the_gurgler, The approach most people take for livestock is shocking, I agree. However, I've talked to a rancher in Mason, a couple in Fredericksburg, and one north of Austin who have nearly eliminated their inputs. Here's how that went... These people are all doing it the same way following Allan Savory's approach. They stopped medicating their animals. They get no shots, dewormers, or hormones. The few animals that get sick get slaughtered rather than medicated. In addition their offspring are slaughtered. This soon results in a herd of healthy animals that really do not get diseases or parasites. When you stop medicating for worms, the population of dung beetles returns to the pastures. Ask any modern rancher when the last time he saw a dung beetle was and he'll have to think hard about it. For the old timers it was back when he was a child. For the new kids they think dung beetles are a mythical creature. Then these ranchers stopped buying seed and fertilizer. Every year the universities come out with the latest and greatest seed varieties to make up for the problems with last year's seed. Of course there is a new fertilizer regimen for the new seed. But once you stop using seed and fertilizer, the only plants left growing are the natives that were here for millenia before we arrived to correct the situation by plowing and growing corn. The native plants are also known as forage for the animals that lived here for millenia. In order to ensure those plants return every year, these ranchers create lots of small paddocks out of larger pastures. They will put about 300 cow-calf pairs onto a 50-acre site for 1-2 weeks depending on how fast the forage is growing. Then they move them to another 50-acre pasture. By the time 2 weeks is up, these pastures look like the surface of the moon, so the animals are lined up in pecking order to move into the next paddock. When you have 15 pastures like that, it takes 30 weeks for the animals to return. In 30 weeks you are likely to get some rain and the forage will be waist high or higher. Interestingly, these paddocks are completely free of dung when the livestock leave, because the dung beetles process it on the fly (so to speak). Twenty-four hours after the animals leave, the dung is all processed and buried in the soil as fertility for the next season's crop. The secondary benefit of dung beetles (which I believe is the primary benefit) is they dig thousands of tunnels in the soil that allow for the complete capture of any and every rain that hits the ground. There is no runoff or erosion on these ranches. These ranches no longer use herbicide because everything that grows is forage. There is no such thing as weeds to livestock. If you get some plants that cattle will not eat, chances are excellent that goats or sheep will eat it. These ranches no longer use insecticide because that would kill the dung beetles. Besides these new "organic" fields are filled with birds now who are going after the dung beetles and other insects. The third benefit of the dung beetles is that any parasites that were in the cattle dung are "processed" along with the dung by the beetles. Those parasites die before they can infect the livestock because the livestock will not be back to that same paddock for six months. Flies are among the parasites that no longer affect these animals. The only input left is minerals to replace the minerals taken out by the cattle. It turns out that the major mineral removed is calcium but the cattle like other minerals, too. In particular they happen to love the minerals in seaweed. So by providing seaweed and calcium supplements freely to the animals, they will spread them back around on the ground and the dung beetles move them down into the ground. When the dung beetles dig their holes that capture water, the water is ALL absorbed by the soil and eventually gets used either for the forage plants above or it seeps into the water table, streams, or aquifers. This replenishes the water supply rather than allowing it to run off and away. Dry creeks and streams refill and the riparian areas return to health bringing birds, fish, and aquatic plants. The U Bar ranch in New Mexico was so successful with their riparian areas that they now have most of the entire world's population of the endangered southwestern willow flycatchers - and those birds were never seen in that area before the cattle were brought in to "fix" the soil. By fencing the animals into smaller paddocks and teaching them to walk through an open gate, there is no need for cowboys hooting and hollering and riding around trying to find the strays. There just aren't any. The total investment for infrastructure is for fence wire. The total input for animal maintenance and health is seaweed and calcium. Except for the seaweed and calcium, these ranches are completely self sustained. So what are the results? At the end of 9 months, the calves weigh in around 675 to 700 pounds. That is normal in anyone's book for cattle growth. While other ranchers spend up to $400 per animal on variable costs (meds, seed, fertilizers, herbicide, insecticide, cowboys, special dietary supps and extra feed, and special equipment), these ranchers spend more like $35 per animal. The sales bring the same back to all the ranchers so the ones with the lowest cost make the most profit. Can they do this on a sustainable basis? The ranchers I talked to have been doing it for 20 years and they only get better at it. They have generally doubled the customary stocking rate that their neighbors are able to achieve. As far as I know no other agriculture system in history has approached this sort of sustainability. The keys are fencing them into small areas and rotating them when the next paddock is ready. This system mimics the natural migrational type of grazing that animals do in the wild. They do not move on until they are out of food or predators push them on. The leave behind a soil that is free of vegetation and ready for the next rain. They migrate from the south in the spring and from the north in the fall. This gives them two passes at their forage during the year. I realize there is a no cow movement going on but I think that would be a disaster. The Earth has relied on grazing and browsing animals since the dawn of time. We just bungled livestock management until Allan Savory put all the pieces back together. His methods are in use in every continent and seem to work everywhere. It if works in the high dry desert of New Mexico, it should work just about anywhere.

We moved here from the plains (Omaha - AKA "flyover country") 6 years ago. My finger and toe webs are now complete. I miss the rain in July and August, and September this year :( but I can't complain about the climate after experiencing "mid-continental" for 20 years. My only complaint is that tomatoes get ripe just before blight hits!

You made it about your "friend" not us. Why was "he" even part of the post if he's not relevant? And, hardly anyone believes in cheating, but still many do it. Cheating starts in the heart....look up what "Covet" means. Why is he even spending time with a married woman? If your husband was doing the same "non cheating" with a woman what would you think? I mean, physical sex aside, it sounds like you are considering maybe someday marrying this "perfect" guy...that must fall into some sort of cheating. Right? I don't care if you even believe in God, but you brought up the Christian part, again, not us. And, your story seems to get worse depending on how defensive you get. At first, your husband never laid a hand on you or his real kids, now it appears you are "abused and beat". Which is it? And by the way, none of God's Christian laws that I know of say anything about "THOU must be Happy"....you may "THINK" and "HOPE" God wants you to be happy because you want it, but it has never been one of his laws. Happiness is often found in the next life, not this one. Of course, no one wants you or your kids to be abused unmercibly, but you should be working on resolving your problems one way or another WITHOUT another man in your life. I know you want to hear..."Your husband is so awful, so go be with the man of your dreams and live a wonderful happily ever after life that you deserve"....but that's probably not going to happen no matter how much you want it. I have friends that have done and thought the exact same way you did, and you may think I am trying to be mean and hurtful, but I really am trying to help you. Things just won't turn out all rosy like you think, no matter how much you hope or think you deserve it. Believe it or not, I really am trying to help you and your kids. I could recommend some books about living with people with chronic pain, even abuse, etc... but it doesn't sound like you're interested in anything but approval to do what you want to do. Sorry, you don't like my advice. But sometimes the hardest things to hear are those that are true.

Susanilz5, I could have written your original post! That's exactly how I have been feeling! 10 years ago, I would not even use taupe inside my house because it looked gray! Every light tile I brought home I didn't like because there always seemed to be a gray undertone. I didn't use white fixtures in my bathroom because I thought they looked gray instead of white! I picked out some paint chips today in the gray family, showed them to my sister and she got a funny look on her face and said, "They're too gray! That's not you!" I told her "Gray is the new beige." I actually put a post on the kitchen forum about using a gray/blue/green with my oak cabinets and only got one response--SW's anew gray (which I haven't checked out yet). However, my dilemma would be transitioning from a gray room into my other warm colored rooms and how to make that work. I'm not sure I'm capable, but I think I could get by using it in a bathroom or bedroom because they are destination rooms and not rooms connected to multiple rooms like a kitchen or family room might be. Good luck! I'll be anxious to see your results.