In article ,
songbird wrote:

Farm1 wrote:
songbird wrote:
Farm1 wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:
songbird wrote:

local fire burglars?

Those who set fires, either because they think it improves their pasture
(it doesn't) or for fun, or both.

Why do you say it doesn't improve pastures? From observation, I'd say it
probably did improve pastures even if just because it cleans out things
like
tussocks and other weeds etc and doesn't add anything.

every bit of carbon lost to the air in
burning is that much less available to be
turned into humus.

Photosynthesis uses atmospheric carbon to create biomass.

yes, that's my point, your field gained carbon
via photosynthesis and some of that was in the dry
grasses and stalks. burning it releases that carbon
back to the atmosphere. slashing it and leaving it
as mulch will also release some of it back to the
atmosphere, but the rate is much reduced and spread
out and the slash has a much better chance of being
recycled by the worms/fungi than lost to the air.


A lot of Photosynthetic action takes place in pastures that will not
readily
burn.

sure, some of it is transported to the roots and
soil community. it depends upon how dry the pasture
is when burned and how deeply various fragments
are buried.


Dry standing pasture which don't have lots of lush green active
photosynthesising plants burns very well, lush new growth doesn't.

all true. my point was aimed at those who
burn dry materials thinking that it improves
the soil. it may give a sudden flush of growth
from some of the released nutrients, but
whatever goes into the air is lost and has to
be regained by further photosynthesis. if
slashed and left that carbon is not lost but
largely retained and recycled or turned into
humus (over the long haul).


songbird

I'll have to throw in with bird. Organic material holds water. Just the
thing that drought affected areas need. It is probably simpler to just
set a match to it, instead of spreading it around. Burning will also
encourage erosion on sloping land. The problem begins with clearing the
trees, so it seems that trying to re-establish a few trees should also
help.

Are you saying that your animals won't browse on tussocks? I am
unfamiliar with spinifex (tussock), but perhaps when they are young they
are more manageable. One of the stated goals in grazing, as is practiced
by Joel Salatin, is to not knock plants in a paddock back more than
2/3s, which will leave them the vigor to regrow quickly. He would move
them from paddock to paddock so as to not over graze the pastures.
Salatin says he's a big fan of using native plants for fodder.

We do a lot of burning locally in the spring. For vineyards it is mostly
burning pruned grape canes. Again, it is probably easier to burn the
canes than to chip them and return them to the vineyards. The assistant
wine-maker where I work is a "Bio" type, I'll ask him "why not?"
tomorrow. I haven't a clue as to what other agriculturalists are
burning, but it isn't complete fields, that's for sure.
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