One of the 6 principles of soil health. Integrating Livestock with rented sheep.

One of Gabe Brown's (Understanding Ag) six principles for soil health is to integrate Livestock. Grow cover crops and have animals graze them through intensive grazing. In a certain pasture, the animals graze moderately, manage not to overeat, and then move to the next pasture. In this way, the cover crops send carbon produced by photosynthesis to the roots for growth again, and transfer it to microorganisms in the rhizosphere, increasing carbon storage. At the same time, the animals defecate and urinate in the pasture, which supplements the fertilizer required for growth. In addition, it is said that animals walking on the pasture have a massage effect on the soil.

9月に来た羊の写真

Allan Savory, an ecologist from Zimbabwe, Africa, has advocated holistic management, which says that by moving livestock appropriately, it is possible to not only halt desertification but also restore green areas. In the film " to which we blong, " Savory argues that integrating livestock into agriculture is not optional, but essential.

Field farming and dairy farming have been separated for some time, but at the end of the road to regenerative agriculture, it may be time to integrate livestock. However, this was thought to be a fairly high hurdle, but Mr. Arima from MRJ started raising three rental sheep for about two weeks on July 3rd. The idea for these rental sheep was born and realized when Mr. Miyamoto (president), Mr. Minagawa (ranch manager), Mr. Mineshita, and Mr. Kaneda from Shakotan Shiokaze Sheep of Nagareyama Co., Ltd. participated in MRJ.

This photo shows the seven new sheep that arrived in September thru October.

Integrating livestock is not an easy task. As the number of cover crop species (families) increases, biodiversity also increases, and when the flowers bloom, pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies gather. It is not good to think of the return of wild creatures such as microorganisms, insects, small animals, and birds as pests or vermin, but the idea of regenerative agriculture is to increase diversity and restore the cycle of the ecosystem. Should we make living creatures our allies or enemies? We would like to think about how to overcome this challenge in practice.