Part of the fertilizer crew

Chicken manure grows pretty good grass.    Permanent pasture can take a lot of manure.  As long as it is not too concentrated.  How does it get concentrated?  By leaving the animals in place too long.  With most day ranging or free ranging models, the manure distribution is too thick in places and too thin in others.  When we had our pastured layers, we moved the shelter and fences every three days, and gave the pasture approximately 90 days rest before the hens would return to the same spot in the pasture.     Most parasites can’t live without their host after 30 days, and the by the time the hens returned, the rapidly growing grass had utilized all their manure.

feathernet

 

By raising the Cornish Cross meat birds in the floorless, moveable shelter we can really grow grass in a permaculture fashion.  The chickens have a clean, well rested portion of the pasture each day, and in return for me providing said pasture, they deposit their mineral rich manure and the grass grows like gang busters.  And I have to say here right now that I don’t worry about growing my garden as much as I do growing enough grass.  Our recent dry May had me working in the garden, but all the while I was fretting about the growth, or lack of growth in our pastures.  Our perennial plants do more for the ecosystem than the annuals we plant in the gardens.  Less than 1% of our land is under cultivation, the rest is permanent pasture or forest.  With intensive rotational grazing approximately 98% of our farm is at rest.  That means we are getting pretty good at solar capture, and by keeping succession at a higher level we are seeing more diversity, and less pest outbreaks in our gardens.  We humans are pretty good at only seeing one thing at a time, but really in nature, there is always an overlap and a connection.  We just have a hard time seeing it.

 

 These photos were taken 10 days ago, and about 10 days after the chickens were put on pasture.  I just followed the path of the pen and took photos to show how quickly the grass recovers and begins growing.

 From a distance it is hard to see the path of the chicken shelter.  The pen route curves to the left. 

 What the chickens don’t graze they trample and deposit manure on.   

 The area in the top left of the photo shows where I laid down straw for bedding on a rainy night.  It will only add to the growth of this spot.  The chickens had a comfortable dry bed, and I had peace of mind knowing they weren’t sleeping on the cold wet ground. 

 

 

The chickens are traveling around the garden.  I suppose I don’t really need extra grass growth in the garden headland, but the adjacent pasture is for hay, so here they are, and really I have been grazing this area with Della, and she is easier to get along with than the tractor.   Plus it makes for great milk! 

 Up close, pretty high impact, but during the growing season this is just fine.

The view from the back of the pen.  Pretty thick, but it is like money in the bank.  When we quit compartmentalizing our animals, and highlight their attributes, we win.   Stacking and reciprocity.  The feed I am buying becomes meat, and fertilizer for the grass via the chicken.  Then cow grazes the grass before the chicken, and after proper rest, the cow can graze this area again making more meat and milk.  Both species provide extra fertilizer for the garden that is nearby.  One big system, if the human cares to function within that system.    I have to say it is enjoyable in the evening to work in the garden and hear the contented sounds of the chickens eating and socializing, and the cows grazing nearby.  The swallows love the gnats that congregate on the chicken manure, and in their sweeping dives, they eat any mosquitoes or flies nearby.   

So many tasks on modern day farms are handled by machines and are single purpose activities, turning a farming life into a dull monotone of tasks, looked down upon as a dreaded chore.  Raise the chickens for meat.  Mow the damn grass and weeds in the headland.  Put the milking machine of the cow.  Buy feed for the cow, it’s too much trouble to grow.  It is all in how we choose to view our place on our land and in the world.  A farmer friend I know, grows berries.  He has been taught, and he has taught his children, and grandchildren that his berries are no better and have no distinction from the cannery berries.  He pays workers to pick his berries and he takes them to the cannery.  Then he brings home berries from the cannery that come from another farm.  He sees no difference, and he doesn’t see he is just going through the motions.  The thought of bringing a crate of those berries into the farmhouse kitchen to process for the freezer is just more work.  His best friend has a dairy, and you guessed it, he sells all his milk as fluid milk, and buys milk replacer for his calves, and does not bring a drop of that milk to his house.  Now they are under the gun, it is costing more to produce those berries and milk than they are being paid.  Do they adapt and change, no they keep on doing the same thing over and over.  Both live next to a huge metropolitan area, hungering for food grown nearby, they could name their price and throw the doors open and the hordes would come.  But like the rest of their lives, they view it as a us vs. them situation.  It’s easier to continue doing the same ol’, same ol’ than it is to change a little and try to learn a new technique or way to sell the products that they raise.  They are both great farmers, caring for the land in their way, but by treating it as a job they are shorting themselves and their farming days are numbered.  Sad, because those farms will become housing developments soon….

Egad, sorry for sticking that rant in there.
 

Grasses and clover awaiting the treatment from the chickens. 

The fertilizer crew!

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