USING COWS TO INCORPORATE BIOCHAR INTO SOIL

This video is about using cows to incorporate biochar and hay to make soil.

[@Flumstead]

Trampling big pieces biochar into soft puggy clay soil also helps. It improves drainage and firms the soil over time. Good work.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thats a good tip. Biochar has lots of uses it would be interesting to see them all listed. John

[@TLFarm]

Brilliant stuff buddy. Saves bashing it to pieces by hand 💪

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

It is one of my better idea's it really works great. John

[@TLFarm]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 we're using biochar under our raised goat house & in with our chickens to. Fanatic stuff, but unlike you, we unfortunately have to crush ours up before applying it. Thanks for the video, we're enjoying them 😉

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@TLFarm I usually crush it I just had the idea with the cattle to save energy. John

[@bennywalsh2038]

Love your vids on biochar. I'm using it bigtime to build soil where even weeds refuse to grow. The manure/straw concern is legit for gardeners. The glyphosate herbicide broad leaf weed killer most farmers use here remains in the cut straw and also passes through the animals system and is in urine and manure. It will survive in garden beds and severely damage any broad leaf greens you grow. So straw and manure is out unless you know the farm doesn't spray this shit. I drive 60 miles to pick up horse manure that is just scrapped of the pasture and piled up and from a pasture that isn't sprayed.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

We don't use glyphosate or any spray on our hay paddocks rather have a few weeds in our hay than poison. actually if you keep the grass in the hay paddock healthy you dont get weeds here where we are. John

[@simonkellett5002]

I have heard of people feeding the biochar to cattle to get them to incorporate it. Have you noticed them trying to eat it?

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

No I even tried putting mollases on it and they wont eat it I think you would have to grind it up like powder. One thing I do know, it is about the only thing that will save cows if they eat lantana as long as you catch it early enough. I know of a mob around here who bought cattle from away here on adgistment and they were dying and they started feeding it in feed and it saved the rest. John

[@thecurrentmoment]

When I make a pile of biochar the cattle come and help themselves to it they even bit open a bag to get into it. Mind you, we do feed them a lot of new things, might need some training

[@Garandmasthumb]

I found a way to create a super soil. I get composted leaf dirt and composted mulch and ad a little bit of bio char. the composted mulch is basically a summer branch with leaves on it ratio of wood to green matter. once the mulch starts to compost or you see a white fungus when you move it its ready. you can't comprehend how active this stuff is!!! I get mulch by the truckload for my small garden and no matter how much I put on its completely gone in 3-6 months im talking 1-3 feet deep. ive even gone to plain wood chips to slow down the composting but that's really not slowing down to much at all. the reason I want to slow it down is to keep the moisture level even all year long and insulate in the winter.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Sounds Great lately I have been adding watered down molasses over our compost biochar mix and that has made a lot of moldy sort of fungus like you described. John

[@Garandmasthumb]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 focus on the wood chips get them piled and composting with leaves n grasses ect your looking for the michorhizal fungi,that beaks down wood and organics. Let nature do the work! Last yea I had a single pumpkin plant take up 1/4 acre. Tomatoes never stop growing and this is northern Indiana.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@Garandmasthumb Sounds like you have it worked out. I don't know much about the weather in the US I know its the opposite season to us and I know it gets a lot colder than here but thats about it. John

[@Garandmasthumb]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 You should do a test spot find a 8x8 area along a wooded area drag as much soil leaves ect... from inside the wooded area and place on top of your 8x8.mix a thin layer of inoculated biochar then pile as large amount of wood mulch/green mixture 3-6 ft high wait 6 months for the pile to cook then spread evenly. pull the covering back and plant in the dirt until the plant is big enough to cover. once you get the white fungus in the wood chip compost it will break down anything organic as fast as you can pile it.with the wooded area being networked to your 8x8 then entire wooded area will feed your garden through the fungi network. most people don't understand the actual process of how plant life actually feeds . there's a book if you can find it called mycorrhizal symbiosis.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@Garandmasthumb Thanks for that I will try to get that book do you know who wrote it may help me to find it. John

[@jasonscott7803]

👍✌️

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks. John

[@hodenhorst6077]

I have heard that a grinding size of 0-2mm works best.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks. I don't know if any real long term tests have been done. John

[@garyhaslam5735]

anything that saves you time ..money has to be a good thing.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

I agree Gary and when it works well is even better. I think the idea is going to work out real good. I think it will take a while once put out to really see a result our soil is pretty good anyway but I think it will give long lasting results. John

[@darylvandenbrink]

Mix the biochar in with the molasses as Doug Pow does. Then the cows will eat it, grind it up and incorporate it into their manure. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXuzoHyqh7yMibM kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJK4gYWwfs1mes0