Standard 15 Use of Krsna's Properties - pasture and manure

[Guest guest]

Some people may be wondering about who is right about the manure distribution

question. Radha Krsna prabhu seems to be saying that it is necessary to use a

chain-harrow to break up and distribute the manure evenly. But Rohita prabhu

and Madhava Gosh prabhu don't seem to be advocating this. Madhava Gosh

mentions

grazing cows on hillsides where it is not possible to use a chain harrow. So

who's right? Certainly, it doesn't seem like Lord Balarama used a chain harrow

when Krsna and the cowherd boys grazed the cows on Govardhana hill.

 

In fact, they are all correct in various circumstances. Here is a relevant

passage from *Greener Pastures on Your Side of the Fence* (3rd Edition ISBN

0-9617807-2-X) by Bill Murphy (pp. 92- )

 

********************

 

EXCREMENT

 

Cattle poop 11 to 12 times and pee 8 to 11 times each day. When combined with

grazing behavior, cattle and horse excretion especially can badly affect a

pasture. When grazing is properly managed, manure and urine greatly benefit a

pasture by returning nutrients, increasing soil organic matter, and favoring

the

development of earthworms and other soil life. Let's look at each part of

excrement to understand the effects.

 

*Manure*

The daily amount of poop produced per cow can weigh 50 pounds or more. Horses

are close behind with 40 pounds per animal per day. This means that during a

180-day grazing season, 9000 pounds of manure are deposited per cow, and 7200

pounds per horse! If each cow pie measures 10 inches in diameter, for example,

the total area covered by one cow (assuming no overlap of pies) would be 7

square feet per day, or 1260 square feet during the grazing season!

 

**Loose manure from cows grazing on lush pasture doesn't affect plants very

much

because it spreads thinly and decomposes quickly.** But horse turds and cow

pies from cows receiving grain or concentrate supplements are drier, and cause

major changes by blocking sunlight and killing most plants that are directly

under the manure. The area in which the plants were killed can then be invaded

by surrounding plants or from seeds that were in the soil or manure. Sheep

pelletize their manure, so it's spread uniformly and breaks down rapidly when

their grazing is managed properly.

 

When a cow pie hits the ground, it immediately has a "zone of repugnance"

around

it that measures about 25 feet in diameter [8 meters?]! Consequently, at low

stocking densities a lot of forage can be rejected around cow pies. High

stocking densities can decrease the zone of repugnance down to the manure

itself, but it isn't a good practice to force animals to eat right up to their

manure because of the parasites it contains, and because dry matter intake

probably would be decreased.

 

Horses deposit their manure in the same place and don't eat in that area. This

causes forage in that area to become much lower in quality, unless it is mowed

or grazed by other animals. Horse grazing and excreting habits especially,

reflect their instinctive way of avoiding parasites present in their manure, so

they shouldn't be forced to eat plants growing among their manure deposits. It

is far better to graze that forage with other animals or mow and/or harrow it

the same day that the horses are removed from the paddock.

 

At first, the manure itself causes animals to reject the herbage hear it,

probably because of unpleasant odor, but later the forage become too mature and

then is unpalatable because of its coarseness. In poorly managed pasture,

herbage around manure patches may be rejected for as long as 18 months. **In

well managed pasture, soil life becomes enlivened, and manure can be

disintegrated and incorporated with the soil by earthworms and insects in about

60 days, and the zone of repugnance disappears.**

 

During the grazing season, each cow deposits about 38, 8, and 8 pounds of

nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in manure somewhere in the pasture. During

the same time each horse drops 40, 10, and 24 pounds of the same nutrients in

manure, usually in very limited areas of the pasture or paddock. **These

nutrients are worth a lot of money** and can be extremely beneficial to the

pasture and your bank account, but not when the manure is stacked up. It must

be spread around. Besides releasing nutrients, spreading exposes more of the

manure to sunlight and drying, which kills parasites and reduces breeding sites

for flies. How it's spread is up to you.

 

Under management intensive grazing with cattle, the high stocking densities and

the short grazing periods of paddocks usually result in more uniform grazing

and

distribution of manure and breadkown of manure by hoof action of the densely

stocked animals.

 

In New Zealand, where grazing is planned and managed at a level beyond anything

done yet in the USA, mowing or harrowing routinely after cattle to clip uneaten

forage or spread manure isn't done because it's unnecessary. **Cattle grazing

lush pasture tend to have loose manure, which spreads out thinly when dropped,

and decomposes quickly.** Pastures are harrowed sometimes during the dry

season,

however, when cattle graze forage higher in dry matter; this results in drier

manure that doesn't break down easily. On New Zealand horse farms, beef cattle

at high stocking density follow horses through paddocks to graze uneaten forage

and break down horse manure (Alan Henning, personal communication). So it's

possible with management to eliminate or minimize the need, and therefore the

expense, labor, and fuel consumption of mowing and harrowing to remove uneaten

forage and spread manure after cattle.

 

On rough land, management is your only option for spreading manure and

maintaining the sward in good condition. Part of that management can include

such things as grazing cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, or turkeys

together or one group behind the other. It can also include encouraging birds

to feed in your pasture by putting up birdhouses for them to nest in. Birds

digging and scratching in manure for insects help break it down and spread it

around.

 

Horses are a special problem because high stocking density doesn't work very

well with them. Three possible ways of breaking down and spreading horse

manure

are : 1) follow horses through paddocks with heavily stocked cattle or sheep,

2)

mow paddocks with a rotary mower, and/or 3) drag paddocks with a flexible tine

harrow.

 

If the pastureland is level to rolling, you can use machinery to mow uneaten

forage and spread manure if necessary. Using a flail or rotary mower breaks up

and spreads manure at the same time. If you use a sickle mower or don't mow,

it

may be beneficial to drag paddocks with a flexible tine harrow to break up and

spread manure. If you harrow to spread manure, do it in midsummer when

conditions are dry, to kill parasite larvae. **If you harrow during moist

spring

conditions, you'll spread parasite eggs and larvae, contaminating more pasture

forage.**

 

*Urine*

The are of pasture affected by urine varies with the soil moisture conditions,

slope, and type. Urine spreads further in wetter soil, down slopes, and

through

sandy soils than it does in dry, level, or clay soils. Provided that affected

plants are not allowed to grow rank, animals don't avoid eating plants growing

in urine patches. In fact, some animals prefer plants growing in urine

patches,

if they weren't burned by the urine. If urine scorches or kills plants,

animals

avoid eating them, and the botanical composition declines in quality. (See

Chapter 3.)

 

*Parasites*

By constantly moving to fresh grazing, wild animals avoid serious damage from

parasites. Domestic livestock are restricted to grazing a limited pasture area

repeatedly during a season, however, and can be adversely affected by

parasitism.

 

The most serious threat to livestock is from worm parasites of the digestive

tract, although lungworms also can be a problem. Adult parasites in the host

animal gut produce variable numbers of eggs that pass out with excrement, hatch

and molt to larval stage in manure or on pasture plants, and are consumed with

the plants by grazing animals. Within the host animal, the cycle to egg-laying

adult can be completed in less than 4 weeks.

 

Larvae that survive winter conditions immediately re-infect livestock when

grazing begins in the spring. Animal immune systems mature with age, so young

stock are most susceptible to infection and the worst effect of parasitism.

 

Parasitism can cause large economic losses to livestock producers. **Even if

there are no obvious symptoms (subclinical), parasitism can depress an animal's

dry matter intake and weaken its immune system.** Because of this, the animal

grows more slowly, produces less, and becomes more susceptible to bacterial and

viral infections.

 

*Control*

First ask your veterinarian about manure exams to determine the level of

parasite contamination of your pasture. If a problem exists, learn about the

correct dewormer to use and when to use it in your situation. Be careful to

avoid residue in milk or meat. Be aware that some dewormers kill beneficial

insects and soil organisms.

 

The main objective in deworming livestock is to achieve pasture that's

relatively free of parasites. Parasite levels in pasture can be reduced by

deworming at strategic times in the parasite life cycle and planning the

grazing

sequence so that treated animals can be moved to clean paddocks. Usually

deworming should occur at 4 and 8 weeks after animals begin grazing a

contaminated pasture.

 

After deworming, treated animals should be moved to land that is relatively

free

of contamination, if possible. For example, since hot dry weather kills

parasite larvae, land that's grazed by another species or machine-harvested in

spring, is safe for treated animals to graze.

 

Parasites are specific to animal species they infect, so alternate stocking by

different species in different years can reduce parasites to insignificant

levels in a pasture. Similar results can be obtained by alternately grazing

and

machine harvesting an area in different years. About 18 months between

grazings

by an animal species is needed to break parasite life cycles.

 

After parasite levels have been reduced on your far, monitoring manure egg

counts throughout the grazing season can give you advance warning of a need for

deworming.

 

****************************

 

HKDD comments:

 

In summary, on dry pastures and for animals which have a heavy intake of grain

or supplements, dragging the pasture, in a manner along the lines suggested by

Radha Krsna prabhu, will probably be a necessity. To me that indicates that

under such conditions, the best thing is to pasture the animals on flat land

which is accessible to machinery.

 

On the other hand, when cows are grazing on very lush pasture, their manure is

thin, and the lushness of the pasture indicates sufficient earthworms and

micro-organisms to break down manure quickly. If you remember back to Krsna

Book, Srila Prabhupada often describes that Krsna and Balarama and the cowherd

boys would take their cows to a new "lush" pasture each day. From reading, it

seems evident that once the animals grazed in a certain area, the cowherd boys

would not bring them back there for some time. Therefore, at least according to

the information presented by Bill Murphy, there would have been no need for

dragging the pasture to spread the manure, as the manure would have broken down

quickly in such a lush pasture so that the nutrients would be quickly available

to replenish the pasture growth.

 

One obvious problem with pasture management in many of ISKCON's farms should be

evident from the above excerpt: When animals are confined for significant

amounts of time to a barn or cattle shed, the nutrients in the pasture can

become gradually diminished over the course of time, resulting in poorer and

poorer quality of pasture, and poorer health for the cows over a period of

years. In any confinement system, great care must be taken to restore the

nutrients to the pasture instead of letting them go to waste in a large pile of

manure next to the barn or goshalla. Also, in a system which relies heavily on

confinement of animals, the very significant nutrient content of the urine is

likely to be completely wasted. Thus Rohita prabhu's comments about managing

the animals in such a way that they will continue to enrich the pasture grounds

is very important.

 

Bill Murphy mentions the importance of de-worming cows who have high parasite

problems. It's good to remember that there are also herbal de-worming

treatments that can be produced on farm -- it does not have to be a purchased

treatment.

 

One note: this is a long piece, written by an American. If there are some

terms which those from other countries don't understand, please ask and we will

try to help you out.

 

Finally, I am sending a blind copy of this piece to the Y2K conference and

varnasrama.development and social.and.economic.development and

agriculture.and.the.environment. Well managed pasture will be an important

means

of providing food for Krsna's cows after 1999, in case many of our generous

donors are adversely impacted by Y2K business problems. We may not be able to

afford to purchase hay from outside, so we should start planning now on how to

best feed the cows given the resources we already have -- our pastures. Also,

I

have yet to see any evidence of the understanding of sound pasture-management

principles on our principle Indian projects, so I wanted to start them thinking

about that topic with this excerpt from *Greener Pastures...* but I hope that

those who want to continue this discussion will list cow (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se as the only

reciever and drop the other conferences so that they don't get bogged down with

an extended discussion of this topic Then you can add yourself as a r

to cow (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se Thanks.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

COM: Radha Krsna (das) ACBSP (GB) wrote:

 

> [Text 2142823 from COM]

>

> Rohita das wrote:

> >In most grazing procedures the animals are place in too large an area where

> >they choose the most nutritious

> >plants and leave behind second, third .... rank grasses until all the first

> >class is gone then they graze the next

> >rank. This procedure will have two effects, both produce the effect

> >commonly called over-grazing.

>

> >1. Manure is unevenly distributed, imparting an over-abundance of fertility

> >in some areas and a shortage in

> >others. This leads to deficiencies in the soil and soil compaction.

>

> >2. The gradual disappearance of the desired grasses and the emergence of

> >grass species that are tolerant of

> >the change in soil conditions, these grasses are usually inferior in nature

> >as cow feed. Also other plants that

> >are not grasses will become more prominent. This leads to a decrease in the

> >carrying capacity of this area.

>

> Comment:

> This is why it is so important to distribute the dung evenly by using the

> chain harrow. A practice I have not yet witnessed in ISKCON. The rank

> grasses are -produced by such deposits of dung just left on the field. The

> animals would rather starve than eat this kind of grass.

>

> There has just been an outbreak of E-Coli (517) on a dairy farm in GB. 20

> people are in hospital. This is why it is so important to farm very well in

> order to avoid disease.

>

> heres a quote from an agricultural title: Climate of GB.

>

> 'The Value of grazing; the relationship of clovers to grasses; the ability

> of clovers to feed the grasses with nitrogen...

>

> Compost is an inevitable process on a farm which produces, as we do, some

> fifty ricks of straw a year, besides all the vegetable waste of every kind

> from the ditches. the hedgerows, roadsides, woodlands and various other

> places....all of which should be turned into compost. Compost is invaluable

> whether it is shallow ploughed or disced into the arable land, or used as a

> surface dressing for the oncoming grasses and clovers. (personally, I prefer

> the use of the disc harrow, as it is quicker and less likely to do damage by

> the plough going too deep., RKD.)

> ....The mechanization of compost making is the way by which it can be

> economically performed under modern conditions, when wages are such a

> serious item in the cost of running a farm. (I have made reference to this

> point in my book also).........

> There is no method of manufacturing humus better than the four years' ley,

> and grazing that ley with a mixture of livestock in a highly scientific

> way........

> The value of, and the scientific reasons for the periodical grazing of

> pastures containing large mixtures of clover particularly wild white clover

> and American Sweet clover are the subject for discussion and writings by

> many authorities.'

>

> This is why humus manufacture is so important, as as Rohita prabhu says if

> this is not done then weeds (like couch etc.,) and other inferior grasses

> will emerge. This is why it is good to plough grassland after some time and

> seww fresh grasses. from what I can see this is of much importance, whereas

> old pasture, or permanent pasture often becomes diseased and over grazed and

> compacted. Tenth Canto states that the cows were always in search of fresh

> grasses....?? (These are the most nutritous.)