Regenerating native pasture with horses and why we would want to do that
Horses have often been reviled by environmentalists as causing degradation to the Australian environment, so it was refreshing to listen to Graeme Hand explain how they were the answer to some of Australia’s environmental problems.
Graeme is an agricultural scientist, radical by some standards, who specialises in a big picture, holistic approach to land and stock management – helping people regenerate native pastures in a way that sequesters more carbon than trees do. And he says the fastest and easiest and cheapest way to do that is with hard footed animals such as horses and cattle.
Yep, I agree with you, that’s a big statement, but he claims he can back that up.
Certainly, what he explained to a bunch of us here at Tanjil South last Friday, will cost us very little, save a heap of money and make a significant contribution to saving the environment at the same time. Yes that really is right, cost little, save heaps and be seriously environmentally progressive.
Just picture it, us destructive horse owners (yes, I am being facetious) leading the way in farming for the future of the earth itself!
Graeme talks about how, as a civilization, we are headed off the cliff at a hundred miles an hour towards destruction. And how this method of pasture management that he was talking to us about, is a “hand brake turn” away from the cliff. Significant carbon sequestering takes place in properly managed native pasture. Carbon sequestering with native pasture happens when this type of management of native pasture locks up the carbon put into the atmosphere by the use of fossil fuels.
And yes, the important words are “properly managed.”
We learned about the best way of grazing to maximise pasture use and benefits and how to increase biodiversity of plants and grasses within our paddocks. We learned how to plan our horses’ grazing and monitor how the grass was going so that we can constantly move up the ladder of better and better pasture until we have this properly and hopefully ideally managed native pasture that will be the environmental hand brake turn away from the cliff that Graeme was talking about.
One of the keys that we learned from Graeme, is that 10 horses eating and trampling the grass in a small area for 20 days is infinitely better pasture management than one horse walking around and grazing for 200 days. Notice that both those examples have exactly the same number of horse grazing days in them.
Even with plenty of spare grass, one horse walking around and eating will not produce the trampling of dry matter into contact with the soil and then the all important recovery time necessary to produce this escalating ladder of better and better pasture species and the carbon sequestering that comes from the biological decay that we are looking for. In fact one horse walking around and eating for 200 days will degrade the land and make it in worse and worse shape every year.
10 horses trampling and eating for 20 days is exactly the same number of horse grazing days, but produces a completely positive result in pasture improvement and improvement to the environment generally.
This was only one simple but small part of what Graeme taught us on Friday. I couldn’t recommend too highly getting to one of Graeme’s eye opening courses.
And the great news is that this is not a 20 year plan, but something that we can achieve at little or no cost in a couple of years and Graeme proves this over and over again with farmers all over the country in all types of land and climate.
Here’s yet another benefit… Our horses are going to be a stack healthier on this properly managed native pasture. They’ll hold weight better, have a drastic reduction in worm problems (Graeme says he doesn’t have to worm because he doesn’t have any worm problems) our horses will have little or no digestive problems and significantly less sugar problems because they won’t any more be eating grass that is high in non-protein nitrogen. I’ve been doing some thinking for some time about Cushings disease and insulin resistance in horses and I think this could be an answer for them too.
I laughed at the idea that I described our horses health as “yet another benefit” when we all know that horse health and comfort is our priority with cost dragging up the rear slowly, even when the humans have to go without to provide it! Isn’t it lovely that we can improve our general horse health and actually save money and the environment – woo hoo!!
Ring Graeme if you are interested in attending one of his workshops. Here are his contact details.
Graeme Hand
CEO STIPA Native Grasses Association
Holistic Management® Training
150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme 3302
Mobile 0418 532130
Fax 03 55786370
Business 03 55786321
