No Bare Soil. Ever. Why We Keep Our Pastures Covered
The grass our cattle leave behind has a job to do. Here's how trampled grass protects the soil, helps feed soil life and supports the next round of pasture growth at Tyner Pond Farm.
No bare soil. Ever.
The first job in regenerative grazing is to protect the soil. Keep it covered. Keep living roots growing beneath it. Everything we're trying to accomplish at Tyner Pond Farm starts there.
The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service calls that cover “soil armor.” It's the first principle in its five-part soil-health series. The idea is straightforward: the soil needs a protective layer between its surface and the sun, wind and rain.
I wanted to share this photo because you can see an important part of that work in the grass beneath the cattle. What happens to the grass they leave behind matters to the next round of growth.
The grass our cattle leave behind
We keep our cattle tightly bunched and moving, working to replicate the grazing patterns of herds in nature. They eat the grass, and our goal is to trample all of the grass they leave uneaten onto the soil surface.
That leaves a layer of plant material covering the ground. It can look untidy if you're used to seeing a neatly mowed field, but that grass has a job to do right where it is.
The cattle then move on, and the pasture gets time to rest and regrow before they return. The movement and the rest are both part of the process. We're managing for the plants that need to recover as well as the cattle that need to eat.
A blanket over the soil
That layer of trampled grass helps shade the ground and reduce the amount of moisture lost through evaporation. Cover also helps moderate soil temperatures, protecting the surface from the full force of the sun.
When rain falls, the plant material takes the impact of the raindrops. That helps protect the soil beneath it from erosion and surface damage. The cover stays in place after the herd has moved to its next grazing area.
Those are practical reasons to pay attention to what remains after grazing. The uneaten grass continues doing useful work on the surface, helping protect the place where the next grass will grow.
Feeding the life beneath the grass
Plant material also provides food for the soil community. Bacteria, fungi and other organisms help break it down. Through that process, nutrients cycle into forms that growing plants can use.
Living roots are part of the same system. Plants use sunlight to make sugars, and some of that energy moves through their roots to feed organisms in the soil. There's activity beneath the pasture as well as on its surface.
Keeping the ground covered and keeping living roots growing work together. The cover protects the surface. The roots help sustain the life below it. Rest gives the grazed plants the opportunity to recover and keep contributing to that cycle.
How we manage our pastures
At Tyner Pond Farm, grazing decisions and recovery time are central to the way we farm. How long cattle stay in one area and when they return have to fit the pasture and soil conditions. Cover, living roots and rest all depend on how we manage those decisions.
I want you to be able to see that connection when you look at a photo from the pasture. The cattle are eating grass. The grass they trample becomes cover. Soil organisms break down that plant material, and living roots help feed the soil community. Then the pasture gets time to grow again.
When you buy our grassfed beef, you're supporting that work here in Indiana. You're helping us keep raising cattle in a way that begins with caring for the ground beneath them.
Thank you for supporting our farm and the way we raise your food.
