Howard said this morning he would post the Iowa State research on a large-scale ferilizer making technique. It included something about a partial burn and a few other techniques that mimicked an ancient Central American or Mexican civilization, and produced significantly more fertile soil than surrounding areas that went untouched. Where on the site can I find this article? We have a 3000+ acre previously under-utilized cattle ranch and are gradually transitioning parcel by parcel to organics with the long-term goal being a completely chemical-free grass-finished product.

If you haven't already read about it, search the Internet for Holistic Resource Management, HRM of Texas, Acres USA, Managing Wholes, and Joel Salatin. Read everything you can find by these folks and attend as many meetings as you can get to.

Thanks, David - some new ones there. We've been doing a lot of research utilizing several of these resources and attended one of the HRM seminars last year. The whole fertilization vs aeration vs let the cows do it still creates confusion and the cost of fertilizers (organic even) on that much land is huge. Since we still have our full-time work in Dallas for now, I'm always looking out for new research that gives us the time and financial edge we need to "do the right thing" on our Oklahoma land. Still not finding Howard's link to this one, though.

I'm not sure what you saw at the HRM meeting, but it should have had to do with stopping all fertilizers, herbicide, insecticide, miticide, and seed. The only thing left for you to provide is mineral and water. For mineral you can start with dry seaweed. For water you need to provide water in every pasture. After you stop all the inputs, you make fences to control the animal movement through the pastures. Once you are controlling the animals in the pastures, you no longer need wranglers to round them up because they are all in the same little pasture when you want them.

Leave it to the animals to fertilize for you. If you bring in chickens, they will take care of other pests and help distribute the manure.

Maybe it's time to visit another HRM meeting??