SE MT | northerngrazer - 1/30/2023 07:41
My criticisms have always been that it concentrates a lot of nutrients in one spot in the pasture, which inevitably results in nitrogen leaching, and that if you're taking bales from your good hayfields to put on your bad pastures, you're really just robbing Peter to pay Paul rather than 'fixing' anything. Of course, many bale grazing advocates will counter the second point by pointing out that they buy their hay from their neighbours rather than growing it themselves, as "the true cost of production is at least $100/ton, and I can buy it from my dumb neighbour for $75/ton, so it's a no-brainer!", which is all fine and dandy as long as you're willing to admit that you're no better than Tyson or JBS, exploiting some vulnerable old rancher who never had a chance to get away to a Ranching for Profit school like you did. Any system built on exploiting others for undervalued labour or commodities is in my eyes inherently unsustainable, and not what we need in our dying rural communities. Anyway, enough of that. Clearly that's a sore spot for me.
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Yes, I would say you’re pretty sore about something.
No better than the meat packers? you’re saying that someone who is buying hay that his neighbor put up for sale and paid his asking price is taking advantage of a person who will not spend $5000 to educate themselves, but will spend 10/20 times that on a tractor purchase or a pick up purchase order or anything else that he thinks make him money ?
That is victim mentality thinking. Capitalism is still involved in this nation at least for now, now that does not fix all of the nations soil health degradation problems, but it does keep the ranchers that are using their mind and looking for the best possible solutions on the land .
And how about this curveball, we are far from knowing exactly what we are doing. We are in our infancy in our journey, we are still figuring things out as we go, but are moving forward with both eyes open. What about the neighbors who talk to neighbors who think we are failing, but then start making changes on their operation because they can see That things could be better. If all we are doing is taking advantage of our neighbors, what is it 1/2 a dozen neighbors begin to mimic what you were doing because you took the first step up the trail, and they followed behind. ?
As for the nutrient side, I do agree that taking it from the hayfield to put on other areas is still taking nutrients from one area and depositing it in another. But if my hayfield is going almost 2 tons to the acre on a decent year, and I have bare ground (hardpan) that is growing absolutely nothing, than me being able to jumpstart that soil and grass and get grass growing is like me buying ground every year just for the cost of those bales. I feel that if I can jumpstart that ecosystem, then eventually, it will takeoff on its own, but you have to begin somewhere. I don’t claim to have all of the answers, but I do believe if ranchers started fixing their places economically first, the soil health aspect will follow behind, and it must be that way not the reverse.
Edited by dieselfume1 1/30/2023 08:32
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Our start to bale grazing
