Nature Knows Best
At Rainy Knob Ranch, we strive to emulate nature for the health of our land, animals, and us. By rotating our livestock from pasture to pasture, we copy the pattern of migratory herds. This allows our livestock access to diverse forages with varying nutritional qualities, while fertilizing with their manure. Herds are moved to fresh pastures on a half-day to two-day rotation depending on the needs of the animals and time of year.
This method of natural grazing was historically the way of life for large roaming herds of ruminant herbivores. Grazing the plants sustained the animals, while their manure, urine, and even their saliva, provided nutrients back into the soil to feed the soil microbes, creating healthy soils.
Healthy Soils Are Alive!
Soil is not a dead or inactive medium for growing plants. Fungi, bacteria, and insects all contribute and interact in a symbiotic manner to provide nutrients to the plants. Without this interaction, plants may grow, but are not healthy. Nutrient dense foods can only be grown in healthy soils. They sequester, or capture, huge amounts of carbon and toxins from the air. They also allow for better water infiltration, which reduces runoff during rains, thereby reducing flooding and instead refilling underground aquifers.
With the advent of modern tillage agriculture, the removal of migrating animals from the land, and the use of chemicals, soils that were once teaming with life and life-giving properties have been weakened or destroyed. Continuous grazing of herbivores also damages soil by causing compaction. Over-grazing reduces water infiltration which leads to flooding issues during heavy rains. Chemicals used on these farms are also washed into streams causing water pollution.
Plants That Thrive
Plants that grow in unhealthy soils grow, but do not thrive. Likewise, when people eat food grown in unhealthy soil, they can exist, but not thrive. Most modern humans exist on the foods we eat, but we don’t thrive on those foods. Most modern farming methods don’t produce nutrient dense foods and thus we need vitamin and mineral supplements.
It is increasingly clear that modern nutrition is a major cause of modern day illnesses, such as heart disease and diabetes, two ailments almost unheard of prior to the turn of the 20th century.
As we have grown as ranchers, we have come to realize that nature knows best. When we listen to her and strive to emulate her, our animals are more healthy, our land and soil is more healthy, and we are more healthy as a result.