RE: [AlpacaTalk] fertilizing pastures

Ok Heather,

What do you use other than water to keep your grass growing. I was a
professional landscaper in my former life and used many tons of fertilizer.
What I do now is to lightly fertilize, water it in, wait 3-4 days and water
again. The initial watering takes the fertilizer (if light enough and
souble enough), dissolves it and gets it down to the roots of the grass.
The second watering enables the grass to utilize the fertilizer without
burning. I typically have 3-4 waterings and 15-20 days post-fertilizer
before returning my alpaca to a given pasture. To date(and I hope always) I
have had no abortions whatsoever.

I'm open to any suggestions you have for the health of our pastures and
alpaca.
:)

Peter Lundberg
Elderberry Creek Alpacas
It's the Fiber That Makes Us Better"
Stayton, OR 97383

ElderberryCreekAlpacas.com

>From: Heather Zeleny <alpacatalk@westwindalpacas.com>
>Reply-To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogroups.com
>To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [AlpacaTalk] fertilizing pastures
>Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:46:40 -0700
>
>Hello all,
>I just saw a post on another "discussion" group regarding fertilizing
>pastures with chemical fertilizers. The illustrious moderator has
>deemed my posts unfit for publishing, so I'll post my reply here.
>
>Chemical fertilizers are dangerous and toxic. Here's a link to one of
>many web pages on the subject of nitrate/nitrite poisoning in
>livestock:
>http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/livestoc/v839w.htm
> > Pregnant females that survive nitrate poisoning may abort due to lack
> > of oxygen to the fetus. Abortions generally occur approximately 10-14
> > days following exposure to nitrates.
>
>And, here's a first had report of how dangerous fertilizers are. We had
>to agist our herd a few years ago while fences at our current property
>were being completed. The owners felt it necessary to fertilize the
>pastures so they removed the animals from the fields, fertilized, then
>put our aninals back in those pastures a week later. They did not water
>it in, nor did it rain in that week. Our animals had burnt pads from
>walking on the fertilizer pellets. We had one dam abort a cria at 11
>months gestation. A female grey. We had many 1st trimester abortions.
>Yes, 10-14 days after our alpacas were returned to those fertilized
>pastures. They had burned bellies in addition to the burnt foot pads.
>
>Please don't use chemical fertilizers on your pastures. Not only do you
>put your animals at risk of abortion and death to the adults, but
>chemical fertilizers are toxic to the soil microflora and fauna. It
>will kill your soil making it incapable of supporting any pasture
>forage.
>Heather
>
>Heather Zeleny
>West Wind Alpacas
>Eugene, OR
>
>Holistic Farm and Elite Fleece
>Home of Avatar's West Wind Scirocco, El Bello's Padré, Pluro grandson
>Sienna Illusion, and true black full Bolivian Cosby of Chelsea Farms!
>http://www.westwindalpacas.com/
>http://www.alpacanation.com/westwind.asp
>http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlpacaTalk/join
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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