Showing posts with label pasture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasture. Show all posts

Farmers Adopt Optical Measuring Devices in Pastures

Farming is becoming much more efficient. Gone are the days when growing food was at the whim of the weather. The ten day forecast and even longer weather predictions have made farming a science. Farmers are becoming more like technicians today, rather than multi-skilled laborers.
Optical measuring device placed in pastures paddock
Growers are using satellite technology. Pastures have optical devices in situ measuring soil and vegetation conditions. The information is collected and re-transmitted down to farmers who use hand held devices or PC to analyze data.

More specifically, a pasture"s cover and biomass are measured. Its overall health is ranked. Allocating suitable farm area to grazing animals and crops is made more practical. Resources are fully utilized.  Consequently, a nation's GDP is improved.
◆ Technology by Ty Buchanan ◆
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OPTICAL DATA FROM PASTURE TO SATELLITE
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Lose Weight by Drinking Milk from Grass-Fed Cows?

Drink milk from grass-fed cows and have a healthier heart. This is because this milk has five times more unsaturated fat than that from grain-fed cows. You can even lose weight by drinking the milk. This is a call back to the past. Today most cows in the West are grain fed.

People having high levels of unsaturated fat had a third less risk of getting a heart attack. Studies have found that a diet consisting of unsaturated fats reduced cancer cells and tumours.  Though meat from grain fed cows seems to have less fat, looks can be deceiving.

There is a problem with the proposition from this research. In Australia and New Zealand milking cows are fed mainly on pasture. However, people in these countries are almost as fat as US citizens and high blood pressure is just as bad. As a person ages milk consumption decreases. Australians do eat a lot of take away food. And these food establishments foister coke on you. When you order tea or coffee you can almost hear a sigh from those serving you. You see pained expressions on their faces as they search around for milk and cups hidden away under the counter. Some even opt out of the "chore" by asking older staff members to make it.

A campaign to make consumers buy grass-fed milk would be a waste of money. This type of milk would be more expensive anyway with separate processing and packaging requirements. It would be like the call for free-range eggs. Producers and sellers can be dishonest. Battery eggs are sold as free-range and buyers don't know the difference. The same thing would happen with "healthier" milk.

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Conservation
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Sheep and Cattle Are in Danger From Volcanic Ash

Air passengers have been crying fowl because of the volcanic ash problems in Europe and South America. It is not only humans who are suffering. Sheep and cattle have no grass to eat because ash on the ground has turned to sludge. The provinces of Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquen in Argentina are in dire straits.

Farmers have to put sheep in pens and feed them. There is no clean pasture to move them to. Many farmers from the Atlantic Ocean to Chile have nothing to give their sheep and there is a shortage of pens. There are fears that sheep and cows could go blind if they eat the poisonous sludge. Cows and horses are trying to separate clean grass with their hooves but sheep cannot remove the ash so easily.

The volcanic ash is a phenomenon farmers have never faced before. Local deer are blindly stumbling around. Cows have already lost a quarter of their weight. Argentina is one of the world's major beef exporters. If the volcano remains active meat prices could soon rise.
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