So you wanna be part of “the regenerative movement”, but you’re pretty sure raising a bison in your backyard is a bad idea… First of all, good instincts, that is indeed a bad idea. 😆
While livestock can do heavy lifting for re-invigorating soil life, raising animals is not practical or appropriate for every context, so what can we do in lieu of grazers?
I’ll offer up some examples for urban settings, but know that these ideas can also be adapted to larger homesteads or farms where grazing animals are not raised.
ICYMI: I was inspired to expand upon this topic as a follow up to the conversation I had with Taylor Collins of ROAM Ranch on the podcast, Where Hope Grows by Force of Nature Meats. Our episode focused on “Regenerating Urban Settings” available on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts :)
Understanding Animal-Land Relationship
If you ask me, the guiding north star in cultivation and ecological restoration is to “put the whole back” as Allan Savory says. In other words, consider the greater ecosystem and all the relationships within and be the matchmaker who reintroduces species to one another.
Holistic management of grazing animals is all about “putting the whole back” and though it’s not really a “rewilding” of a landscape, techniques like multi-paddock grazing aim to move the animals across land in a way that mirrors how they might have roamed the native prairie ecosystem i.e. in dense herds, with occasional trampling and plenty of rest between grazing. This has the effect of
returning organic matter to the soil
inoculating the land with microbes from the ruminant gut
stimulating root exudates as the vegetation responds to the grazing
the right amount of soil aeration
(just to name a few key benefits).
When we cannot put animals on the land, we ought to consider how we can fill their role as much as possible. And look, perfection is not the goal here, we can’t replicate animal impact, but we can take a few measures inspired by their relationship with the ecosystem, below are some ideas!
Returning organic matter to the soil
Livestock graze on grass, digest it, and release that organic matter back to the soil as manure - essentially creating a closed loop where biomass on the land stays there or, especially in the case of restoring degraded landscape, the overall biomass grows!
In lieu of livestock…
Mulch introduces a source of organic matter that may have already been on the land in some capacity (think ‘chop and drop’ / flail mowing in gardening or chipping fallen tree limbs) or maybe the mulch comes from a resource brought in from somewhere else (straw, wood mulch, mushroom substrate, pecan shells, etc.) Either way, as mulch breaks down it similarly serves the role of returning organic matter to soil.
“GOM”: ground-up organic matter is what my colleagues and I call the “compost” that tends to come from industrial composting facilities or municipal programs.
I’m not a huge fan of GOM, but it can be a general source of organic matter and I’d only use it in conjunction with a truly biodiverse compost (more on that in a second).
To make the most of organic matter added to soil we really need microbes! Which brings us to…
Inoculating the land
Livestock inoculate land via their manure and epic gut! They’re providing both the organic matter and the decomposers to help return that organic matter to the soil.
In lieu of livestock…
Biodiverse Compost inoculates land with the microbes contained within the compost - the ones responsible for decomposing the organic matter that went into the initial composting system (and the very microbes we need functioning soils!)
A helpful thing to know here is a little biological soil amendment can go a long way - we can apply these composts as a liquid extract (think ~10 - 20 gallons / acre) to soil directly, to GOM or even mulch.
Important: what you may call compost and what I call “GOM” do not contain a diverse microbial community. If you’re using GOM, I highly recommend also making or sourcing a small amount of biodiverse compost to apply as liquid extracts.
🔬 Most backyard composts I look at on the microscope are significantly better quality than the industrial composts I look at.
Did you catch that?! You can make great biological soil amendments right at home / on-farm, and it does not have to be a huge undertaking (even if you have hundreds of acres).
Stimulating root exudates
Did you know 5 - 21% of a plant’s sugar production is released through the roots to feed it’s symbiotic partners in the rootzone?! (Badri et al., 2013) This helps to support thriving microbial communities - the cornerstone of healthy soil.
Livestock stimulate vegetation to produce root exudates via grazing - as a grass or plant is chomped on, it becomes “motivated” so to speak to build even better partnerships with beneficial microbes so that it can grow back strong. This only occurs with a reasonable amount of grazing, as you can imagine overgrazing will weaken a plant entirely (like how we may push our bodies through exercise to improve our strength, but if we push too hard and get injured our health declines)
In lieu of livestock…
Pruning can mimic grazing and stimulate plants to grow strong roots and relationships underground. Similarly, we don’t want to overdo it (as is often the case with frequently mowing turf grass), but we also don’t want to underdo it (as is often the case with landscaped plants that rarely get pruned).
Personally, I am figuring out how much to prune or otherwise cut back / mow through trial and observation. I try to think like livestock before taking action - would they graze in the middle of a hot day? (probably not) Would they take every plant down to the same level or would it be varied? If anyone has experience/insights regarding pruning & mowing please comment!
Light soil aeration
Livestock lightly aerate soil with their hooves, of course if they’re in one place for too long they can have the opposite effect of compacting the soil under their weight. But when managed holistically, their trampling actually helps incorporate organic matter into the soil.
In lieu of livestock…
Deep rooted perennial plants or tap rooted plants can help create channels in the soil for water and air to move through. Even just leaving a crops roots behind after a final harvest can go a long way (assuming that you don’t then come in and till)
Aeration via the occasional broadforking, plug aeration (common for turf) or in some cases dare I say a plow can help incorporate organic matter, air, and biology into the soil. Just as with livestock, these methods ought to be used very carefully and err on the side of rare occurrence, and our tendency is to definitely overwork the soil (so I hesitate to even mention these, ha!) Nevertheless, a little disturbance every now and then is a way nature maintains long-lived ecosystems.
Concluding Thoughts
When we break relationships between say land and animals or microbes and plants, we tend to unknowingly put a lot of responsibility on our own backs to make up for the lost partnerships, and in desperate times we reach for quick fixes (fertilizers, herbicides, etc.) This post points out how we can acknowledge the loss of a relationship on the land and knowingly take on the responsibility.
As you can see, trying to fill the role of livestock does result in a lot of work on our part (mulching, composting, extracts, pruning, aeration 😅), so if your context can support livestock, definitely find a way to do that!
Even if you don’t want to manage the livestock, maybe find someone to partner with who can care for the animals and move them across your land to graze (there are so many first generation ranchers out there who can’t yet afford land themselves and are looking for opportunities like this!)
But, if you’re like me with a suburban lot or some other impractical context for animal integration, take heed and be a thoughtful steward 🤎
With Love,
Andie
I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions!
References
Badri D. V., Quintana N., El Kassis E. G., Kim H. K., Choi Y. H., Sugiyama A., et al.. (2009). An ABC transporter mutation alters root exudation of phytochemicals that provoke an overhaul of natural soil microbiota. Plant Physiol. 151, 2006–2017. 10.1104/pp.109.147462
Podcast: Where Hope Grows | Regenerating Urban Settings with Andie Marsh | February 22, 2024
Available on Apple, Spotify, Audible, Google, IHeartRadio , or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or, check out the unedited version on YouTube! Where Hope Grows podcast is hosted by Taylor Collins of ROAM Ranch and sponsored by Force of Nature Meats - where I choose to purchase most of our red meat : )
You mean my industrial compost that I put cardboard pizza boxes in doesn't contain as much organic matter? 😉 Certainly, that's obvious, but glad you dove in here.
Enter in the perfect urban bird partner, Muscovy.
Not only are they very quiet(no voice boxes or 'calls), their poo is cold compost grade with a C:N of 30:1. Their bill (snouts really) wiggles the ground only a little (not like the whole sell destruction of chickens with 9:1 C:N) and they wag their tails when excited to see you. These 'Indigenous exotic water birds' (my city has a thing against 'ducks') are not related to Mallards, don't need a pond, but just a large tub or cement tray that you fill every other day. You can pour it on the various trees in your urban plot, laden with nutrient rich water.
We are doing the 'perimeter paddock' using the required easements between the property line and various sheds, tanks, and other smaller structures to connect the multiple garden 'rooms'.
My wild Blackberry is gone down to just a few stubbed canes, easy to pull out the wood chipped substrate.
Who needs lawnmowers?