Healthy Environment Group meets Bill on his Biodynamic Dairy Farm
The vitality of the knee deep grass, the uprightness of the trunks of the gum trees, their limbs and their leaves, the contented, healthy cows. And then we meet Bill. When Bill takes his pitch fork and digs deep into the soil of the grazing pasture, you can hear a sound, that you can only hear on a biodynamic farm: 70 000 roots tearing and disconnecting from the soil. What a sound, Bill says. After we hear it, we see it: The earth teaming with life, the microbial activity, the big fat juicy worms. And as Bill offers a handful of this soil around, we drink in the sweet earthy smell as well.
Here is a man who as deeply connected with the cosmos and the natural rhythms of the earth. From the moment he wakes up in the morning, he tunes in naturally with the day and what needs to be done. He does not believe in man made rules: in creation of nature there is a oneness and a connection to all things and this is the deep wisdom he lives by.
For 25 years he has not used any chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. Where his neighbours have an average of $ 8000 a year vet costs, he has none. If the occasional mastitis occurs, he treats them homoeopathically. His cows stay contentedly grazing on his nutrient rich bio diverse pastures, but the neighbour’s cows always try to get over to his paddocks. Guess why that is?!
Bill knows the perfect balance of the number of cows his land can support, he moves his cows to different sections twice a day to allow the soil to stay aerated and open. Because he does not overstock, his pastures are knee deep with a numerous amount of bio diverse grasses and legumes, which give his animals a mineral and vitamin rich diet, which keeps them healthy and productive. There may be one or two weeds that come up among the pasture, but they don’t pose a problem. There is no need for herbicides. His bionynamic milk lasts easily for 5 days, where as “normal “ mild only lasts for 2 days.
To taste his milk was something else altogether. Sweet and full and your body knows instantly, that it is wholesome for you. Biodynamic soil, healthy cows, wholesome milk, healthy people and planet.
Thank you Bill, for sharing your world with us!