Mares tail

[low plains drifter 11,730]

1 hour ago, WILF said:

Glyphosate is linked to all sorts of nasty things, it’s hideous stuff…..and it gets used all the time everywhere !

Its makers are I believe Bayer or a subsidiary of Bayer….the same Bayer that own Monsanto, the GM crop masters of the world !

The sub surface damage this stuff does is catastrophic 

The lads go round the housing estates etc with the knapsack and pump spray or the quad bikes with the tank load, cannot be doing any good, even the cosmetic look of the dried out and dying vegetation looks pretty shitty

[low plains drifter 11,730]

1 hour ago, mC HULL said:

? Glysophphate id round up from Monsanto 

All your crops are round up ready genetically modified aint  they farmers spray thousands a  gallons of the shit doing it now I make sure winds other way walking the dogs 

Me old lady's next door pouring it on the garden from work few of  her dogs got cancer on the tonge and  foot early since 

The drive about the street spraying it on weed from a quad here 

The crop fields should be full of wild flowers etc as well as the intended harvesting crop, like in the olden days, all the pollinators thriving doing their job and providing insect life for songbirds to feed on, it's all a big con

[mC HULL 18,407]

3 minutes ago, low plains drifter said:

The crop fields should be full of wild flowers etc as well as the intended harvesting crop, like in the olden days, all the pollinators thriving doing their job and providing insect life for songbirds to feed on, it's all a big con

Yes mate they would plant things side by side alternate crops.etc 

But places like Say the Yorkshire wolds all stone under you couldn't farm without fertiliser or so an old farmer was telling me lol it wouldn't hold the nutrients 

 

 

[chartpolski 29,864]

1 hour ago, mC HULL said:

? Glysophphate id round up from Monsanto 

All your crops are round up ready genetically modified aint  they farmers spray thousands a  gallons of the shit doing it now I make sure winds other way walking the dogs 

Me old lady's next door pouring it on the garden from work few of  her dogs got cancer on the tonge and  foot early since 

The drive about the street spraying it on weed from a quad here 

The council here comes round on a quad and sprays a salt water and vinegar mix around the verges. I know the lad that does it . He told me they add vinegar to cut through shiny type leaves. I’ve tried it on my own back yard and it works and is harmless to the dogs.

I use glysophate type weed killer on the allotments but do it in the afternoon and it’s supposed to be safe for animals and birds after 6 hours so, theoretically, it should be safe the next day.

Cheers.

 

[chartpolski 29,864]

I’m trying this for this season;

No glysophate.

Replant in 3 days.

Animal and bird safe after six hours.

See how effective it is

Cheers.

[WILF 52,948]

32 minutes ago, mC HULL said:

Yes mate they would plant things side by side alternate crops.etc 

But places like Say the Yorkshire wolds all stone under you couldn't farm without fertiliser or so an old farmer was telling me lol it wouldn't hold the nutrients 

 

 

The old farmer is a gonk !

Of course you can farm without chemical fertilisers, soil is designed to hold nutrients !

[WILF 52,948]

16 minutes ago, chartpolski said:

The council here comes round on a quad and sprays a salt water and vinegar mix around the verges. I know the lad that does it . He told me they add vinegar to cut through shiny type leaves. I’ve tried it on my own back yard and it works and is harmless to the dogs.

I use glysophate type weed killer on the allotments but do it in the afternoon and it’s supposed to be safe for animals and birds after 6 hours so, theoretically, it should be safe the next day.

Cheers.

 

There’s nothing “safe” about glyphosate mate, period ! 
 

[WILF 52,948]

1 hour ago, mC HULL said:

You need fertilisers mate dont you best land for growing corn etc  in the country wouldn't produce without it you didn't have the fertilisers and the herbicides etc you wouldn't feed the people would you ?

Of course it would, once you’d repaired the years of damage to the soil that weed killers, insecticides and chemical fertilisers had done to the soil….so, here is a fact, most British farm soils are all but dead….as in dead !

They now rely on being kept artificially alive by chemicals but it’s a zero sum game because eventually, they will be able to sustain nothing even with chemicals.

But, nature is a wonderful thing, they can be brought back to life if you want to.

Yield and it’s ability to feed in monoculture systems is part of another massive and wider conversation but it can and is being done in a regenerative system on farms and ranches across the world….from small holdings of a few acres in the U.K. to cattle ranches the size of wales in Australia and the US.

Indeed the friend of mine who used to be on here has a fairly large farm, he is a “proper” farmer and he combines the regeneration theme right across the board from his soil to his community, these things are intrinsically linked as he has found out from his studies across the world.

Living healthy soil, living healthy crops, living healthy livestock, healthy food, living healthy community….he is putting his farm at the centre of his community, it’s a holistic approach and one that is badly needed if we want to survive. 
 

Spraying weed killer is exactly the same as having plastic lawn….it just does the earth no favours and by default you no favours.

[mC HULL 18,407]

1 hour ago, WILF said:

Of course it would, once you’d repaired the years of damage to the soil that weed killers, insecticides and chemical fertilisers had done to the soil….so, here is a fact, most British farm soils are all but dead….as in dead !

They now rely on being kept artificially alive by chemicals but it’s a zero sum game because eventually, they will be able to sustain nothing even with chemicals.

But, nature is a wonderful thing, they can be brought back to life if you want to.

Yield and it’s ability to feed in monoculture systems is part of another massive and wider conversation but it can and is being done in a regenerative system on farms and ranches across the world….from small holdings of a few acres in the U.K. to cattle ranches the size of wales in Australia and the US.

Indeed the friend of mine who used to be on here has a fairly large farm, he is a “proper” farmer and he combines the regeneration theme right across the board from his soil to his community, these things are intrinsically linked as he has found out from his studies across the world.

Living healthy soil, living healthy crops, living healthy livestock, healthy food, living healthy community….he is putting his farm at the centre of his community, it’s a holistic approach and one that is badly needed if we want to survive. 
 

Spraying weed killer is exactly the same as having plastic lawn….it just does the earth no favours and by default you no favours.

A farmer nearly 100 know a bit more than me but here goes 

Victoriana times when fertiliser was used first places like the Yorkshire wolds which is basically a bit a sandy soil on chalk was shite for crops they had to grazesheep then use the fields now its the best cereal land in the country impossible without chemical fertiliser 

[WILF 52,948]

8 minutes ago, mC HULL said:

A farmer nearly 100 know a bit more than me but here goes 

Victoriana times when fertiliser was used first places like the Yorkshire wolds which is basically a bit a sandy soil on chalk was shite for crops they had to grazesheep then use the fields now its the best cereal land in the country impossible without chemical fertiliser 

So it should grow live stock…..it can only artificially grow wheat and that comes at the expense of destroying the soil !

Nature always tells you what’s best.

Ill also add, it need a chemicals to grow a monoculture crop but may not need chemicals in a mixed planting scheme in conjunction with over sowing, the soil can be adjusted naturally…..that farmer is just spewing what he has been told all his life by the same government bodies that get sponsored by the likes of Monsanto and Bayer !

 

Edited 4 hours ago by WILF

[low plains drifter 11,730]

I notice a combination of both animal manure and later in the season what looks to be growmore being spread by farm contractors on the local fields , which used to be amongst the best grey partridge land in the country at one time, even now as the houses are being built on them the place is full of skylarks

[WILF 52,948]

1 minute ago, low plains drifter said:

I notice a combination of both animal manure and later in the season what looks to be growmore being spread by farm contractors on the local fields , which used to be amongst the best grey partridge land in the country at one time, even now as the houses are being built on them the place is full of skylarks

If we want to really climb down a rabbit hole, manure is full of weed killer residue and chemical treatments for animals…..!! 
But a closed circle regenerative operation don’t need any of that because everything feeds itself just as nature intended, regenerative almost eliminates inputs.

Ive never routinely medicated any of my livestock because I have to eat it and hey presto !….none of them died ! 
 

[WILF 52,948]

Now, I’m a rank amateur and don’t profess to have any farming knowledge of capabilities beyond any other random lad you could lift out of a council estate…..but I did study this subject extensively.

Now, over here it’s all cattle in the main and the given wisdom is “the bigger, the better”, killed at 30 months, start again along with all the prescribed medication/worming programmes as set down by the ministry !

My postman has 300 cattle and his bagged feed bill alone every month is €1800 !

But, during the course of my reading and studying I came across a breed of cattle called Australian Low Lines, which are a small breed Angus….they were bred for Australia to see if they could get a low input type because of drought and low forage etc.

They are like hens teeth over here because basically they don’t look anything like the standard size cow !…..so farmers don’t give them a second look. 
However, their carcass weights consistently out perform standard cattle by % meat to bone….so you can get more meat for an animal 1/3 or half the size !! 
Also, because they are small they don’t poach the land as much so are much kinder.

So, I bought half a dozen…..it was like a circus, farmers pulling up outside to look at these strange little cattle !…..having a chuckle to themselves.

I over wintered them cows in my shed, they cost me €2 per beast, per week to feed and they only ate silage and they all made weight !

When I told these farmers that, they stopped laughing !…..none of them can do that in the ministry system, none of them !

I also never medicated them once, I used to sprinkle garlic powder on the silage !…..they were in class condition ! 
Just shows, the system is designed for the system, not for better outcomes.

 

[WILF 52,948]

No inputs, no medication, just grass that hasn’t seen a chemical since I lived here.

[Halfhound 1,118]

Do you think your system would work at a bigger scale WILF? What your saying all makes sense but from what I can make out from this cattle game it’s no different from horses your trying to produce something that the market wants to buy. And in Ireland that is big cattle. Big difference farming for fun and making it into a business. I’m scratching my head on a daily basis seeing the bills that land here