Greg Judy - 2015 Keynote NOFA/Mass Winter Conference

[@NS-pf2zc]

It's truly ridiculous how much this man has inspired us.

[@JIMPONYD]

Thank you for posting your video.

[@downbntout]

Boo to Mr. Judy's dissing goats. Any goat, any goat, that has its needs met and is fenced with a fence that has a hot wire on top will stay in, stick to work and be happy. It needs adequate space, a clean place to lie down, proper food to eat, clean drinkin' water, and herdmates. Isn't that about same as you? Edit: don't breed a dairy goat if you don't want to get into a milking schedule. Otherwise I have great respect for this man's accomplishments. Solid wisdom.

[@Jefferdaughter]

Autumn olive also produces a tasty berry for human food, and/or for wildlife. Autumn olive also provides excellent cover for wildlife, including ground nesting birds. And, it fixes nitrogen, helping to heal land that has been damaged by tillage and/or set-stock style grazing.

[@downbntout]

Jefferdaughter How can I obtain some please? Will Russian Olive have those properties too?

[@Jefferdaughter]

Somehow, many people including biologists, ecologists, environmental activists, etc - forget that plant and animal communities co-evolved. Animals are not damaging to the land or to plant communities- the plants NEED animals. Not just grasslands, and savannas - which vary from treed-dotted grasslands to open woodland with grasses and other understory plants; woodlands and forests also evolved with wood bison, elk, moose, caribou (inhabitants of the north woods in states bordering Canada not that long ago), etc.The damage occurs when humans interfere. Primarily in chopping up open land and disturbing the movement of animals and herds of herbivores. Segregating animal species and holding them in one place on one piece of ground was one of the most destructive things humans have ever done.Along with plowing.And the production of plastics.

[@downbntout]

Jefferdaughter Correct. Plants need animals on at the right time and off at the right time, and animals need to move onto fresh forage. It's all an elegant symphony.

[@Jefferdaughter]

A few generations ago, beef was not considered to be beef until it was four years old or so. Aside from milk-fed calves, cattle younger than that were considered to be inferior as beef. Like the savvy chefs who have discovered that spent laying hens have much more flavor than the 8 to 10 or week old modern Cornish-Rock cross meat chickens, mature beef was considered to have much more flavor. Many of those cattle were used for draft power, so they were paying their way.Now, to pay the bills, beef cattle have to be fattened and marketed under 24 months, or so.

[@sheilamertz6109]

Jefferdaughter k

[@downbntout]

A link to the afternoon session, please?

[@jamesanderson677]

SELECTIVE versus NON-SELECTIVE grazing. • There is confusion between SEVERE grazing and OVERgrazing. Overgrazing is related to the time a plant is allowed to recover after severe grazing. Continuous SELECTIVE overgrazing at low animal impact is the problem with conventional management that has to be addressed. • There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that non-selective grazing results in a lower level of nutrition and poorer body condition. There is also no doubt about the fact that improved grass utilisation occurs (higher stocking rate) and that plant species composition changes in favour of more productive (higher stocking rate) and more nutritious plants (alleviates poor condition). • Most protagonists of intensive grazing advocate “grazing the top third of plants” to allow animals an improved nutrient intake. What is the chance of my cattle only eating the top 1/3 of ALL grass species and leaving 2/3s behind?..ZERO Notice that even under UHDG they leave most of the very unpalatable Palens grass and graze the rest of the species almost 💯 pct... There is no way that grazing the top third of all plants in a diverse community of plants can be achieved, unless animals are trained or bred to do so. Any animal will graze selectively if given the choice. Therefore, instead of grazing the top third they will selectively graze a third of the material on offer - some individual plants will be grazed to a varying degree and some will be left ungrazed. The ultimate result is better body condition at the expense of stocking rate and species composition. • A far better option is to address body condition via genotype (high relative intake), rumen supplementation (minerals, protein, urea and probiotic), synchronising production with natural nutrition (calve, breed and wean during the period of best nutrition) and shorter grass recovery (higher nutrient concentration) at critical times. In regard to a shorter recovery period this applies more to low octane grazing. Deliberately shortening the recovery periods must be done with the provisos of grazing “non-selectively” and alternating these intensively grazed areas with long recovery in the long term. Non-selective “overgrazing” in combination with high animal impact and alternate longer recovery results in good species composition and maximum profit / unit of land. There is a serious disconnect in the Holistic Management group between cattle and grass. References: Johann Zietsman and Jaime Elizondo kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJbYg6x6gdODqdk kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnvMn4xvYqt1n8U profitableranching.com/Profitable_Ranching/THE_Book.html