations will be the manufacturing and spreading of composted materials on pasture lands to improve soil characteristics. Fertility and water retention will be enhanced through the addition of organic matter in the form of chipped brush and trees which have been composted. Organic products such as entrails and other traditional "waste" items will be added to the wood chips to enrich the compost.
The Missouri University Research Stations will test the use of wood chips for erosion control in ditches. They will also experiment with Osage Orange tree chips as "pavement" for cattle lanes and high traffic areas.
Project objectives:
- To improve the fertility, water retention and structure of our soil by spreading compost
- To promote urban and rural awareness of sustainable practices.
Our farm, like many of the farms of northern Missouri, is best suited for livestock production because of the highly erodible nature of our soils. Schafer Edinburg farms has concentrated its efforts on intensive grazing management which endeavors to provide the livestock with high quality feed on a daily basis during a prolonged growing season. To achieve this, we attempt to maintain forages in a leaf production phase (as opposed to seed production). Plant digestibility and nutritional quality decrease and new leaf production slows at the onset of seed production. We have observed that plants under stress tend to enter a reproductive phase earlier than those with plenty of soil moisture and fertility. Not only do optimal soil conditions produce more vegetation, but equally important to proper forage management, they provide the conditions for a longer period of growth before plants enter the reproductive phase.
The barrier of poor soil fertility may best be overcome through utilizing on-farm resources to improve soil characteristics. Woodlots, fence rows and brush areas, all improved functionally and aesthetically through thinning and pruning, will be turned into valuable compost after being chipped. Other sources of nutrients currently being wasted will be added to this compost. Entrails and waste products from local butchers will be returned to the land as they were in pre-settlement days. The resultant compost will be spread over pastures with a manure spreader to build the organic matter, water retaining capacity and fertility of our soils.
Purchased fertilizers, aside from being unstainable, fall short of filling the needs of the soil, and can be damaging to soil structure and biological activity. The addition of composted, natural materials provides a means of building natural fertility to a sustainable condition in which only sunlight, rain water and grazing animals are added.
Wood chips will be also used in a yearling bull pen to stabilize the manure and urine produced, retaining the fertility of the wastes and rendering them less offensive. This wood chip/manure mixture will also be composted and applied over fields rather than allowed to accumulate in one small lot.
City yard wastes from nearby Trenton, which represent lost energy when burned or buried, will be brought to the farm and mixed into our compost piles. This adds a valuable education and promotion link with the town folk and other farmers.