Natural Lawn Mowers
by Cindy Dvergsten
Have you ever experienced a time when suddenly a light bulb comes on? Such was the case for me while on a ranch tour in 1995 near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta Canada. The owner was showing us around their home when she noted that their lawn mower had not been used for a number of years. She explained how she allowed their cattle to do the lawn mowing for her, saving both time and money.
Although at the time I did not have grazing animals, the idea of “natural lawn mowers” lodged in my mind. I am happy to say now that our gas powered lawn mower has been idle for several years. Controlled with easy to move temporary electric fencing, our Navajo-Churro Sheep are ideal for working in small nooks around the home and yard at Arriola Sunshine Farm.
Our sheep also enjoy trimming the trees, especially the aspen and weeping willow. Not only that, but the lambs are adept as edging only the sidewalk! And all of the grass is converted into natural fertilizer (manure). No clippings to mess with!
The benefits of using natural lawn mowers go beyond saved time and money. The ¼ acre of yard and miscellaneous areas around the house we graze provides approximately 1500 pounds of grass forage. This is enough forage to produce about 40 pounds of lamb meat and several pounds of wool with a retail value of approximately $345.00 USD (2008 prices).
We get approximately 200 animal days of grazing from our yard area. During this time the sheep deposit about 600 pounds of manure. This amount of manure contains 10 pounds of nitrogen and 8 pounds of phosphate that are readily available for plant growth. This would be similar to the amount of fertilizer recommended for a spring treatment for average lawn care.
According to Consumer Reports (http://www.consumerreports.org), small, two-stroke engines used in conventional lawn-care equipment are big polluters. Mowing a lawn one hour per week for a summer consumes only 10 gallons of gas, but releases an average of 148 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions per year. Furthermore, one hour on an average riding mower emits roughly the same amount of NO2, one of the key ingredients in smog, as driving a very clean new car for 75,000 miles.
Perhaps the most
important function our sheep perform is their role in carbon
sequestration. Grass
removes carbon from the air through photosynthesis.
Grazing animals like sheep convert the grass into manure
which is readily broken down into soil organic matter and humus by
soil organisms.
Sequestration of soil carbon is extremely important to reducing the
amount of green house gasses.
According to the Soil Carbon Coalition (http:// www.soilcarbon coalition.org), most of the biosphere's carbon is in the deep layers of the ocean while the next largest “pool” of carbon is found in the soil. More importantly, once carbon is in the soil it stays there for an average of 35 years.
In 2001, the Soil Science
Society of America drafted a position paper that included this
statement: "Worldwide, SOC [soil organic carbon] in the top 1 meter
of soil comprises about 3/4 of the earth's terrestrial carbon;
nevertheless, there is tremendous potential to sequester additional
carbon in soil. For example, many cropland soils of the United
States have lost as much as 50% of their original SOC due to the
effects of land clearing and tillage. Such conventional farming
practices 'burn' SOC just as we burn fossil fuels today. However, in
the case of SOC this historical decline can be reversed, which is
not the case for fossil fuel reserves."
(See www.soils.org/pdf/pos_paper_carb_seq.pdf.)
The Carbon Cycle is Aided by Grazing Animals
Within 10 days the manure left by the sheep in our yard is gone. Night crawlers, a type of earthworm, eat the manure and carry also the manure 3-4 feet down into their burrows to supplies food for their young.
The
photo to the right shows “casts” left on soil surface from where the Night
Crawlers burrow into the ground.
Notice the absence of manure
and the new growth occurring in the grass plants.
From the land's view point, grazing is a function of time.
Holistic Management Planned Grazing helps us to be in the right
place, at the right time, for the right reason with our sheep.
When grazing occurs within the limits of natures boundaries, grazing animals like our sheep become a valuable tool of management. And in this case sheep are managing our lawn, cycling carbong back into the soil.
Food for Thought about our Carbon Footprint
Where the earth stores carbon:
-
Oceans: 38,000 gigatons C (stable, average turnover of a C atom is about 100 years)
-
Soils: 1600 - 2400 gigatons C (average turnover about 35 years)
-
Atmosphere: 800 gigatons C (average turnover 5 years)
-
Biomass: 600 gigatons C (average turnover 10 years)
Source: Soil Carbon Coalition. See www.soilcarboncoallition.org for interesting information and discussion about how to increase soil carbon.
About lawnmower usage:
- 54 million Americans mow their lawns each weekend.
- 5 percent of the nation's air pollution comes from traditional gas-powered lawn mowers.
- 80 pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere each year by the average gas-powered mower.
- 800 million gallons of gas are consumed each year by gas mowers.
World Fertilizer Prices Soar
World
fertilizer prices, especially, rose sharply in 2007 then skyrocketed
-- off the chart -- from January to April 2008 according to a report
by the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agriculture.
For example, the price of Di-ammonium phosphate
increased by five times over the past 15 months from about US $252
per metric ton in January 2007 to about $1,230 per ton over the past
3 by May of 2008. DAP is
a common fertilizer containing 18 pounds of nitrogen and 46
pounds of phosphate per 100 pounds of fertilizer product.
Source: EurekAlert at www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/i-wfp052308.php
Topics in this Article
Whole Farm Planning
Carbon Foot Print
Natural Lawns
Mob Grazing
Navajo-Churro Sheep
Fertilizer
Soil Carbon Sequestration
~~~~~~~~~
Current Offerings
Distance Learning Programs
Learn to Develop Your Own Whole Farm Plan with Holistic Management
SPECIAL OFFER: Take advantage of our expertise in farm management and business planning! If you purchase three or more Navajo-Churro sheep for breeding, we will provide you with training and mentoring in Whole Farm Planning with Holistic Management for 25% off our regular tuition for distance learning.
We have a nice selection of 7 month old breeding ewes and rams available now!
News
In the 2011 Sheep is Life wool show we took first, second and third place in both the ewe lamb (hoggot) class and the mature ewe class! We took first place in the mature ram class and second in the ram lamb class. We went on to recieve Reserve Grand Champion in the ewes fleece class and Reserve Grand Champion in the rams fleece
We have a wide selection of raw fleeces available now!
Also, reserve your Spring 2012 grassfed lamb now.
Cindy
Dvergsten
is available as a speaker
and
workshop leader.
Cindy has been involved in farming her entire life, learning some tricks of the trade from her Grandfather on their farm in Minnesota. She would help him pick raspberries, strawberries and other produce to sell at their roadside stand just off of Highway 101 in Minnetonka. Unfortunately, the old farms are long gone, replaced by freeways, homes, office building and shopping centers.
Cindy continues her farming heritage at Arriola Sunshine Farm in SW Colorado. Over the years she has raised laying hens, grass fed beef and lamb, a market garden, small orchard, and breeds Navajo Churro Sheep and Bourbon Red Turkeys.
She has worked with family farmers and ranchers for 23 years, first as a conservationist with the USDA-NRCS and now as a private consultant. She specializes in whole farm and ranch planning and management and is a Holistic Management Certified Educator.
She is an experienced workshop leader, facilitator and speaker.
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