Where animals are happy, the food is healthy
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Trace and Save’s sustainability measures ensure the consumer that the box of milk they buy is sourced from a farm that treats animals and the environment well.
Author Archive for: Portia Phohlo
Entries by Portia Phohlo
The vexing question of animal welfare
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Animal welfare is certainly a subject about which most people will have something to say. Most people’s opinions are firmly held and are based on their beliefs, culture and traditions, rather than on factual evidence. The broader community needs to understand that animal welfare is a very complex and multifaceted subject which cannot be reduced to one box.
What farmers can learn from the drought
Reading Time: 3 minutes
The reality is that adapting agricultural practices when the drought is already upon us is actually too late. Sustainable agriculture should be a way of life.
Don’t expect miracle pastures from nitrogen alone
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Nitrogen alone cannot carry the responsibilities of other nutrients in the plant. That is why farmers need to have a balance of all essential plant nutrients in order to archive optimal growth.
Five benefits of multi-species pastures
Reading Time: 3 minutes
The benefits of multispecies pasture are not only limited to the benefits mentioned in this blog, they are far greater. I have isolated these ones because they are the most pertinent and directly relate to farm profitability.
Lucerne pasture: The king of fodder crops
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Farmers that include lucerne as part of their pasture mixtures will benefit from free nitrogen both from the atmosphere and from an enhanced mineralisation rate that will be stimulated by diverse pastures. The free nitrogen will help reduce fertiliser costs and improve farm efficiency.
Mycorrhizal fungi: The plant’s secondary root system
Reading Time: 2 minutes
The relationship between plant roots and mycorrhizae is often reduced to just the exchange of nutrients and water, but the relationship goes much deeper. Read this blog to find out about other benefits of this mutualistic relationship.
Chickens on pastures
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Raising chickens on pasture has many benefits which include improved soil health, improved pasture health, and improved chicken health – which improves the health of the produce, be it meat or eggs. Read this blog to find out how this is archived.
Soil food web series: Arthropods in soil
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Arthropods play a significant role in the soil food web. Farmers should value the role they play, and ensure they implement practices which facilitate and encourage a healthy soil food web, including arthropods.
There are no quick fixes in soil
Reading Time: 2 minutes
We all know that in order to get different results, you need to do something differently. You cannot expect to get different results if you carry on doing the same things over and over again. The first key to achieving healthy soils is in changing your mindset.