All dirt is not the same…..

Water (not oil) may be our most precious resource but dirt isn’t far behind.  And with all the changes we’ve made to our pastures at Thistle Hill (and the addition of more acreage) we thought it was time for a complete analysis of our soil.

So last week we brought in Tellus Consulting again for a survey.  Tim Woodward (on the left) took samples in seven key and representative pastures.  Not sure who the old geezer was on the right who showed up to watch.  The hundreds of samples are sent off to a lab in Ohio…put through a number of tests to identify the mineral content, fertility, pH and organic matter and then it’s up to us to bring everything into line.

We first worked with Tellus, and its principal, Charlie Thornton, ten years ago and we think both the quality of our animals, and of our meat, is a tribute to his work.  He’s been back twice since and we also frequently use the local Soil and Water people to keep us on track.

The Founding Fathers left us with a wonderful country but they were hard on the land.   Constant cropping depleted the top soils along the East Coast….it’s why Washington was a surveyor….looking for new land to farm.  I’ve read that so much damage was done to eastern farmland that a lifetime of proper, natural practices would not be enough to restore what this country once had.  And, of course, commercial agriculture with its chemicals, has actually made the problem even worse.

While we’ve made good progress here at Thistle Hill, we were curious about the impact our experiment in mob grazing may have had.  The “theory” is that the ground should be further improved with the high density grazing we’ve focused on small areas.  On the other hand, the plan does force animals to eat mature grass and that can be less nutritious.

The real test is how the cows look, of course.  And how they taste.  So we’re not expecting any surprises, but we want to be sure.