DS Family Farm
Worried about what you are "really" eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.
2020 Grassfed beef
Harvest time has arrived. It just makes sense that the best time to harvest Certified Grassfed Beef is from pasture, with green forages, near the end of the growing season. Our pastures are predominantly warm-seasons grasses and as August comes to a close, our growing season is 90% complete. The herd has spent all summer putting on fat for the upcoming winter.
What makes sense, according to natural cycles, is backed up by science. We have written extensively about healthy fats in previous blog posts and documented our results by lab testing the fatty acid profile of our beef. Wherever you see green (grass, leaves, chlorophyll) you are are looking at Omega 3 fats. Omega 3 fats are the most abundant fats in nature BUT they are also highly perishable. These fats are lost once the plant dies (cut for hay). In addition, Omega 3 fats do not persist long within the animal. So to capture these Omega 3 fats in the beef we provide our customers, now is our primary harvest time.
2020 Pasture Grazed Beef Photos
Below are a few photos of beeves that will be harvested in 2020. We are happy with how these animals look. Vibrant, healthy and showing good “grass fat” cover. Remember, these animals have never been fed an ounce of grain. By the way, do you know they can’t digest grass either? The billions of microbes in their gut do the work to convert inedible green forages and into fatty acids that build and maintain the animal. This unique process creates healthy animals and meat that our customers consume. God’s design is simply amazing.
If you are interested in trying some local pasture grazed/grassfed beef, check out our Beef Bundle Info web page. This is your opportunity to take home this unique product. Beef (especially pasture-fed) is a wise choice according to the wisest man of all times. King Solomon’s Daily Provisions:
22 Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.
1 Kings Chapter 4 (www.biblegateway.com)
SYA FARM
You would need to be a local to this part of Nebraska to know what “SYA” stands for! The pastures where our cattle graze are right along US Highway 34 just west of Lincoln Nebraska. As you continue west on US 34 you will encounter the following County Seat Towns: Seward, York and Aurora (SYA).
We are thankful to Sheila’s parents, Orell and Jane Piening for selling us part of the SYA Farm to build our home. Sheila’s dad Orell says the SYA Farm was his best Milo (sorghum) farm. How times change! One would be hard pressed to find a milo field within 50 miles of this farm now. The farms cropland was entered into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) around 1987 and has been in permanent grass cover since.
Cattle on SYA Farm through the years
Besides raising milo, the SYA Farm has always had some pasture that Orell grazed with a herd of Hereford cattle and where our herd grazes today. Sheila always enjoyed the Herefords growing up and was all for us starting our current cow herd. When Sheila and I first started looking for cattle, Herefords were the breed of first choice (Doug’s Grandpa also raised Herefords). Unfortunately the Hereford breed had changed enough through the years that it was difficult to find good “grass type Herefords” for our 100% grassfed program.
The Hereford, as a cattle breed, has increased in overall size through the years since these pictures were taken in 1972. Note the bulls shoulder height in these photos. This bull does not even reach Orell’s shoulder height! The compact size and depth of this bull along with the noticeable soft hide (visible rolls along the neck and over the rib) are all indications of an animal that will do excellent on a grass only diet. Doug would love to have this kind of bull in our herd today. Over the past few decades, all cattle breeds have been “bred up” for taller and larger calves that will spend a lot of time in feedlots getting fat on corn. It is very difficult to find a compact “grass type” bull like this today.
How to load a bull
Our boys learned to drive using the 1966 Chevy pickup truck pictured in the above photo. Orell tells how he could simply load this bull on to the truck with a lead rope (note the ring in the bulls nose and lead rope in the earlier photo). Yes, that is Sheila with her siblings in the background admiring this good looking “grass type” bull. We are grateful that Orell and Jane have allowed us the opportunity to transform SYA Farm into DS Family Farm. Even though our current herd is not made up of Herefords, with pretty white faces, we did stick with “red” colored cattle.
Annual Omega 6:3 Update
Each year after harvesting our Pasture Grazed Beef we send a sample of our beef to Midwest Labs in Omaha Nebraska for analysis. We raise our beef on pasture 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year, with NO ADDED GRAINS. Does how we manage our herd actually make a difference in the final product our customers receive compared to conventional grocery store beef? Below is our updated chart from beef harvested last fall (2019).
2019 Results
Currently we harvest Pasture Grazed Beef off of green growing forages in August – October. The meat is tested in the winter and we report our previous years findings prior to the next harvest which is just a couple months away.
A recent study on grass-finished beef
Just over a year ago “A Nutritional Survey of Commercially Available Grass-Finished Beef” was published. A large number of samples of “commercially available” grassfed beef was obtained from 12 producers. “A wide variety of finishing strategies were indicated, with some producers relying solely on perennial pastures, and others finishing cattle on annual crops or by feeding a diverse array of harvested forages. There is great variation with what is defined as ‘grass-fed’.“
What did the study find when looking at Omega 6:3 ratios? “The results of the current study are consistent with reports that beef from cattle finished on fresh forages had greater n-3 (omega 3) and a lower n-6:n-3 (omega 6:3) ratio than beef from cattle fed harvested grass silage… the results of the current study indicate that cattle finished on fresh forages yield beef with lower n-6:n-3 ratio than those supplemented with harvested forages.“
Remember, this study was looking at commercially available “grass-fed” beef. The study points out that even if the product is labeled “grass-fed” only the cattle finished on fresh forages result in the highly desirable low omega 6:3 ratio end product. Beef finished on mechanically harvested forages such as hay and silage do not result in the lower omega 6:3 ratios. In some cases it was found some “grass-fed” producers “had significantly greater n-6:n-3 ratios… higher than previously reported values for beef from feedlot finished cattle.”
The study reports, in conclusion, omega 6:3 “ratio was numerically lower in beef from producers who indicated finishing cattle solely on fresh forages compared to beef from producers who finished cattle on harvested feeds.”
Not all “grass-fed” is created equal.
With no real current labeling guidelines for “grass-fed” or “grass-finished” beef you really do need to know your farmer to know your food (beef). Is the “grass-fed” beef you are purchasing harvested from fresh forages or from a feed yard where they were eating stored forages?
Let us just add this, we would gladly purchase a “grass-fed” beef finished on stored forages. With all the management considerations that go into raising beef without grains, sometimes the only option may be to harvest off stored forages. Considerations include balancing product demand with processing opportunities along with overall herd health and grassland availability.
So for now, with our small herd, we will continue to harvest once a year from fresh forages. What we call “pasture grazed” beef. We may try widening the window of harvest earlier in the summer and possibly extending into early winter since both of these times we have some green fresh forages. One other major factor that has recently come into play is processing availability. If you haven’t heard, there is a major bottle neck in processing locally raised beef for direct to consumer sales. Stay tuned, if we do harvest earlier or later, we will continue to test the meat to see what changes do occur in the product we are delivering.
Rx (prescribed) burn
In a previous post we described the battle we are in against the native eastern red cedar tree. Keeping cedar trees in check one-by-one is a challenge. Two alternatives to mechanical cutting cedars includes grazing goats (eat brush/trees) and using fire. Obviously fire has some risk involved and grazing goats takes a new level of management. Below we describe the very basic principles of a prescribed burn recently completed. (Rather not read about the burn? Just watch the video on our YouTube channel.)
Burn Objectives
For the recent burn completed our objectives were to remove accumulated dead grass vegetation over the past 10 years. The grass thatch was not beneficial for our target wildlife species of prairie birds and game birds. In addition cedar trees were invading the site. Finally the burn will prepare the site for a future pollinator seeding and grazing alternatives.
The Burn Prescription
- Weather
- Obviously wind direction/speed must be considered along with air temperature and relative humidity. No major shifts in weather should be in the forecast while conducting a burn. Weather parameters can vary depending on the ignition technique, i.e. back fire versus head fire.
- Fuel type
- Vegetation type and amount will dictate the flame height and intensity.
- Topography
- Fire will RUN FAST UP HILL and slow down traveling down a hill.
- Site preparation
- Fire guards/breaks are developed prior to the burn. Mowing, removing fuel (grazing) and constructing a bare soil or green fire break are all options.
- Ignition techniques
- Fire behavior can be managed by using back fires, flank fires, strip fires and head fires. Knowing the characteristics of each are important.
- Smoke management
- Smoke can be dangerous when placed over roads!
- Personnel
- One person, a fire boss must be assigned. All people involved need to know the site and be familiar with escape routes and equipment being used.
Burn Plan Map
As you review the Burn Plan Map can you pick out these variables? Must have a south wind to keep smoke off a busy U.S. Highway. Our house, located east of the burn site, will be an access point as well as a water source. Based on elevation change, fire will run fast from west to east (up hill) and travel slower from east to west (down hill). With a south wind, fire will travel quickly from the the south (bottom of the map) to north (top of map). The red dotted perimeter of the burn has been mowed and a mineral soil (tilled) fire break has been installed.
Burn Narrative
Fire ignition begins in the top right corner of the planned site. Both teams are located as “A1” and “B1” near the ignition site to observe fire behavior before allowing the burn to proceed. The ignited fire will travel slowly to the south (into the wind) and slowly to the west (down the hill). Team A then progresses from location A1 location A2 while Team B stays near the ignition location moving slowly to position B2. Team A is lighting the back fire, a low flame fire burning slowly into the wind, creating a safe black area along the north side of the site. As Team A approaches the far north west corner of the site (A3), Team B should be approaching the far south east corner (B3). At this point there should be a wide burned/black area along the north edge of the site. Both crews should stop and ensure that the back fire along the north edge of the burn is safely “wide” before proceeding. As Team B moves from location B3 to B4 the head fire will be ignited and the wind will carry the flames into the slowly approaching back fire. Both teams end up in the south west corner of the site as the fire puts itself out (fire runs into fire).
Burn video
We have posted a little under 8 minute video that further describes this burn plan along with photos and video from the actual burn. Watch or advance to the end of the video to view a 30 second time lapse recording of the entire burn.
Burn Results
The overall objectives of the burn were met! Dead vegetation thatch was removed and cedar trees were controlled. Most importantly, everyone stayed safe. Compare the photo below to the photo near the begging of this blog post (Before Burn versus After Burn).
For more information on conducting a prescribed burn visit a local USDA NRCS Office and check out the following link from UN-L:
Invasion of the ‘ERC’
NO, not a new virus… ERC = Eastern Red Cedar trees, actually part of our native ecosystem. These trees provide benefits to wildlife, livestock, humans and the overall landscape. Then why would we associate a beneficial tree with the word “invasion”?
Is it a weed?
Most people have heard the word ‘weed’ defined as “a plant growing where it is not wanted.” When the same plant has the ability to spread fast, then I guess the plant changes from being a ‘weed’ to being an ‘invasive species!’ This is all kind of comical because usually ‘invasive’ is attached to novel plants that arrive into an ecosystem for the first time, but I digress.
Growing up in a “kill the weed culture,” it is often hard to recognize the benefits of a plant growing where “we don’t want it.” In a number of past posts we have pointed out that our cattle herd loves to munch on what other people call weeds! (Pollinators like weeds, Weeds heal land, Cows graze weeds)
What are the benefits of Eastern Red Cedars?
- Make excellent windbreaks!
- Cedar needles contain tannin, the cattle rub on cedars to help repel flies.
- Wildlife use the trees for cover and eat the berries.
- Berries and needles are used as essential oils.
- Beautiful wood products, chests etc.
- Probably others… when the tree is in the right place!
ERC Downside
The main problem with cedars is their ability to over take grasslands if left unchecked. Actually solid forest or cedars is not beneficial to wildlife or humans. Diversity is the key to ecosystem health. We are always striving for diversity in our pastures, so a few cedar trees along with other trees, brush, forbs and different grasses seems to be appropriate for our land and climate. A forest of cedar trees is not so good.
Keeping cedars in check
In the tall-grass prairie region, historically cedars were kept in check with fire. With windbreak cedar plantings in this region, humans introduced a large source of seeds that were previously confined to areas along streams and oak forests. With a reduction in fire and an explosion in seeds, birds literally began to “rain cedar berries” over the prairie.
One good thing about a cedar tree, once it is cut below the lowest branch, it will not re-sprout. But can you keep up with just cutting? Fire can control a large number of cedars over many acres in a short time. But the downside to fire, in our opinion is the loss of carbon. We feel the best way to control heavy grass/thatch build up is to let the cattle chew and stomp that carbon into the soil rather than use fire. When it comes to cedar control, fire is hard to beat.
Cutting (pulling) Option
With the right soil moisture, it is quite easy to pull a small cedar. Clipping a small cedar is also easy and good exercise. The challenge is taking the time to do it and spotting these smaller trees in the grass. It is easy to walk by a small cedar and think to yourself, “I’ll get that next time.” Then before you know it the cedars take over! Let’s just say over the past few years Doug has pulled and clipped his fair share of cedar trees. HOW MANY? Doug was curious how many he was actually pulling/clipping so he started keeping track. You can guess how many and try to find the baby cedar trees in the three photos below. Keep reading to find the answer to how many Doug pulled over the past year and where the cedars are in the photos.
Prescribed Fire Option
Personally Doug likes this option… but Sheila not so much. Again the downside is loss of soil cover/carbon and the risks involved. There isn’t much doubt that fire plays a significant roll in natural prairie ecosystems. We see fire as another tool in our toolbox to manage grasslands. We just completed a burn on a piece of land that has not had any management for 10 years with a number of small cedars encroaching.
In our next blog post we will go into more detail about our recent burn.
Preventing invasion is key
When it comes to ERC control, preventing the cedars from over taking our grasslands is priority one. Once an area becomes a cedar forest, there are massive inputs required to restore the land to a grassland. Below is a nice three minute video from RFD/UN-L that does a great job in summarizing the Eastern Red Cedar issue:
Doug first saw a presentation on the real concerns with ERC by Dirac a few years ago. His take home message was that large portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are already lost to invasion of ERC and Nebraska is next. Learn more at the UN-L Eastern Red cedar Science Literacy Project.
Did you spot the baby cedars?
With our herd on the move across the pastures through the year, Doug has ample opportunity to spot and pull/clip cedars on about 150 acres of grassland. How many cedars do you think Doug has clipped/pulled over the past year?
Let’s just say he lost count after the first 750 in short order. His estimate for the year is at least 5,000 little cedar trees. That is just on 150 acres, sounds like an invasion to us.
Invisible Microbiome
Should we be at war with invisible microbes OR should we be living in sync with these little critters?
Do you choose to be pro-biotic or anti-biotic?
Since WE are a biotic organism, I most certainly hope you answered that last question with a resounding “I am PRO-biotic“. Then why do we as a culture dump tons of anti-biotics (posions/toxins/pesticides) into our ecosystem every year? Yes, I get it…the fear of a few bad bugs often overcomes common sense to balance risk and to rejoice in the multitude of good bugs that make us who we are.
According to Dr. Zach Bush, almost half of the information (micro-rna/dna/genes/code) that makes me Doug Garrison, comes from microbes living around, on and in me… (that goes for you also). The rest of the information comes from my past living environment and the genes inherited from our parents (who were also greatly influenced by their environment and the information from the environment of their parents, etc.). We are constantly influenced by the world around us.
Probably best that you hear directly from Dr. Bush. The video link below starts 38 minutes in to his presentation and the key point is covered in 6 minutes (38:00 – 44:00). SPOILER ALERT: Listening to this may make you rethink eating grocery store chicken. How microbes and the food we eat influence us (with an interesting take on viruses), Dr. Zach Bush:
“Pest-centric Society”
Let’s look at an agriculture example of pro-biotic versus anti-biotic. Current thinking is that for every “bad” insect that affects agriculture production there are 3,500 “beneficial” insects. When we apply a pesticide to “take out” a bad bug we end up taking out a large number of the good bugs. Overall result is simplification of the ecosystem. When diversity is lost, the bad bugs do not have the natural check from the beneficial bugs and the problem can become worse.
I am not saying that anti-biotics (pesticides) never should be used, but one should consider the long term or unintended consequences when using these tools. Obviously we should consider alternatives to pesticides as described by the folks at Blue Dasher Farm in South Dakota. In some cases, using the anti-biotic ends up causing more harm.
I understand that considering the long-term in a decision made today is not intuitive in our culture and I struggle with it myself. We can learn and reflect on the 7th Generation principle from our Native American friends.
Coronavirus and the herd microbiome
Yes our cattle herd microbiome includes strains of the Coronavirus. Bovine coronavirus is associated with calf diarrhea, winter dysentery and respiratory infections such as shipping fever. Once and a while we will have a “weasing” individual in the herd (cows get colds just like us).
At some point the herd microbiome will probably include the COVID-19 virus. Most likely the herd already has a strain of coronavirus that is unknown to us, maybe Bovine COVID-20A, B or C? As Dr. Bush notes in the video link above, we think there are 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 31st power) virus strains in the world… and new ones are mutating all the time. Now that is diversity!
Our personal microbiome
We have a couple past blog posts you may like to review as you ponder your microbiome:
Dr. Bush encourages us to get out into “wild areas” (swamps, forests, range) and breathe in deeply to enhance our microbiome. We invite you out to visit the pasture and the herd. There truly is a microbiome bubble around each of us and especially a herd of cattle. When you walk into our herd’s “bubble”, the feel and smell is immediately recognizable by an earthiness. Trust us, a pasture grazed herd smells somewhat pleasant and will be sure to ignite your inner microbiome.
For further information on Dr. Zach Bush:
October 2020 Update – The Virome is separate from Microbiome:
A virus is not part of the microbiome. “They are not alive, just genomic information wrapped up in a protein.” Learn more about microbes, virus and exoxomes on Dr. Bush’s “Knowledge VIROME” webpage (video). Listen to the 30 minute video for his take on Corona virus. Dr. Bush postulates the extra Carbon particles in our air at the end of the growing season and beginning of the non-growing season (bottom of the brown arrow) is why the flu virus shows up when it does each year (see image below taken from our previous blog post Soil Carbon – CO2). We appreciate his insights and his championing of regenerative agriculture.
What’s most important?
Today, Sunday March 22, 2020 – marks the first time in our life time that we can remember not having the option to meet and commune together with other believers. But His Word will not be hindered, it will go out and not return empty.
We hope you take time to participate in the many on-line options for Worship. Simply amazing how He provides. Here are a couple on-line messages from our current under-shepherd and from pastors that our congregation has sent out into the world:
- Redeemer Lutheran Church, Lincoln NE – Website
- St. Mathew Lutheran Church – Barrington IL – YouTube
- March 22 – Reading – Acts 17 (video begins at reading)
- March 22 – Message from Pastor Michael Brown (video begins at message)
- St. Paul Lutheran Church, – Serbin TX – Website
Here at the farm
With all the unique things going on, Doug will be picking up over 3,000 lbs. of No-Soy & No Corn Chicken feed today from Roberts Seeds (see recent article in Midwest Messenger about Roberts Seeds). The pasture chicks will be picked up later this week.
Get out for a farm visit
Sunshine and fresh air will do us all some good.
As always, you are welcome to stop by and visit the farm. The herd always enjoys visitors and the herd is currently close by the house to make the visit quite easy. With baby chicks showing up later this week, it is a great time to visit the farm!
Please call ahead to make sure we can make your visit safe and enjoyable.
Kiss Your Soil
We are wrapping up our series on Soil Carbon. We hope you found some of the information useful. We will leave you with a short video from the folks at Kiss The Ground.
This short three and a half minute video does a pretty nice job of summarizing the current situation with atmospheric carbon dioxide. Though it is a little over simplified, it gives a good call to action on how we can use the natural carbon cycle to return CO2 to the soil.
As always you are welcome to visit our pasture and the herd, to see first hand how we are using nature in harmony with ruminants (cows) to heal soils, grasslands, customers and community.
CO2 – H20 & Climate Change
Are you worried about climate change? Have you considered healing the patch of soil you control to help mitigate our earth’s natural processes?
When we started this series of posts on soil carbon we looked at how carbon flows through air, plants, animals, soil and water, always in flux. Revisiting the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the earth’s atmosphere we quickly realize that CO2 makes up a small fraction of the air we breathe. Actually a very small part of the air volume. CO2 is currently around 425 parts per million (ppm). Do you realize that means CO2 makes up less than 1 percent of 1 percent of the atmosphere? CO2 = 0.0425 % of the atmosphere.
Climate impact – Water vapor or Carbon dioxide?
When it comes to climate impact, scientist Walter Jehne explains that water drives “95% of the heat dynamics of the blue planet” we call earth. Our atmosphere does an important job of trapping heat that radiates from the earth, known as the greenhouse effect. With H20 vapor (on average) at 10,000 ppm versus CO2 at 425 ppm in our atmosphere, it makes sense that water would have a larger effect on global heat dynamics than carbon dioxide. In addition, Jehne notes a molecule of water can absorb 8 times the heat compared to a molecule of carbon dioxide.
So if you are worried about climate change, a heating planet or a cooling planet, Jehne argues we need to look at maintaining a healthy water cycle.
Soil carbon, soil water & the climate link
Through our previous soil carbon discussion posts we have explained that our soils have suffered from a loss of carbon over the past 150 years. Again, this carbon is not lost from our closed earth system, it is currently cycling elsewhere such as in the air and oceans. The degradation of soils has depleted the ability of our land to absorb, store and filter water. Even though, soil water accounts for a very small fraction of all water on earth, soil degradation has a large impact on the water cycle. If the water cycle has the largest impact on our climate heat dynamics, it makes sense we can help mitigate climate extremes by rebuilding what Jehne refers to as the “soil carbon sponge”.
Healthy soils with soil carbon reserves can hold (sponge) water at a higher rate than degraded soils. Some of this extra water holding capacity is due to the added carbon but most of the increased water capacity of the soil is due to improved soil health. Let’s look at two soils and how they handle water:
Unhealthy vs Healthier Soil and Soil Water
The soil pictured above on the left is currently cropped while the soil on the right has been converted back to pasture. Key comparisons concerning soil water:
| Unhealthy Soil | Healthier Soil |
| Soil surface crusting, water runs off (contributing to flood and drought) | Soil surface porous, water infiltrates, storing water for timely release mitigating floods and drought |
| Compacted layers, water infiltration is poor, limited to matrix flow | Vertical soil fractures, water infiltrates well by matrix and preferential flow |
| Old root channels collapsed/closed by tillage, poor infiltration | Water flows into soil through open old root channels |
| Lack of worm burrows/tunnels | Water flows into soil through worm burrows/tunnels |
| Higher Bulk Density, less pores space to hold water | Lower Bulk Density, more pore space to hold water |
| Lower soil carbon | Higher soil carbon (sponge) |
All of the key points for improved water infiltration and water holding capacity of healthy soils mitigate both flooding and drought. Here is a quote from Jehne and his thoughts on soils and the water cycle:
“CO2 drawdown is essential because we need to rebuild organic matter in soils in order to have the soil carbon sponge that supports the water cycle. But the only way we can safely and naturally cool the planet and prevent the climate catastrophe is by restoring these hydrological processes. … that’s climatology 101. But in a sense it is new, because we’ve been focused on reducing CO2 emissions for so long.“
Walter Jehne, Soil Microbiologist & Climate Scientist
(https://www.ecofarmingdaily.com/supporting-the-soil-carbon-sponge/)
Here is an interesting quote from the USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, 1941, CLIMATE and MAN. It seems that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been part of the climate discussion for years, note also the recognition of water vapor:
“Much has been written about varying amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a possible cause of glacial periods. The theory received a fatal blow when it was realized that carbon dioxide is very selective as to the wave lengths of radiant energy it will absorb, filtering out only such waves as even very minute quantities of water vapor dispose of anyway. No probable increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide could materially affect either the amount of insolation reaching the surface or the amount of terrestrial radiation lost to space.“
Climate Change Through the Ages, Richard Joel Russell, Yearbook of Ag, 1941, CLIMATE and MAN.
Climate changes numerous variables…
NASA was able to isolate the exact wave lengths that CO2 effects and conclude that CO2 is a major factor in the greenhouse effect. But it does seem to get complex when trying to account for all climate variables:
| Atmosphere | Earth Angle On Axis | Earth Rotation |
| Sun & other planets | Radiation in, out and around | Convective circulation |
| Albedo effect | Water\Carbon\other cycles | Hemispheric circulation cells |
Maybe with all these variables, that is why folks say, “if you don’t like the weather wait a minute, it will change.” We are dealing with numerous cycles all wrapped up into one big WHOLE called EARTH. If we tinker with one part of one cycle there will be responses that ripple through all others.
Stressing over climate change?
Let’s not stress over climate change. Let’s do what we can with what we have control over.
If you have influence over a piece of land consider how you can be a good steward of that land resource. At DS Family Farm we will keep working with known principles, regenerative agriculture principles, to improve our soil carbon sponge.
- Keep the soil covered
- Maintain a living root in the soil year round
- Encourage plant diversity
- Appropriate soil disturbance
- Planned animal impact
Obviously purchasing local food that is raised using regenerative ag principles is a great choice to reduce your environmental impact. We vote for what kind of future we want with each bite we take.
Health soils = healthy plants = healthy animals = healthy Humans living on a healthy earth.
What are your thoughts on Climate Change?
Please share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
Update: 02/26/2020. Shortly after writing about the importance of water in the climate change discussion, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms had a couple related blog posts on the same topic. Joel’s blog links below:
How To Measure Soil Carbon
Measuring carbon in the atmosphere for the Northern Hemisphere is tracked by sensors (some developed by Lincoln Nebraska’s LI-COR Biosciences) at the Mauna Loa, Hawaii monitoring location. Atmospheric carbon data is updated on a regular basis and available for use by anyone. Unfortunately there is not an online network that continuously monitors soil carbon. In 2006 when carbon was becoming a “hot” topic, USDA-NRCS developed a Soil Carbon map of the world using various data sources:
Why monitor soil carbon?
Even before we brought cows to our pastures in 2011, folks were claiming cattle were “more damaging to the planet than CO2 from cars” (2006 article)! We actually felt a need to collect soil carbon data to defend our operation in the future.
The idea that raising beef in the image of nature as a contributor to greenhouse gases does not make sense when you think of the huge herds of bison that created the deep carbon rich soils of North American. The claim that cattle raised on pasture is an atmospheric carbon source has since been debunked by the 2019 Quantis-General Mills analysis of the White Oak Pastures beef operation in Georgia. Note: DS Family Farm utilizes the same pasture production principles that White Oak Pastures uses to raise beef except we do not slaughter on the farm.
The image below is slide 17 from the PDF Version of the Quantis Life Cycle report showing that “Net total emissions” of producing beef in natures image results in -3.5 Kg CO2-equivalent emitted per Kg of fresh meat produced. This means CO2 is sequestered when raising beef in natures image, again this just makes sense. So enjoy Pasture Grazed Beef for the flavor and for what it does to heal our planet!
Measuring soil carbon – methods
Back to the past. In 2011 we came across Peter Donovan’s “Soil Carbon Challenge”. His document “Measuring soil carbon change” was about the only step-by-step information we could find at the time to monitor soil carbon. Overall we were impressed with the protocol!
More recently others have entered the soil carbon measuring scene including:
- Point Blue Conservation Science
- Scroll down to Rangeland Monitoring Network – Protocols.
- Regenerative Organic-Certified (ROC)
- Current link to ROC Soil Sampling Guidelines (PDF)
- Savory – Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV)
- Look for link to current version (Ver. 2.0 PDF)
- Review section “LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL MONITORING”.
- To stay up with current Soil Health Monitoring protocols and policy keep tabs on the Soil Health Institute.
Suggestions to start soil carbon monitoring
After trying to monitor soil carbon over the past 8 years, we are happy to list some suggestions and steps below. Consider measuring the soil carbon on your own farm, garden or lawn. Following these steps with about $50 of new equipment, you will be setup to monitor soil carbon.
Before you begin, read the protocols:
- Select Your Soil Carbon Monitoring Site(s):
- Review Peter Donovan’s document, Point Blue and Savory’s suggestions to identify site locations. Settle on a system that works for your operation, simple and repeatable.
- Sampling Depths:
- Depends on how much work you want to put into it. We like the Savory depths of 0-4 in., 4-8 in., 8-12 in. and 40 inches (converted from metric system). This allows you to combine the top three samples for an average “top foot” analysis.
- Want to start easy and give it a try? Just run through the entire process at the 0-4 inch depth.
Steps to determine soil carbon
#1 Download this modified Soil Bulk Density guide
This modified bulk density guide was used at the 2019 Nebraska Sustainable Ag conference. Teacher questions were removed and edits were made to clarify the calculations.
#2 In Field Bulk Density – each depth
Besides Savory EOV, most other soil carbon methods are based on determining Bulk Density at each sampling depth. Refer to pages 4 & 5 in the modified guide for the step by step procedure and watch the video below.
This is a fairly invasive sampling procedure. Imagine for each sampling depth you will need to excavate a soil pit to insert the 3″ diameter cylinder to collect a bulk density sample. Tip: at deeper depths, drive the cylinder in horizontally rather than the vertical method shown at the soil surface.
Key Equipment You May Need To Obtain:
- 3 inch diameter steel tube cut to 5 inches in length.
- Any local auto parts store will have a straight 3″ diameter exhaust pipe that you can purchase for around $10. If you have a chop saw (or know someone that does) simply cut the pipe to 5″ length. Use a file to smooth rough edges.
- Digital Scale that will weigh 600+ grams to +- 0.1 gram.
- Find on Amazon for around $15.
#3 Calculate Bulk Density
After completing the field work and office lab work of drying down the sub sample, use Table 2 page 6 in the modified guide to determine Soil Bulk Density in grams/cm3 for each depth sampled. Pages 7 & 8 helps you calculate Soil Water Content, Soil Porosity and Water-Filled pore space for each bulk density ring collected.
Note, at DS Family Farm we are going to further investigate the Savory EOV “Soil Equivalent Fixed Mass” method in place of Bulk Density in the future. Appears to be less invasive with similar results.
#4 Representative soil sample – each depth
Collect a “representative soil sample” by collecting 8 soil cores using a soil probe for each sampling depth. When you have 8 soil cores for each depth, mix the 8 cores together. Label the mixed soil cores by depth and send the soil samples to a lab of your choice that will give % Soil Organic Carbon using the Dry Combustion Method. We use Ward Labs in Kearney Nebraska and request “Organic Carbon”. This will cost around $10 per sample.
#5 Download this modified Organic Matter guide
This modified organic matter guide was used at the 2019 Nebraska Sustainable Ag conference. Teacher guided questions were removed, edits were made to clarify the calculation steps and Table 4 was added for % Organic Carbon samples.
This guide is really pretty cool. It allows one to make a number of estimates concerning Soil Carbon, Organic N, Organic P and Organic S utilizing bulk density (calculated in step 3 above) and any past soil sample that would have % Soil Organic Matter. Just complete Table 3 if you have % OM available to get the estimates.
#6 Calculate Metric Tons of Carbon and CO2 equivalent
Table 4 of the modified Organic Matter guide was added to utilize % Carbon from lab tests using the Dry Combustion Method. This is the same calculations used in the Peter Donovan document referenced above.
#7 Repeat in the future
Recommendations at this time is to repeat soil carbon monitoring every 3 years. A tip we liked in the Peter Donovan document was to keep a soil sample for future reference. For example, if you collect soil in 2020, collect enough soil to send some to the lab and store the other portion of the sample in a cool dry place. In the future, this stored sample could be used if new testing methods become available or as a check against lab results.
There you go. A longer than normal post but hopefully this information will give you the confidence needed to try soil carbon monitoring on your own property. We will share some of our results in a future post.
