Overgrazing by cattle has depleted much of America’s
pastures, rangelands, and even public lands. It has caused or contributed to
desertification. So, the answer is…to let cattle graze the lands?
As we say in permaculture, “The problem is the solution.”
This doesn’t always hold true, but there is a case for sending in the cows, as
Judith Schwartz says in her book Cows
Save the Planet (Chelsea Green, 2013). More and more agricultural leaders,
environmentalists, and land management and conservation experts are joining in to
urge for “more cowbell.”
As a young woman, I moved to Los Angeles from my native
Kansas and I was surprised to see cows grazing on the cloverleaves where cars
entered and exited the freeways. It was not that I hadn’t seen cows (I was from
Kansas, after all) but seeing them in an urban area seemed incongruous. A
decade later, I traveled to Switzerland, and found that cows are accepted and
integrated into the community because rural and urban populations there
understand the role of the bovines in keeping the landscapes healthy.
The Swiss Solution
On a fine spring morning in the Swiss Alps, blades of grass
push through the thawing snow, so green it hurts my eyes. As I pass one of the
sturdy Swiss barns, I hear cows lowing, smelling the grass and crying to be let
out to pasture.
But the barns are shut tight because if the cows are allowed
into the fields too early, the grass will be torn up under their hooves. A
farmer and son go through the fields in a tractor fitted with a cannon-like
tool. Called a “shit shooter” by the populace, it distributes manure from the
barn to nourish the grass and encourage growth.
This ritual has played out over centuries in the Alps,
sustaining the peoples’ way of life and giving structure to their seasons. Soon
the day will come when the cows are let into the pastures. In late spring, the
cows will be paraded proudly through town, cowbells ringing and horns bedecked
with spring flowers. All traffic stops as the herders and their dogs move up
the mountainsides. As they reach the grassy hills, the cows spread out and
begin grazing. Another rite of passage has been completed.
Glimmers of Hope
The thin, rocky topsoil of the Alps has been maintained
sustainably over many generations. In other places, the introduction of cattle
has led to depleted soil and declining productivity.
In 1991, Gabe Brown began farming a 1,760-acre spread near
Bismark, North Dakota. He followed the usual practices: tilling, fertilizing, applying
pesticides and herbicides as well as conventional grazing. But after four years
of freak storms and crop failures, he almost lost the farm. He chose to try to
regenerate his failing enterprise using holistic management practices.
That was 30 years ago. Today, Brown no longer tills or
removes the debris left after harvesting. He no longer uses pesticides and far
less fertilizers and herbicides. His cattle are managed much the way the Swiss
do. He grows 140 speces of native grasses, forbs, and legumes for his
livestock. “Ag has a big role in healing Earth,” he says. “And it begins with
the soil.”
Seven hundred miles southeast, Kyle and Karl Dallefeld are
farmers in Iowa, grass farmers, that is. Their company is called the Dallefeld
Cattle Company, but you’ll find them talking about growing grass, native
plants, and soil more often than cows. They practice rotational grazing, where
small herds graze an area enclosed in temporary fencing for three or four days;
then they’re moved and don’t come to that area for at least 45 days. This
allows the 51 species of plants and grass to regenerate and maintain lush
stands of growth.
These are only two examples of new practices in Earth
stewardship and managing herds. On the Western plains, ranchers are
experimenting with driving their herds across the landscape like bison,
trimming the grass, hoof tilling and manure fertilizing in one fell swoop.
Becoming Soil Stewards
Managed grazing leads to less pollution and water loss, as
well as healthier soils. But that’s not all.
Cows Save the Planet quotes Australian soils expert Christine Jones
in praising the carbon-holding skill of resilient soils: “A soil carbon
improvement of just 0.5 percent in the top 12 inches of 2 percent of
Australia’s agricultural land would effectively store that country’s annual
carbon dioxide emissions over the long term.” It’s an investment we all should
seriously make.
