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Livestock & Restoration Agriculture - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Ecological niches
        
        Definition
        
        A position or role taken by an organism within its ecological community
        
        Example
        
        In the oak savanna model, each woody plant species occupies a specific niche in the spatial structure of the system; all species require the support of others
      - Time niches
        
        Definition
        
        Locations in time within a single season. It helps understand succession in a bioregion. Some niches in time are thousands of years old in the making.
      - Available niches
        
        Definition
        
        incorporate beings that move into the calculus of both time and space (more challenging because we don't get to see the animal polycultures all at once in the same place at the same time.)
        
        for example, fewer people have experiences or are unfamiliar with animal polycultures.
        
        Animal polycultures constantly change in both place and in time.
        
        animals, left to themselves, will move to the place where they find the most or highest quality of whatever it is that they can eat at the time. Animals move to where the living is best
        
        people only see the animals that are occupying a single niche at any point in time
    - - what resources (food, water, shelter, reproduction sites, etc.) are available in a particular location
      - what resources are there during a particular time of the day or season
      - a successional phase whether it be bare black dirt, grassland, scrubland or early or late successional forest
  - - - time considerations take into account
        
        changes in the plant systems during a single season
        
        changes in the system through the years
    - - process of creating a viable ecological system based on natural patterns and relationships, that is perennial, and that produces staple foods, fuels, medicines and fibers for human beings while providing an increasing number of available niches for animals both wild and domestic.
        
        this definition makes me think of several permaculture principles such as
        
        replicate natural patterns
        
        each element performs different functions
        
        domesticated animals:
        
        help with weed control and pest control
        
        provide human beings with food, clothing and other materials
        
        additional income
        
        fertilization services (manure, preparing the soil, etc.)
        
        obtain a yield
        
        use and value diversity (here we are talking more about animal polycultures)
      - it is all about dynamic stability and ecological change through time
        
        perennialism is restored
        
        On a personal note, the organic soybeans statistics are quite shocking to me. Not funny to hear some arguments from vegans about their will to save animals, and yet, their diet destroys the animals' habitats and forces animals to get exterminated in order to grow their soy and all the other soy-based foods. (FYI, I love tofu, it is just sad to see that this "no-meat" movement actually impacts negatively animals that we are supposed to be saving in the first place.)
        
        a solution would be for the vegans that want to create new animal habitats, they could substitute annual crops (corn, soybeans) to perennial staple foods
        
        multitude of ecological niches are created which animals can and do colonize
        
        restoration agriculture plantings of edible woody species provide perches for diversity of wild birds (many of whom came to the system with their intestines preloaded with undesirable seeds)
    - - your location
      - available markets
      - personal preference
      - a goal being the establishment of a polyculture of animal species that provide weed control
      - fertility
      - certain degree of pest control for the woody cropping system
      - additional income
      - food
    - - The KEY is a carefully designed grazing system for a healthy pasture
        
        Lead-follower grazing system
        
        where 1 animal type is let into a paddock first. It has eaten its preferred foods in the 1st paddock, it is rotated to the next paddock and the next type of animal is turned in where the first just recently vacated.
        
        they out-produce other grazing systems for total. Each animal is allowed to eat its optimal foods first animal weight gain
        
        pastures are allowed ample recovery time before the original grazing animal returns to the initial paddock
        
        Silvopasture
        
        intentional combining of both livestock production and woody plants
        
        intensively managing an open-canopy tree and forage system (not letting the animals loose in the woods to graze)
        
        Forage/pasture health => Animal health => Human health
- - - - Overgrazing
        
        not enough feed for the animals
        
        their health and nutrition suffer
        
        land degradation and desertification
      - soil compaction
        
        no longer any roots penetration to drill channels for water to percolate down into or to add fibrous carbon to the soil
      - degrades pastures by removing more living plant matter than can regenerate before the next round of grazing happens
    - - Overgrazing
        
        Animals only eat their favorite forage when there is too much pasture to eat from. Due to poor management pasture practices, the less palatable forage stays behind, gets stronger, sets seed and soon enough, they invade the entire pasture, leaving no space for the favorite forage.
      - degrade pastures when not followed up by finish mowing or grazing with other animals in order to prevent undesirable plants from proliferating and setting seed
      - sheep are good to eat undesirable vegetation "finish mowers".
  - - - They take the first bite at the top of the most nutritious pasture and move on to the "next first bite" until all preferred pasture has been bitten. And they continue after to less nutritious forage.
      - Ideally:
        A- start with young calves for the highest nutrient demand. Before their second bite stage, move them to the second pasture
        B- bring the lactating cows in the first pasture. Heavier milk producers cows first and lighter milk producers after
        C- Dry cows after.
    - - They eat pretty much everything. The ultimate clean-up tool. They plow the ground and eat plants and roots until there are none left.
      - Useful to the farmers when they want to disturb the soil in order to plant a new crop
      - Hogs can really diminish forage health by rooting it all up (the forage wouldn't achieve optimal productivity and optimum health)
        
        Author recommends nose-rings so they don't root, they just graze
        
        but, we learned in class that it is more of a moral issue and animal wellfare. It would be going against their own nature (DNA), pigs love to root, let them root, just place them in areas that are suitable for rooting :smiley:
        We also learned that they aren't really meant for pastures, they enjoy more the wooden areas. Pigs can't sweat. They prefer shaddy areas.
      - Rule of thumb: fewer or maximum 2 mature pigs per adult cow
    - - They nibble grass and forbs, but they prefer to eat big seeds and insects. They scratch around the debris to find their food.
      - they introduce mineral amendments to the pasture in a lost-cost manner. Coarser-grit minerals are brought to the paddocks with the turkeys. The birds will ingest the minerals as they graze and will get defecated onto the very pasture that needs that very mineral
      - low maintenance. Only 1 flock needed for the summer grazing season
      - 2 turkeys per hog is adequate
    - - Eat the first plants that rebound after the grazing pressure, which are the ones that are least preferred by the cattles and hogs. Mostly plants that have large and fleshy roots with lots of stored energy. Over time, these weeds will become less and less prevalent in the pasture
    - - Ideally, portable chicken pens and mobile chicken coop. Challenging to let them free in the pasture
      - they scratch the remaining manure from all their leaders searching for insects and seeds. There will be little animal mess
    - - Graze broad-leaved plants. Good turkey followers.
      - Fencing is the same as the pig and turkey one
      - Practical for their natural "alarm services"
      - Higher value income stream
    - - produce high-quality meat and dairy products on the coarsest, most degraded forage. Eat almost anything
      - Gain weight well, produce surplus milk, cream and 1 or 2 kids per year
      - excellent to manage the succession of a site by browsing economically undesirable plants
      - However, they can eat small trees, jump fences (build it higher). Goats not for beginners farmers starting restoration agriculture (as the author seems to insinuate)
      - If a pasture is not of high quality, do not use goats as it could lead to desertification
      - PS: obviously, the author is not a fan of goats!! :smiley:
- - - - Need to be moveable for at least 2 paddocks
      - Additional strands of low or higher fences wire for other animals like pigs, sheep, goats
      - more fence posts and fencing for contouring the water capture
    - - Additional handling facilities for loading animals for sale on trailers (can be unnecessary if you are in friendly terms with your animals and the animals are trained to load in a trailer at a young age)
    - - additional housing for carryover stock
    - - Mineral Toxicity
        
        Supplement feeding of minerals and trace elements should be monitored. Some species (cattles and hogs) need it, but others, like sheep can be toxic.
        
        soil testing and forage testing are prudent
      - Parasites
        
        Ways to limit parasites
        
        understand what the parasite potentials are
        
        understand the parasite life cycles
        
        not combine livestock with similar parasites in the same or even the following paddock. Always have a species break between one host species and the next susceptible species
        
        maintaining a diverse pasture mix and especially mix that includes perennial plant species that are known to be parasiticides (ex. wormwood, garlic, fennel, etc.)
      - Diseases
        
        ways to limit diseases
        
        avoid direct transfers (ex.: sheep should not be grazed in a system that includes elk, deer or bison)
        
        Avoid mouth and nose contact in the feces
        
        Cattle must be separate from pigs
        
        pigs must be separate from fowl
        
        fowl must be separate from sheep
        
        Give them good care
        
        Stress-free environment
        
        Clean water available all the time (tanks and troughs should be emptied and purged between species)
        
        pastures should not be grazed until the soil is exposed. Healthy pasture must have long periods of recovery between grazing
      - Separate quarter for the animals are a good idea to help prevent transmission of cross-species health problems