Permaculture Patterning with Animal Systems - Part 1

[@theJustinRhodesShow]

So cool to see you filming yourself and those beautiful systems. What a great resource here. Thanks so much for taking the time to share.

[@tonyschakenbos]

Beautifull farm/forest..! Im 2years busy with a new farm in Spain. Very dry and windy, but making progress because of permaculture. Thank you for giving me(and my family) a future.

[@davidkirinic9463]

Do you have farm somewhere around Seville?

[@tonyschakenbos]

@@davidkirinic9463 my farm is somewhere in Aragon Zaragoza.

[@savedfaves]

@@tonyschakenbos Send a photo.

[@carolewarner101]

Love seeing the excitement of cows being released into a new paddock!

[@blarknee7672]

I especially like the concentrating of their manure during the night, what an opportunity to harvest from!

[@jungojerry1658]

I'm amazed at the simplicity you bring to a rather complex system. I wish I was younger so I could get involved somehow.

[@jozefdebeer9807]

Great vid, great farm bud. I am proud of you and trying to learn as much as possible from you. Well you and many others. I am half way through Mycelium Running. I have a small yard where I am attempting permaculture.

[@tylersingleton9284]

Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard is a great book that explains animal pasturing well.

[@lorkson]

Some time lapse footage of the grazing system would be great.

[@davedrewett2196]

lorkson if it’s a really long rotation and allowed to fully recover then it’s not a big problem. The advantages of taking it right down is that you don’t get selective grazing and then non palatable domination and therefore less species diversity. You also get very good pulsing effect by crashing it right down like Geoff is doing. The dominant grass is setaria which is a very deep rooted perennial grass that really pumps the biomass. It appears he is grazing it at its optimum growth level for nutrients and in a subtropical peak growing time like it is total crash does work well. The most important aspect is high impact and total recovery. Those things are being achieved. I know Alan savoury advises a different strategy but many of Alan’s holistic managers have gone to a total forage use model and are getting better animal health outcomes and species diversity.

[@ryanbarr4910]

Excellent system, Geoff! Thank you for sharing!

[@alisonbender8611]

Thank you for the small talk

[@LibertyGarden]

How do you keep the wire hot with so much vegetation grounding it?

[@FoxtrotYouniform]

lots of weird little details like that which make you wonder what all of this looks like behind the scenes

[@wilderfarmstead]

Hi Geoff, I know your answering questions from students in your PDC right now but I thought I'd give this a shot. I am raising muscovy ducks here in Northeast Alabama Zone 7b. Would you film a video on your muscovy duck system, what they forage on, their shelter, etc.? I'd love to see another example of someone working with this incredible animal!

[@futurecaredesign]

Would someone be able to give the dimensions of those swales? I estimate them to be about 3 meters from one edge of the ditch to the other (not counting the berm). But how deep would they be? A good shot can be seen at 5:05. I really like these shallow swales, they seem to fit much better into a gently sloping landscape, and due to their width can still uptake a huge amount of water.

[@DiscoverPermaculture]

Futurecare Design 2 m across the swale trench

[@futurecaredesign]

@@DiscoverPermaculture Cheers for the quick response! What is the depth at the deepest point?

[@PerimeterPermaculture]

A great question. These swales are "cow-scale".

[@danam2584]

Glad to see your getting rain.

[@shanekonarson]

Hey Geoff , is there any chance you could do a Video about Natural Sequence Farming methods . Or next q and A ? Cheers.

[@emilmoldovan1789]

Just beautiful

[@jon2140]

Looks amazing. Just wondering what bread are the blue/black cows we see right at the end of the video? Are they the blue line back? Thanks in advance. Be well

[@nobodyspecial3338]

Geoff do your cows eat the Singapore daisies? Thanks for your great work! 🇦🇺

[@allanturpin2023]

Hi Geoff. I think a time lapse sequence to demonstrate your grazing technique might really help get the point across if you ever have the time. But I really wanted to ask, in a previous vid you showed a clip of a neighbors property where they graze cattle... far less for the cattle to eat (quantity and quality) plus runoff and erosion. Setting aside the other yields and benefits, is it possible for you to estimate the amount of space your neighbor would need to supply their cattle with an equivalent amount of fodder? So, let's say for the sake of argument that the fenced in area you opened up to your cattle in this vid is 100 square meters. Would your neighbor need 500 square meters for the same amount of fodder? 1000 square meters? More? Thanks. Al

[@masonlearns]

I'm no expert but I would look into the amount of rest and access to the fodder more than the area available. Like savories holistic management

[@allanturpin2023]

@@masonlearns- Well, I realize my question is both imprecise and a bit like "other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln", except on a positive subject, but I'm asking Geoff about his land and climate. Savory's work was on desertified grasslands in Africa, Greg Judy says his N. American grasslands became 4 times more productive while building soil with mob grazing, Salatin is in Virginia I believe... ... but their practices and climates differ, and I am interested in a comparison between Geoff's land and his neighbor's. Thank you for your response though.

[@chakiperdomo1372]

Thanks..

[@plumerault]

Hi Geoff, can you explain the link with "patterns" ? I don't see it very obviously in this video. thanks !

[@bunyiphoopsnake5870]

I have been cursing my Singapore daisy on the creek. Do chooks eat this?

[@ericvocke2604]

Beautiful !

[@Grown-in-Tyrone]

just wondering about the electric fence around the birds. Don't you have to keep it clear of grass etc or it trips out? Or is this a different kind of fence?

[@DiscoverPermaculture]

Lynne Smyth it is not electrified it just the net well pegged down with tent pegs and pulled inwards at the bottom.

[@Grown-in-Tyrone]

@@DiscoverPermaculture ahh, so it's to keep the birds in, not predators out. Always losing my hens to fox sadly. People say electric fence is only answer but it doesn't sound very practical if you have to keep it clear of interference. Maybe you don't have foxes?

[@akinyicolang69]

very interesting

[@justuslightworkers]

The issue we are being presented with as we begin our endevour into permaculture...is protecting new plantings (i.e. small saplings, bushes, plants, food forest, veggie gardens) FROM getting devoured by animals. We want a happy coexistence, but our food is not always supposed to be their food.

[@b_uppy]

That one section shown does look a bit over grazed if you are interested in fast grass growth recovery and carbon sequestration.

[@Abeta.S.A]

Great farm

[@oppenheim11238]

thumbs up brother

[@Iivingroomforest]

Do you get a magic mushroom yield from your cow patties?

[@daniel-san836]

an argument i've heard from a passionate animal sanctuary owner recently that i'm not going to comment on because i'm still in shock from what i saw on this property, but will leave it to this community to make peaceful, diplomatic responses without emotional attachment is- "these permaculture systems are cruel for channeling the animals using electric fencing.." her preference is to have all the animals living basically in one big open area with little to no grass or vegetation left, nitrates flooding the landscape etc, please be objective in your responses as there's a good chance she or her partner will read this (i linked them the video)

[@fandangos350]

#TioMGTOW

[@JE-ee7cd]

Great. 😃 The problem with cows is that they release a lot of methane, thus contributing to climate change. BUT research say that feeding them seaweed does not give them those gasses. 😃

[@DiscoverPermaculture]

JE we extend forest with our cows continuously increasing fertility and storing more carbon in the soil. We share their feed with forage trees, clumping perennial plants and mixed herbage pasture. Their methane release is probably less than the average city dwelling human.

[@numma9424]

JE actually it’s grain that causes the majority of the methane when they eat grass only which is their natural diet they produce way less methane with only a small amount of forest the methane they produce has no effect on the climate.

[@JE-ee7cd]

@@DiscoverPermaculture Interesting. So the small negative effects are compensated with a forest that absorbs carbon very well. 👍

[@JE-ee7cd]

@@numma9424 Good to know. 👍 So basically it's industrial grain fed beef that is the problem.

[@ricos1497]

@@JE-ee7cd Exactly. Grain fed cattle are essentially a mono-crop in the same way as the grain that feeds them are. It's the system that doesn't work.

[@akinyicolang69]

very interesting