By Gabe Brown, Understanding Ag, LLC
I recently read an article in a regional magazine focusing on the importance of electricity for rural consumers. I certainly will not argue the need for farms to have a stable supply of reasonably priced electricity; however, one of the reasons stated caused me to pause.
A farmer being interviewed stated, “Our calving facility,” for example, “there’s furnaces in there. When it’s 30 below in February, when we’re calving out cows, regardless of what those cost us, we have to run them, because it’s the cost of doing business. Either we let those calves freeze to death, or we turn the heaters on.”
What?? To me, it’s not a question of turning heaters on or not, it’s a question of why in the world would anyone be calving out cows when the temperature is minus 30???
I then had to pause because, way back when, I did the same thing. I calved heifers in February and cows in March, in North Dakota. Talk about foolishness! I spent way too many sleepless nights putting cows in a barn and attempting to keep newborn calves from freezing. Fortunately, as my holistic thought process evolved, I came to my senses, realizing that there was no way that calving out of synch with nature made any sense at all.
I remember telling an elderly friend of mine what I was going to do, and he responded, “Gabe, when do the deer give birth? If you calve when nature wants you to, your troubles will go away.
I made the switch at once. I simply turned the bulls out on July 22 as opposed to May 20th. The next spring, my cows started calving the last few days in April. On May 5th a snowstorm moved in. It only lasted a few days, but it showed me that I was still calving too early. That summer I held the bulls out until August 5th. Nearly twenty years have passed, and I haven’t had to calve in a snowstorm again. Problem solved!
I also found that most of other calving issues such as heavy birthweights, abnormal presentations and other abnormalities went away as well. My friend was right, calving in synchrony with nature is easy!
The article also got me thinking about other how many other things that were once an issue when I wasn’t working with nature instead of against her. For instance, early in my farming career I used insecticide treated seed and GMO seeds. By focusing on providing the home and habitat for beneficial predatory insects I no longer need to spend my money and time on such things.
With over 1,700 beneficial and indifferent insect species for every pest specie, why wouldn’t we all move away from using those treatments? All we are really doing by using them is to ensure that we will need to use them again because we are killing the beneficials along with the pest!
The same holds true for pests that affect livestock such as worms and lice. For worms, I simply do a better job of managing grazing. Moving the animals before they graze a plant to low and allowing longer recovery and rest time between grazing and worm infestations are no longer an issue. For lice I simply stopped using insecticides and kept the cattle on pasture all year. Although we did have a few cows “fall out of the herd” early on, the combination of zero insecticides and not keeping the animals confined has alleviated the lice issue.
One of the most profitable benefits from working with nature for me came by allowing the animals to graze for as long as possible throughout the year. Instead of spending all of the summer putting up hay and hauling hay, only to haul it to the cows all winter and haul their manure out onto the fields in the spring, I now stockpile forage and allow the animals to graze. Sure, there are times when snow, or ice, prevents it but those times become fewer and further between once the epigenetics of your animals allows them the ability to do so. During the winter of 2023 and 24, we fed the cows hay for only 11 days and during the winter of 2024 and 25 we did not feed the cows any hay. What a money saver!! Work with nature instead of against her!
The same can occur with nutrient cycling. Above every surface acre of earth there is approximately 32,000 tons of atmospheric nitrogen. Why do farmers spend money on nitrogen when it can be had for free? Simply plant species that have the ability to form associations with rhizobia that can use that atmospheric nitrogen. Working to promote healthy populations of protozoa and beneficial nematodes in your soil have similar positive benefits.
I am glad that I read that article as it reminded me that the positive benefits that can be had from working with nature instead of against it can be never-ending. We simply need to allow it to happen.
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