Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Rotate Them Pastures!

On my way home from work yesterday, I noticed a huge amount of bright yellow flowers in some pasture areas. The ones that did have them were infested. It was a sea of yellow throughout nearly the entire fenced-in area. And of course, the cows and horses do not eat them.
Flowers, flowers everywhere, but not a drop to ... eat.

But some pastures had none at all.
I had noticed this phenomenon last year, but I paid special interest this year.
What I noticed was that every area that was infested with yellow flowers also had livestock grazing it 24/7 over the winter. In other words, the fields were never, ever left to replenish themselves.
In such an environment, when the edible grasses are chewed to the dirt, they can't stay strong enough to out-compete the weeds.
For this reason (and many, many others), I use rotating paddocks via solar battery electric nets. I can let the grasses get tall and strong, and them let the animals come in and eat 'em up good. Then, they lay bare to regrow.
Just like in the Torah, God instructs the Israelites to give their fields time to rest and replenish. His design is not for anything to be "on" 24/7/365. Rather, everything must rest so His creative and regenerative power can go to work.

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