Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kattabelly]

I'll take the liberty of answering this as it's only about 100 miles east of here. No. Grasslands and cereal fields are usually brown by mid August but this year most of England has had an exceptionally dry spring and summer.

Seems like it'll be increasingly common in future though. Further east but I remember a few really dry summers when I was living down in Sussex, and the farmers I know there have been looking at what changes they can make based on the assumption that drought is going to be a regular issue from now on.

Even here we've had a couple of scarily dry springs in the last few years, although that's not lasted right through the summer yet thankfully. This field cant have been cut for hay much more than a fortnight ago

The wind last week caused more crop damage than it would if we'd had a wetter spring though.

 

[Perris]

Seems like it'll be increasingly common in future though

Yes. I think I need to learn to cope with increasingly static weather patterns (lows or highs blocked in place) and more energetic weather (intensity of rain or wind) when it does change from one to another.

what changes they can make based on the assumption that drought is going to be a regular issue from now on

I think they'll have to ditch the modern version of slash-and-burn agriculture we've been practicing these past 50-odd years.

 

[kattabelly]

I think they'll have to ditch the modern version of slash-and-burn agriculture we've been practicing these past 50-odd years.

The people I know were already very into all the regen ag, permanent pasture etc stuff tbf. Rainwater capture and storage and more drought-resistant breeds/varieties/types of livestock and crops are the obvious, relatively easy changes they're mostly looking at initially. Still, pretty striking when you hear someone say they're downsizing their flock of local heritage sheep in favour of breeds developed for places like Australia and South Africa.

 

[Perris]

The people I know were already very into all the regen ag, permanent pasture etc stuff tbf. Rainwater capture and storage and more drought-resistant breeds/varieties/types of livestock and crops are the obvious, relatively easy changes they're mostly looking at initially.

Good.

Still, pretty striking when you hear someone say they're downsizing their flock of local heritage sheep in favour of breeds developed for places like Australia and South Africa.

That sort of approach is the problem. Why do people not recognize the value of the local? why is the preferred solution always exotic? Grass greener on the other side? It's just too stupid.

eta sorry for the expletives but it really gets my goat. Sussex is not going to look like the outback or South Africa in their lifetimes, if ever!

 

[kattabelly]

That sort of approach is the problem. Why do people not recognize the value of the local? why is the preferred solution always exotic? Grass greener on the other side? It's just too stupid.

eta sorry for the expletives but it really gets my goat. Sussex is not going to look like the outback or South Africa in their lifetimes, if ever!

It's going to look less and less like the Sussex of a century or two ago, though. There've been some drastic predictions about how the distribution of native trees like beech and birch will change in the next 50 years as they become increasingly unable to cope with the climate in the south of England and get pushed out by other species, for example.

It's not something we've discussed recently or in detail, so I can't explain the reasoning behind that example in too much detail or back it up with facts and figures. I know that particular farm is mostly chalk downland though, which is dry and needs careful management even in a good year.

I do get your point and I don't necessarily disagree, but I think it's often a balancing act and more complicated than just "local is best".

 

[Perris]

it's often a balancing act and more complicated than just "local is best"

indeed; I just get fed up with people who look to the other side of the world for solutions. Bit like people visiting interesting / important sites and attractions when they go on holiday, and somehow never find time to visit the ones on their doorstep. I hold my hand up there too, btw

 

[fuzzi]

What I find amusing is the ability of experts to predict long range weather trends when they can't accurately predict 48 hours.


Tax:

Look at who's peeking around the last hen's tail, far left.

 

[Shadrach]

Is August usually this brown where you live?

The last two years have been pretty dry over the summer months. Last year the ground started cracking mainly because though we had more summer rain. the hot dry periods went on for longer.
This year we've had one or two hot days (hot in this cases being over 30C) but there has been very little rain and there have been lots of days between 20C and 25C. So, it's accumulated dryness. There's a term for the weather people.

Some discussion further down the thread about measures people are taking in farming mainly, to try to remain profitable on the assumption that these dry and warm summers are going to continue and/or get more extreme.

Naturally people notice the weather and use that as an environmental health gauge. What isn't getting anything like the publicity is the astonishing decline in the insect population and this will make a couple of degrees higher average temperature a problem a couple of paracetamol would clear up.

This insect population decline is in part why the field looks so brown; we haven't cut the grass much anywhere. Not cutting will hopefully help with insect habitat and what little rain has fallen isn't getting into the ground. One just can't win through management it seems.
If one was to dig at any point I've found so far, there will be eight to twelve inches of soil and then it's rocks. I've dug a metre deep hole and it was rocks all the way down after the soil covering.
Once that top layer dries out it takes a lot of water to keep the soil moist because a lot of it runs between the rocks and can't be retrieved by the plants easily. Lots of little bugs don't do dusty soil. I haven't seen a worm for weeks!
It's all incredibly complicated this environment we live in and we have not got a clue about what we are doing and the long term consequences of our doings.

There you go, and the above is what I tell people when they ask when something will be done and why am I sitting on my arse watching the world go by; I can't go to far wrong if I just don't do stuff..

 

[kattabelly]

Wouldn't mind a bit of insect population decline up here! Want me to post you some midges?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

The last two years have been pretty dry over the summer months. Last year the ground started cracking mainly because though we had more summer rain. the hot dry periods went on for longer.
This year we've had one or two hot days (hot in this cases being over 30C) but there has been very little rain and there have been lots of days between 20C and 25C. So, it's accumulated dryness. There's a term for the weather people.

Some discussion further down the thread about measures people are taking in farming mainly, to try to remain profitable on the assumption that these dry and warm summers are going to continue and/or get more extreme.

Naturally people notice the weather and use that as an environmental health gauge. What isn't getting anything like the publicity is the astonishing decline in the insect population and this will make a couple of degrees higher average temperature a problem a couple of paracetamol would clear up.

This insect population decline is in part why the field looks so brown; we haven't cut the grass much anywhere. Not cutting will hopefully help with insect habitat and what little rain has fallen isn't getting into the ground. One just can't win through management it seems.
If one was to dig at any point I've found so far, there will be eight to twelve inches of soil and then it's rocks. I've dug a metre deep hole and it was rocks all the way down after the soil covering.
Once that top layer dries out it takes a lot of water to keep the soil moist because a lot of it runs between the rocks and can't be retrieved by the plants easily. Lots of little bugs don't do dusty soil. I haven't seen a worm for weeks!
It's all incredibly complicated this environment we live in and we have not got a clue about what we are doing and the long term consequences of our doings.

There you go, and the above is what I tell people when they ask when something will be done and why am I sitting on my arse watching the world go by; I can't go to far wrong if I just don't do stuff..

Ugh, sounds like an extended drought. It definitely didn’t match my mental image of a green English summer. Are stream levels dropping any?

Keeping that (brown) grassy cover should help some. At least you’re reducing bare exposed soil, which helps trap some moisture.