songbird wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:
Farm1 wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:
After two years of La Nina and plenty of rain we haven't had
significant rain in three months. But clever people still want to
burn their pasture

????? Is that how it started or was it a farm burnoff? The only
people who I've heard of seen who still burn stubble are the odd
wheat farmers out west.


I am in a beef cattle area where there are many landholders who
still do things the way that Grandpa did. Every Spring just before
the expiry of the burn-without-permit season they burn their
paddocks. They overstock and use set stocking in big paddocks and
don't mind if their bulls cover their own offspring. It's a time
warp.

if the genes are weak then the inbreeding will make
it obvious.


It's just slackness, there are plenty of reasons not to inbreed to that
degree they just cannot be bothered managing their herd properly.

i don't understand the burning thing though, as it
puts nutrients into the air instead of into the cow.
perhaps they breathe it in like people who smoke
herbal cigarrettes for their health...



This is also slackness, burning is cheaper than slashing or many other
pasture management practices. Yes it reduces the nutrients (especially N
whose compounds are often volatile) but it also reduces soil organic content
which reduces the capacity of the soil to hold both nutrients and water. It
also favours rank grasses and some weeds which are better adapted to fire
than more nutritious grasses.

...
As well as bushfires there are some local wildlife and garden shots
here too.

http://s1086.beta.photobucket.com/us...%20of%20Spring

Comments welcome.

Nice photos as usual David. Have you done your fire survival plan
yet?

Yep. I put the house in the centre of a 5 ha paddock with no forest
nearer than 150m and no tree nearer than 60m and I paid for
steel/hardieplank instead of wood and I mow all round. During this
episode, which was mainly on a neighbour's place, I was taking
pictures not waving a hose and worrying. Should freak conditions
arise where fire might cross the gap I'm staying to defend. I have
enough water to soak everything for days.

sounds sensible in a brushfire area. congrats.


I have friends who built in a eucalyptus forest because they like the
trees......

D