Soil erosion is a serious issue for at least three reasons. First, a reduction in top soil is also reduction in soil productivity. Second, when soil erodes it means water is not infiltrating the soil. This leads to a reduction in soil productivity. Third, soil erosion leads to a decrease in stream quality.
In environmental and agricultural circles it is not uncommon to hear about the amount of soil lost to erosion on a global scale. While not dismissing those concerns, I am far from an expert on that subject and can’t speak to the veracity of the numbers, its causes, and its global effects. Instead, what I want to focus on is the local causes and effects of soil erosion.
One of our main missions at Living Pastures is to increase soil and pasture health through natural processes, and as a byproduct increase the amount of beef (or lamb, or chicken, or eggs perhaps…) we can produce per acre. One way to not do this is by farming in a way that we lose soil to erosion. This is one reason we practice adaptive grazing. By managing how intensely we graze a given area and then giving that area adequate time to rest, we maintain the healthy plant roots that play a major role in supporting the soil structure and make water infiltration and storage possible.
Ok, enough with all the boring technical talk. Time for a “fun” video (I think it’s fun, haha!) that shows what I just tried to explain:
I took a photo of the last paddock our cattle were in. You can see how the forage they “left” behind (they would have eaten it right to the ground if we hadn’t moved them) is trampled down to provide a good cover for the soil and provide the soil microbes with organic matter to eat.
