Allan Savory: Hope for Reversing Desertification and Climate Change - What You Can Do

I've seen mini farms sustain cattle with 1 acre per heffer. Graze half, shift repeat without migrating.

 

The key to this is it is adaptive, based on environmental factors, grass species and grazing livestock.

 

No, if you have one head per acre and you have 85 acres you have 85 head on 85 acres. .....Mob grazing puts 85 head as close as possible for a short time. Say you put 85 head on one acre for one day and and 85 head in the next acre for one day and so forth. You will have cattle in one place concentrated. They will trample and deficate in every square foot of land instead of spreading out over all 85 acres at once. They will poop and pee over every square inch of land fertilizing it.And the land gets to rest for 84 days in a row growing fodder as it does.

 

Thanks for explaining it that way. I would just add that once these methods have been applied and the soil becomes regenerated, the animal units increases too. The acre can support more animal, at least that is what I would expect.

 

Isn't this just the same old fenced and cross fenced method thats been going on forever? I see nothing new here.
As far as the OP though it's about very dry parts of Africa and I'm not sure you would have grass regenerate this fast. Seems to me you'd need additional acreage.

 

During times of drought you need a sacrifice pasture. We had a doosy in 2016. The sacrifice pasture to keep livestock on...and a place to feed imputs till rain returns. Then seed the sacrifice pasture to recover.

 

There is nothing new under the sun. This method works for good land management. The method can also be adapted for different situations....in Africa wild animals mob graze...they are concentrated. ...not by people but by predators...the predators keep the herds bunched up.

 

In nature there's unlimited land for this kind of grazing. In Africa that is so arid you need lots of time in between grazings for grass to regenerate. Seems only logical this would require additional acreage.
Now though let's get to the Crux of the matter. In the OP this is all about AGW and carbon seausequestration. Wouldn't it be better to promote vegetarian diets than to promote grazing cattle in any fashion?

 

Managed rotational increases soil moisture content, mitigating drought conditions.

 

Only in books. In the real world the ground dries out during a drought no matter what

 

You need to read a book on soil. Dry soils without vegetation dry as hard as a rock and water rather than soaking in. Ground dries up during a drought yes but ground with roots in the soil and organic matter will dry slowly and when it does rain the water will stay put reducing flash flooding. You need a ground cover to reduce the severity of droughts and flash flooding. Livestock can be used to build soil rather than overgrazing and depleting lt. Savory demonstrates how livestock can be used to benefit the environment rather than the destruction of it.

 

Please listen to what Savory says before presenting an argument. Or I will be forced to call your argument feckless.

 

You need to read less books and get out into the real world. In my real life experience drought conditions dry the soil so deep it turns to powder even under a shaded forest canopy. The soil becomes so dry so deep that a big wind mows trees down because they have nothing but dust to hang on to.

 

Not sure what your disagreement is here. You disagree that raising livestock is a big contributor to AGW and that going vegetarian is something true believers should do?

Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say
Research led by Oxford Martin School finds widespread adoption of vegetarian diet would cut food-related emissions by 63% and make people healthier too"

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...s-meat-vegetarianism-dangerous-global-warming

 

Widespread adoption of an idea that only addresses half the problem. It's like this, sustainable is not sustainable. The soil must be regenerated to address greenhouse gas emissions. Regenerated soil mitigates drought conditions. So, really people should eat more meat, but be picky about it. Only buy meat from farms using soil regenerating methods, e.g. grass finished beef or pasture raised chickens and eggs.

 

Good luck with that message in the AGW community but then again maybe they will !ove it. They can have their meat and eat it too. That fits right in with everything else they do in their lives.

 

The above post is a load of horse manure. All green plants will develop deeper root systems when deprived of water. It is an abundance of water that causes shallow root systems...besides, trees usually do okay during drought conditions except newly transplanted seedlings. It is the plants man depends on that suffer during drought conditions.

 

Guess all those windfalls I limbed and bucked with roots exposed showing nothing but powdery dust was a figment of my imagination.

 

Trolls usually have a vivid imagination. Are you just a troll? I wonder. You seem to be obsessed with the AGW crowd...as if you found an ideology to hate.

 

Well this seems to be the pattern in here. When someone is losing a debate they switch over to personal attacks. Have a nice day.

 

You are trying to convince me that winds blew down trees because of dry ground. These trees are how old? They have been growing fir how long? The roots should extend 2/3 deep as the tree is tall. And these trees are how tall? And these roots are also growing where there are no rocks to hold on to? ...........Got pics?....anything other than hearsay?

 

You do know a weed is harder to pull in dry ground and easier to pull in damp ground?

 

I logged for over forty years in every state in the west and all I can tell you is what I saw with my own eyes. If you don't care to believe it that's fine but it's a well known fact in this part of the country that drought conditions followed by high winds lead to massive blow down events. Entire timber sales are set up to salvage these trees before they are worthless and I can tell you it's very dangerous work to go into these tangled up messes and try to get everything limbed and bucked. The Root wads are completely exposed clinging on to nothing but rocks they have grown around while all the dirt that is now just dust falls right off.

 

I used to cut pulpwood in Alabama and the only trees That I have ever seen blown down....other than Hurricane force winds was....lets see....never. Trees blown over during wind storms had shallow root systems...and this comes from plenty of water being available for most of its lifetime.

 

Hey guys, You both have valid points. But what we are talking about is drought mitigation by regenerating soils. When soil has greater moisture retention, droughts are mitigated.