The first week of August I was haulin' a
load of cows to the sale. We hadn't had rain for five weeks and my
pasture was pretty sorry. I'd been feedin' hay for two weeks. Along the
highway I could see houses on either side. Most had green lawns. It
occurred to me 'Somethin' is wrong with this picture!'
Not
that I'm against people havin' lawns, or even soakin' them with
precious water. But then they mow it. They pick up the clippings. Then
they stuff these clippings in a plastic bag and try and hide it
somewhere. I could quadruple my cow herd if I could just rent pasture
from one residential block and graze their yards. But I know that is not
realistic.
Residential yard workers
do not think of their lawns as forage. They grow it, mow it, harvest its
bounty and add it to a landfill. They think of it more like hair than
wheat. But you talk about work! Maybe there are people who look forward
to mowin' the lawn; barbers, for instance, or manicurists. And it's not
just the weekly horse whippin' of a following a Briggs and Stratton
around for half a day, some enthusiastic yarders edge, weed, fertilize,
shape, prune, rake, haul and water in never-ending tail chase to create
compost!
So, I been thinkin' why not
capitalize on all this hand labor. What is grass good for? Cow feed, of
course. But it is unlikely that livestock producers could rent 2 AUM's
(Animal Units per backyard) or some such. Which means we have to be able
to use the grass after it is harvested. Now, any cowman who's tried to
dump lawn clippings over the fence knows most cows ignore it unless
they're starvin'. But the way cows love silage, maybe we could treat it
like a fermented product.
We'd
spread the word that fresh clippings would be picked up Saturday and
Sunday evenings. Participating Eco-sensitive residential yarders would
set their plastic bags out. We'd pick it up, haul it to the dairy or
feedlot, add silage preservative and put it in a pit. If it was put up
fresh it might hold a worthwhile protein level. Of course, all
participating yarders would have to guarantee that their lawn was
organic; herbicide and pesticide-free.
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