Better soils with Brett Petersen Kiwi Fertiliser & Golden Bay Dolomite

Dr Linus Pauling (1901-1994), two-time winner of a Nobel Prize stated: “You can trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency”. Diseases all boil down to substandard nutrition of the host. The soil is the key to nutrition, good or bad. Take your pick where you would like to be. Is the number of diseases reducing? The answer, of course, despite the “best” advice given by the “experts” is that they are increasing. A system that supports fiddling with symptoms will always be broken. The system that works with nature and deals with root causes was in practice decades ago, but is being side-lined. A paradigm shift by farmers, their advisors and farming institutions is required. That change will come from the grassroot farmers, not from institutions and others that have too much to lose by being proven wrong. If we are lucky, science will catch up to leading sustainable practices 20 years later.

Low pH

If dairy farmers’ effluent ponds have a properly constructed pH of 7.4, the pond will be clear and able to reflect images. It will be self-maintaining. The effluent will have originated from a healthy soil, healthy plants and healthy animals that will have a pH of 6.4 or close to it. If the pH is less than 7, then it will crust over and be the home of anaerobic and disease-causing bacteria that will have thrived in sub-optimal conditions from the soil, through pasture and stock and finally to the pond. Those ponds cost a lot of money to run year in and year out. Given a choice, stock avoid grazing dung and urine patches. It is bad enough when stock are forced to graze too hard, but far more dangerous when the pH is as low as many urea-driven farms are. Simply put, those that run their stock aerobically will not suffer from as much disease as those that run anaerobic soil and animal systems.

In places like United States, organic and biological farms are not bothered by Mycoplasma Bovis, but industrially-run farms are. Those that run their properties at a correctly balanced pH of about 6.4 will certainly not have the same health problems of those that run at 5.9. Those that apply too much urea and don’t compensate with lime and those not fertilising correctly, will eventually end up with animal health problems. Every 200kg/ha of nitrogen requires 400kg of lime to counter the unintended consequences. Remember, the swine flu H1N1 created itself in an American-owned Mexican piggery that was home to one million pigs. The diseases we are discovering or creating are the result of man-made conditions.  

Symptoms

The symptoms of Mycoplasma Bovis include but are not limited to deformed ears, mastitis, arthritis, pneumonia, abortions and more. How long have those symptoms been viewed in isolation? Clostridia may also occur in association with Mycoplasma Bovis. Perhaps Mycoplasma Bovis has been here much longer than the Ministry for Primary Industries suspect, say 30 years. Perhaps the organism is in all farming areas, but the disease only manifests itself as conditions allow.

We have learned recently that at least one of the major banks in NZ have finally cottoned on to superior financial performance by those farming biologically, and they are in the process of producing a DVD or similar to show to their clients. It’s about time, as the banks along with other ‘advisors’ have been anti-biological, trying to discourage farmers from applying non-NPK fertilisers. 

Miraka has two lists each with their top 10 farms; one for farms with the highest milk score, and the other for the lowest Somatic Cell Count. They have 100 suppliers. Kiwi Fertiliser services Miraka farms. We have four farms on each list. The moral of the story is clear. If you want to produce top quality milk – or meat, fruit, grain or vegetables – and not be so susceptible to disease, pick up the phone and call Kiwi Fertiliser. We’re only too happy to help you to get to the top of your game.