REGENERATIVE GRAZING: Using Cows to Rebuild Soil After a Century of Tillage.
2024 ж. 7 Мам.
43 536 Рет қаралды
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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Man, that into got my heart warming ❤ Wish your family plenty of health and rain just when you need it the most
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.
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.
Would love to see this go to native only grasses
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!
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.
CHEERS FROM ITALY! KEEP GOING
Good job. Keep up the good work.
Love it I use electric fence and great post called timeless
Eye opening video. Really inspiring.
Glad you think so!
This is all great as long as you don't have land payments.
Dr. Elaine Ingham (on KZhead): 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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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: kzhead.info/sun/arWqg8yam2ZqlH0/bejne.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.
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.
What do ya do about water for the cows?
Stephen talks about that in detail in this follow-up video: kzhead.info/sun/arWqg8yam2ZqlH0/bejne.html
Honestly, your grass doesn't look all that thick. I see a lot of dirt showing through.
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.
Notice they have great coats and aren't covered in piss shit and mud.
Absolute BS...
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