[permaculture-oceania] feeding pigs and nutrient run-off

[steve_burns at wvi.org]

So, to rephrase the question - what plants need a lot of nutrient and will
be able to turn it all into productive growth...?

one that comes to mind is artichokes - they love a heap of feed, and have
the additional benefit of being OK to have in one location for a long
while, plus they create an imposing barrier if you plant them right on the
edge of the property..

maybe you could have a slight rise along the downslope boundary, with a
depression in front of it to trap flow-off so that water soaks in and feeds
whatever's growing; another heavy feeder would be rhubarb, and perhaps you
could plant a row of comfrey and borage in there as well - borage for
flowers and bee fodder, comfrey to harvest for liquid compost so that you
recycle the nutrients back up slope into the garden......

so, yes, the pigs might create havoc unless you put an electric fence along
the area where you had your plantings... if it's a large area, perhaps you
don't need to have plantings all the way along your downslope side - you
could use a swale to gather water and nutrients and direct them to a
planted area (as long as the volume of water during peak flow didn't drown
everything)

another approach would be to plant fodder trees that would soak up the
nutrient and turn it into acorns, millable timber, etc....

so many options!  ;)

Steve



                                                                           
             "kdawborn"                                                    
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             06/14/2006 05:38          RE: [permaculture-oceania] feeding  
             PM                        pigs and nutrient runnoff           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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Thanks to everyone for your suggestions on pig fodder and forage and
general feeding ideas. Looking forward to more thoughts on this too! No
replies yet on dealing with nutrient runoff – which is a big thing we need
to deal with. To remind you of the question it is included again below!

Cheers all,

Kerry Dawborn


            3)       Nutrient runoff from paddocks into creek: we are
            concerned about the nutrient load going into our creek from
            animal manure. It seems likely that the most sensible way to
            view this is that really, the nutrients are something we want
            to keep and use rather than allow to pollute the creek, so
            perhaps the thing to do is grow more stuff that can soak it up.
            Any suggestions re useful fodder (especially) or human food
            plants or other plants, and ways to lay things out in order to
            best catch the runoff? As I write I’m thinking swale-type
            arrangements with appropriate plantings could work, but we are
            talking paddocks with pigs so for stock management and other
            reasons, am not sure whether this might create problems.


            Any thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome…





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