Ultra High Density Grazing

A farmer’s perspective

Cranburn Farm, Thukela valley outlook

Ultra High Density Grazing

Does it:• Work as a natural process?• Increase organic carbon/build soil • Improve veld (cover composition)?• Increase production?• Increase profits?

10000 BCE 2019 CE

• GREAT ANIMAL AND PLANT BIODIVERSITY ON ALL CONTINENTS

• SPECIES STABILITY

• ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY

• STABLE, BUILDING SOIL, FRESH AIR, CLEAN WATER

10000 BCE 2019 CE

• GREAT ANIMAL AND PLANT BIODIVERSITY ON ALL CONTINENTS

• SPECIES STABILITY

• ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY

• STABLE, BUILDING SOIL, FRESH AIR, CLEAN WATER

• LIFE DIVERSITY CRASH -CROPS, PASTURE, , CITIES, DAMS, ROADS

• SPECIES EXTINCTION

• ECOSYSTEM DISINTEGRATION

• UNSTABLE, ERODING SOIL, POLLUTED AIR AND DIRTY WATER

Who wrote this?

What now remains compared with what then existed is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted away …… there were trees not very long ago, there were many lofty trees and boundless pasturage for flocks. It was enriched by the rains, which were not lost to it, as now, by flowing from bare land into the sea; but the soil was deep, storing up the water in the retentive earth, providing abundant spring water at spots where fountains formerly existed.

Plato, 400 BCE

Battle of Thermopylae - 480 BCE

• Famous battle; Greeks defeated Persians

• Pass of Thermopylae opened onto the sea

• Where is the pass today?

PLATO’S GREECE AND TODAY

Deforestation, erosion, springs and wetlands disappearing

Greece

400 BCE

Critias

Plato

Ignored by Alexander the Great

Deforestation, erosion, springs and wetlands disappearing

KwaZuluNatal

2019 CE

Many reports

Various authors, workers, Universities

Ignored by current leadership

MASS VELD SHOOT 1840 – 1890

By 1840:

• Men with guns and ploughs, fences and cows had spread across the planet

• Loading sped up (muzzle load to breech load with bullets) and accuracy improved

DELEGORGUE, GEVECHTKOP 1843

“…….. not a blade of grass to be seen. Everything that had not been cropped by their mouths was trampled by their feet”.

UHDG?

FRASER, BEAUFORT WEST 1849

“….. left looking as if a fire had passed through it. It was indeed a wonderful sight”.

UHDG?

FREMONT, USA PRAIRIE, 1843

“…..swarming over the plains, where they had left scarcely a blade of grass standing. Mr. Preuss had at first noted them at a distance as large groves of timber”

UHDG?

2007 SERENGETI, TANZANIA - UHDG?

Low density + FIRE MOWING

TUGELA WATER 23/12/2016

As is Alum precipitated

Ex President’s residence, Nkandla

What have we done?

….....12000 years

………of degenerative farming

…….. Low density continuous grazing, overgrazing, overburning, monoculture, ploughing, erosion, lost soil fertility etc.

A Green Future for the World

12000 years of regenerative farming, and different ways of living, playing and working for

everyone

REVOLUTION

• a slow, steady, sensible revolution

• Changes - farming, society, economics, education, religion, philosophy – a reverence for nature

HOPEFUL REVOLUTIONARY STARTS

BRING ANIMALS BACK TO THE LAND

Fallow + animals + biodiverse mix

Multispecies mix (D. Schroder KZN)

Veldheld van die Groot Karoo

STOCKING DENSITY

• 1 Wildebees is 2.2 metres nose to tail base

• 1 Wildebees = 2/3 of a large livestock unit (LLU)

• = 147 Wildebeeste on 400 square metres

• = 98 LLU on 400 square metres

• = 2450 LLU on 10,000 square metre (1 hectare)

= ULTRA HIGH DENSITY

Karoo Grazing Experiment 2003 - 2012

• Ultra high density grazing

• 10 moves per day

• Meet water needs of large herds

• Train staff, train live stock

• Adequate recovery

Overgrazed Perfectly grazed

Reitz (D.Slabbert)

Reitz (D. Slabbert)

Cranburn Farm

Before and after UHDG

UHDG - Trampling is important

DELEGORGUE, GEVECHTKOP 1843

“…….. not a blade of grass to be seen. Everything that had not been cropped by their mouths was trampled by their feet”.

Water storage per hectare

Soil organic carbon

%

1%

2%

3%

4%

www.amazingcarbon.com

Water stored

Litres/ha mm/ha

134,000 13.4

268,000 26.8

402,000 40.2

536,000 53.6

HOPEFUL REVOLUTIONARY STARTS

• No plough, no till

• Multispecies cover crops + animals

• Innovative UHDG grazing management

• Technology and farmers as environmental lovers, not environmental rapists

Ultra High Density Grazing

Does it:• Work as a natural process?• Build soil with high organic carbon • Improve veld?• Increase production?• Increase profit?

UHDG PITFALLS• Plan well and commit fully – no half job• Get water and equipment right• Train, train, train and motivate workers right• Don’t overgraze/over rest – get recovery right

(UHDARG = UHDADEQUATE RECOVERYG)

• Monitor veld and soil – BUILD CARBON + SOIL • Select the right animal for veld type/crop

residues/cover crops – no “maize slave” cows• Monitor stock condition, grazing quality and lick.• First move sunrise, last move sunset. 100% full

rumen at end of day

HUMAN SPIRIT – Faith and Motivation

• Spirit important to motivate right action

• Traditionally religion has focused on society and human relations, economics, not environment

• Normally accepts degenerative farming

So where to now?

What does GOD think?

Is regenerative, soil building agriculture good at a high level of human goodness?

Is degenerative agriculture a sin?

FAITH AND BELIEF

“I believe in soil. I build and nurture soil to support life. This religion may have served people and planet better than the hundreds of gods we have believed in over thousands of years.”

Jack Ardington

Who or what do you believe in?