The health of pasture and soil cannot be dissociated. It is exactly the same as a raised-bed garden put in for growing vegetables; if the soil is fed then it will produce quality vegetables  – the same as a paddock being nurtured for the production of grass, whether it be to support dairy cows or any other animal.

The purpose of pasture is to provide feed for grazing animals, and generally speaking the better the quality of the grass you can produce, the healthier your animals will be. The demands on farming caused by the swelling population caused declines in fertility, which by the 1920s was becoming serious. In 1924 a group of German farmers approached Rudolf Steiner and asked him to address the issue. This gave birth to the Bio-dynamic (BD) farming movement. Still regarded as esoteric in many circles there is now not a single discipline within the field of agriculture which has not experimented with it successfully.

Looking after your pasture the Bio-dynamic way can be regarded as a simple extension of common-sense. Diversity is important, and planting as many trees and bushes as you can will increase production of your animals.

They will provide shelter and shade, but also produce trace elements such as sulphur and tannins which aid digestion and decrease intestinal parasites, especially in cows. Many pastures have been dominated by perennial ryegrass for years, and re-sowing with a good mixture of grass species, plus herbs such as plantain and chicory will assist the health of both the paddock and your animals.

The various preparations that BD farmers use on their land are an art in themselves, and worthy of many articles. Overall they can be said to ‘stimulate’ the soil to encourage healthy growth, and mobilise nutrients that can be taken up by the pasture plants. However, yet again, balance is the vital ingredient in your applications. Too much of one thing can lead to an imbalance of another and so forth. For example if you over-irrigate you risk making the roots too shallow and therefore more drought-prone than before.

Peter Bacchus has been involved with farming, dairying and BD for most of his life.

“Generally speaking I recommend that the mineral side of the soil be roughly balanced to the Dr. William Albrecht ratios. He arrived at those figures by measuring where things were abundantly fertile and where they were infertile.

“We find that when the mineral elements are thus arranged plants grow better, and when they grow better so does the biology under the soil. A soil well populated with active biology has more air space within it allowing more moisture to be absorbed when it rains and to hold enough for plants to grow for longer when it doesn’t rain.

“The more active biology in the soil the more air is breathed. Air is approximately 80% nitrogen and 19% oxygen. Therefore having a soil with a really active biological life there is more than enough nitrogen being breathed into the soil and converted into protein. As most of the organisms are relatively short lived, especially as they feed each other, there is more than enough for the plants.

“There is a nitrogen chemistry that happens in the soil that changes as conditions change. In moist conditions bacteria convert more stable forms of nitrogen to nitrates, the form that is related to fast growing plants.

“In ideal conditions the plants convert the nitrate form to complex protein in the plant. This is the form that best feeds an animal, humans and the bank account.”

Rural Living would like to thank Peter Bacchus and Soil to Soul for assistance in preparing this article.