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Household and Agricultural Uses of Basic H

Missouri Grass Fed Beef 204

“Who was the first guy that look at a cow and said," I think that I will drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?”

Calvin & Hobbes

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Recent Articles

Wholesale Meat Prices Increasing

Watch Your Wallet: Beef Prices will just continue to go up.

The trick is in getting wholesale meat online, particularly in local markets such as Fulton, Columbia, or Jefferson City. But the reasons have everything to do with how our markets operate.

The last couple of years of drought have been hard on both cattle ranchers and corn farmers. Grass fed beef graziers have only had half of this problem. However, the grass they live on - unless properly managed - is under extreme stress and won't regrow at any speed with lack of moisture and increased heat.

Some solutions are to wean early and reduce calf populations and so reduce the need for grass intake. This of course runs into the problem of shipping calves off to a feedlot, where they will have to be fed higher-priced corn and soy supplements. Which then also means that the lighter-weight beef will be more costly to produce for the market...

(more) 09/09/2012

Tough Times Coming

Last year, many cows were shipped up to Iowa to out-last the dry Texas/Oklahoma weather. This year, the drought was longer and more widespread, so I didn't hear about this being done so much.

Our cows stayed right where they were. When our corn turned out to be a bust, it became forage. Especially since there have been a lot of weeds grow up in between, which need to be grazed down before I replant to wheat this fall. (Far better to maintain our cows and grow our calves than cut it all down. What they don't eat, they stomp - and the biotics living in their manure adds to that mulch-effect.)

The concept is to manage your grazing well to begin with and then convert any other land you have into grazing (or haying - if you can't get cattle to it)...

(more) 09/09/2012

Carbon Negative Beef

The truth is that the production of animal products from perennial forages is the sustainable agricultural system. Many, however, are concerned about the carbon dioxide and methane “emissions” from livestock in general, and cattle in particular. Some folks don’t seem to understand that a cow grazing grass can only emit carbon that was originally in grass, and that the carbon in grass has to have come from the atmosphere. So it’s a cycle, not an “enrichment.” But there’s more to it than that!

For every pound of carbon “emitted” by a cow on grass, 3.2 pounds of carbon are fixed in plant roots, uneaten plant debris, or the cow herself or her calf. Even if 100% of carbon she ingested is emitted, there’d be 2.9 pounds of carbon fixed for every pound emitted! Beef cattle are carbon negative!

(more) 09/09/2012

Saving Water Using Basic-H Soil Conditioner

Bring Water Management Down to Earth

You may be able to conserve water and improve profitability by managing water more efficiently, or getting the most production for the amount of water you use. Soil conditioning is one way to help manage your valuable water resources. Used properly, Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner can make it safe and easy. And that may mean more money in your pocket!

Improving water infiltration may increase crop yields. Soil conditioning alters the physical properties of soil in ways that fight erosion, save water, or improve plant growth. The ingredients in Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner have been shown to improve water infiltration, or penetration. This is generally known to have many possible benefits on farms, including improved soil aeration, reduced run-off and erosion, water conservation, and increased crop yields. The results you obtain depend on conditions in your field and your farming practices.

Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner may also enhance the relationship between water, soil, and plants. This can help your farm in many ways, because the way that crops get water and nutrients depends on the way that water moves through soil.

Water Infiltration Improved up to 300%

We proved that Basic-H Soil Conditioner can improve water infiltration, or penetration, up to 300%*. In carefully controlled field studies, Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner substantially increased water infiltration or penetration, on eight wettable soils. These experiments were all repeated five or six times, producing statistically significant results with a 95% confidence level. This means that the same results would be obtained in 19 out of every 20 experiments.

Depending on soil characteristics, research showed that the maximum increase in infiltration occurred several weeks after application. The exception was on silty loam, where maximum water infiltration was obtained immediately.

Increasing Water Infiltration May Mean a Lot to Your Crops. How Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner Can Help:

1 Tends to increase water penetration rate on some soils*

2 Reduces some forms of water repellency

3 May reduce run off and loss by evaporation

4 Aids eliminating standing water

5 Helps promote uniform water penetration

*This increase in rate may occur several weeks after application, depending upon soil characteristics

Increased Crop Yields

The many possible benefits of Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner may add up to increased crop yields

Potato Yields increased 1,777 Pounds per Acre Studies began with a university greenhouse experiment. Basic-H had a positive effect on the shoot growth of potato plants. These field studies showed encouraging increases in potato tuber yields. Similar results were again obtained in a subsequent study.

Finally, the toughest study was designed. A field of potatoes was divided into plots, with Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner applied randomly to some of them. The Basic-H was used twice, once for four weeks after the shoots emerged and again five weeks later, at the rate of one gallon per acre. Potato tuber yields were increased by 4% or 1,777 pounds per acre. The precise mechanism that causes increased potato yields as a result of using Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner is still not fully understood.

Corn Yields increased 29% Carefully controlled field studies were conducted on a water-repellent sandy loam with a history of extremely low yields. Statistically significant increases in silage corn production were obtained with just one application of Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner.

A field was divided into untreated "control" areas and areas treated with Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner in a random pattern, after planting and before shoots emerged. The experiment was replicated 15 times, and the results had a statistically significant confidence level of 98%.

This clearly demonstrates Basic-H Concentrated Soil Conditioner benefits plant growth when a water-repellent soil limits water availability. Remember, water availability limits crop growth more frequently than anything else.