The Everyday Choices We Make and How it can Shape Our Planet

I was mowing the pastures the other day and found my mind wandering to a familiar topic…this question of what am I doing?  In the moment it feels so satisfying, (think mowing your lawn when you’ve let it get a little out of control and then everything looks so tidy afterwards) but really deeper down I hate it.  I hate it because of all the negative impacts that mowing pastures with the tractor can have, ok your wondering what the heck I’m talking about so here’s a list of Some of the negatives:

-       Destroys wildlife and pollinator habitat (it is very common when mowing to see ground nesting birds like turkey and meadowlarks, baby deer, rabbits, mice, bees, beetles and butterflies all running for their lives as they watch their comfortable and secret homes get chopped up and spit out into a  million pieces)

-       Uses a large amount of fossil fuels.  (We have a diesel tractor that powers our mower and when working hard like powering an implement this thing guzzles the fuel…and we all know what that does to our planet and the climate)

-       Requires expensive heavy equipment.  (this equipment had to be manufactured which means metals mined from the earth, big factories forging and shipping parts all over the world, so yea lots more negative impact on our planet, and its expensive to purchase and maintain, there never seems to be enough money in the bank to make the next repair or to replace the old worn out tractor)

-       Requires farmers time.  (might not sound like a big deal but on the farm there is always a to do list that is longer than what we can get done, a lot of farmers end up spending a lot of their valuable time sitting on the tractor instead of taking care of other important matters)

-       Dangerous. (I remember years ago when a piece of wood or something shot up into my dad’s eye when he was mowing…he wore a patch for a few months and was very lucky to have not lost his eye permanently or worse.  I also have heard too many stories of farmers and their children losing body parts and their lives while mowing or doing other tractor work, tractors are the number one cause of farmer deaths around the world)

Ok so I have listed some very compelling reasons why I hate mowing; the obvious question is if it’s so terrible then why do we do it???  I will explain but first think about this for a moment: EVERY SINGLE THING THAT WE DO HAS AN IMPACT ON OUR ENVIRONMENT EITHER POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE…THAT’S TRUE OF FARMERS BUT REALLY ITS TRUE FOR ALL HUMAN BEINGS…EVERY CHOICE MATTERS.  AND EVERY CHOICE IS NOT OBVIOUS, MORE OFTEN WE MUST ANALYZE THE PROS AND CONS AND MAKE AN EDUCATED DECISION ABOUT IF OUR CHOICE IS NET POSITIVE OR NET NEGATIVE.  ONE EXAMPLE OUT OF MILLIONS: I PURCHASE SOMETHING PACKAGED IN PLASTIC, I KNOW THE PLASTIC HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE PLANET BUT ALSO IT’S THE ONLY WAY THAT I CAN PURCHASE A CERTAIN PRODUCT THAT I REALLY WANT, SAY GRASS FED BEEF, AND I KNOW THAT PRODUCT IS HELPING TO HEAL OUR PLANET AND STABALIZE OUR CLIMATE…I MAKE AN EDUCATED CHOICE IN THE MOMENT AND ALSO  HOPE TO FIND A NON PLASTIC PACKAGING SOURCE IN THE FUTURE.

So here is WHY we Mow and then we can address the DILEMA and decide if we are making the right choice or not.

-       Mowing knocks down tall plants left behind after grazing.  This returns the left over plant material (carbon) to the soil and allows sunlight in for the more desirable grasses and clovers to regrow.

-       Animal Welfare and Care.  Its hard to move portable fencing when the plants are too tall and its hard to keep a close eye on the sheep flock, there is also a higher risk of predation when the plants are super tall. 

-       Cuts back woody plants…in our climate pastures tend to revert to forest if left          unchecked.

-       Pasture Quality.  Plants need to be in a vegetative growth state in order to be as nutritious as possible.  Ruminants require access to super high quality forage at all times in order to thrive and grow in a system like ours that is 100% grassfed grass finished.

So now we have our list of compelling reasons to Mow and Not to Mow.  Here’s a little background on what we have done over the years and what we currently do.  We used to believe we could graze in a way that does not require mowing.  There is a whole school of thought in the grazing world that if you graze your animals super close together and allow them to trample everything like how a herd of Bison might have done then this trampling keeps the undesirable and woody plants in check and heals the soil at a rapid rate.  Our experience is that this is true but also the animals can suffer in this system…basically its really hard to make sure all the animals get the amount of nutrition each day in this system (more on this topic in another article).  We have experimented with numerous styles of grazing and ultimately have learned that our techniques need to change and adapt with the changing seasons and weather patterns as well as with the needs of the livestock, its like a never ending dance with nature and animals.  That being said, for years we stubbornly stuck with the no Mowing mentality because of all the negative reasons listed above and for years we struggled with poor animal performance, poor quality pasture and woody plants and trees trying to take back over.  Now we are very thoughtful when and how we mow.  We carefully select volunteer trees in the pasture like persimmon and walnut and we mow around those, creating shady pastures that provide food and habitat for wildlife.  We only mow when the timing is just right, after the animals have picked through and eaten what they desire and during times of the year when the seasons are shifting and the plant species are transitioning from warm season to cool season or visa versa.  We always are mindful of rare plants that might be growing or wildlife that might be nesting and rearing their young.  By minimizing the impact of our mowing we are able to find a happy medium, our animals are thriving and growing better than ever, we have more wildlife living on the farm than ever and we spend  drastically less time and energy mowing than the “average” livestock operation in our area.

      This is one example of how our daily management choices can effect the environment and also shows how complex the systems are that we are working with as we strive to be the most ecologically minded farmers.  We constantly have to analyze our situation and make as educated of decisions as possible.  We also have to be quick to admit our mistakes and shortcomings so we can adapt and change our methods and systems of production as we continue to strive to be better farmers and stewards of our home planet.