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Soil Fertility > Digestibility
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Digestibility
The soil is the first stomach
In 1984 Joe Topp wrote a small booklet, “Mineral Imbalance – A cause of Ill-Health and Unemployment”. It was to be his swan-song; a compilation of his vast knowledge and information he had collected over the decades while in the lime and dicalcic industry. One of the comments written on the second page refers to the topic of digestibility:
“Experience has taught that only humus has the property of being able to store and render harmless to the grazing animal, the many potentially poisonous essential mineral elements that have to be conveyed, some in extremely minute amounts, from the soil to the leaf, before it is possible for stock to show the hallmarks of health – size, bone and constitution.”
The rapid manufacture of humus in a soil acts as the first stomach of the animal. This process takes place as the soil life recycles the litter on the surface, which includes the dung and urine left from the stock. Once it all becomes purified in this humic state, the nutrients and minerals are now present in a colloidal form, a form that is readily available to the plant without one of the many essential elements overpowering or being under represented. As it feeds off that reserve, the pasture becomes presented to the animal in a perfectly balanced state. It sounds simple, and it is. All because a very important process has been taken care of by the soil before it reaches the animal: the nutrients in their raw states have been digested by the soil first. |
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Many artificial water-soluble fertilisers only contribute to the photosynthesis of the plant above ground. Therefore when pasture is grown with them, they can by-pass this humic system, and the plant is subject to luxury nutrient uptake. It is then left up to the animal to do the work of the humus, that is, compensate its own energy it would otherwise put to use in growing to digest and eliminate the excess nutrients. This eventually puts strain on the animal, as any lack of energy can also lead to trace element supplementation dependency; yet another cost to the farmer. The stock also have to gorge themselves to get satisfaction from the feed, which produces unlimited stress on their digestive systems, again requiring a huge diversion of their own energy.
Energy is not a soil nutrient. But it is absolutely crucial for the constant production of humus; a healthy carbon content in the soil ensures this takes place. If the grass eaten by the stock has by-passed that humus process – such as in the flush phenomenon (a surge of growth after fertiliser application) – the homeostasis of the animal is affected. In humans, homeostasis can be seen in the way our bodies release acid when eating, or feeling the heat of the sun on our skin, or naturally breaking down viruses in the body. Our homeostasis keeps things changing in an orderly way without depending on a conscience input, unless we do something that constantly affects that mutual relationship (poor diet, lack of exercise etc). When it happens, the medical profession is relied on for recovery. Likewise, an animal’s homeostasis can be affected by excess nutrients, and the animal then has to compensate its own level of health and energy to ensure it becomes digested (warning signs: dags, bloat, scouring, low conception rates). In time this too requires a medical profession to remedy, in conjunction with the farm’s bank account. In a living soil, rapid humus formation is part of its own homeostasis; it is something it is meant to do.
The quick elimination of waste is the ultimate production of humus, and quality humus equals quality feed. Animals fed pasture that have already been through that first stomach do not require as much dry matter, nor do they have to sacrifice their own precious energy supplies. The animal has less stress, more vitality. Like it was quoted in 1984, they show the hallmarks of health – size, bone and constitution. |
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"Are you feeding your stock fast food?"
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