Cows and Effect

Sorry, sorry, sorry. We were a couple of days late getting this one out. It's a busy time of year and Michael found it difficult to fit in all the preparation and research that he needs to do to for the podcast. You wouldn't believe the number of distressed listeners that messaged us, asking if we were OK. So, what to say about this one? We were brilliant on the first take; 45 minutes of pure gold. Then we found a "technical issue" and had to do it again. Second take; a lot of tension in the "studio". Third take; judge for yourselves. We have had a listen and cannot believe that none of the following words and phrases appear in the episode; symptoms, mental health, undiagnosed, broken, disfunctional, impairment, childhood trauma, disorder, treatment, white coats, & oversized butterfly net. Stick with it listener, we promise that the science does finally arrive. We talk about two substantial pieces of work; two research papers that report long term grazing trials. Fajardo, M., Morgan, S.A., Chilibroste, P., Lee, M.R.F. and Rivero, M.J., 2025. Animal and pasture responses in contrasting temperate pasture-based cattle management systems: set-stocking versus cell grazing. animal, p.101635. Animal and pasture responses in contrasting temperate pasture-based cattle management systems: set-stocking versus cell grazing - ScienceDirect and Andrade, B.O., Shropshire, A., Johnson, J.R., Redden, M.D., Semerad, T., Soper, J.M., Beckman, B., Milby, J., Eskridge, K.M., Volesky, J.D. and Schacht, W.H., 2022. Vegetation and animal performance responses to stocking density grazing systems in Nebraska Sandhills Meadows. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 82, pp.86-96. Vegetation and Animal Performance Responses to Stocking Density Grazing Systems in Nebraska Sandhills Meadows - ScienceDirect This is McGuire's blog page. Andrew McGuire's Homepage | Grant County | Washington State University Roots so Deep literature page. Published Research | AMP Research, Soil Health, And Grazing This is the Roth paper that looked at how cattle select leaf over stalk, when grazing grass. Roth, L.D., Rouquette Jr, F.M. and Ellis, W.C., 1990. Effects of herbage allowance on herbage and dietary attributes of Coastal bermudagrass. Journal of Animal Science, 68(1), pp.193-205. Effects of Herbage Allowance on Herbage and Dietary Attributes of Coastal Bermudagrass | Journal of Animal Science | Oxford Academic Futher reading for the nerds. A good review paper. Rouquette Jr, F.M., Sollenberger, L.E. and Vendramini, J.M., 2023. Grazing management and stocking strategy decisions for pasture-based beef systems: experimental confirmation vs. testimonials and perceptions. Translational Animal Science, 7(1), p.txad069. Grazing management and stocking strategy decisions for pasture-based beef systems: experimental confirmation vs. testimonials and perceptions | Translational Animal Science | Oxford Academic And good old Dr Wang. Wang, F., Apfelbaum, S.I., Thompson, R.L., Teague, R. and Byck, P., 2021. Effects of adaptive multiple paddock and continuous grazing on fine-scale spatial patterns of vegetation species and biomass in commercial ranches. Landscape Ecology, 36(9), pp.2725-2741. Effects of adaptive multiple paddock and continuous grazing on fine-scale spatial patterns of vegetation species and biomass in commercial ranches | Landscape Ecology | Springer Nature Link See you at Groundswell listener and don't forget to email in. It's cowsandeffectpodcast@gmail.com Toodle Pip.

Howdy, yee-haw and yippee-ki-yay buckaroos. Get your ears on, because we're headed west of the Pecos for the rootin' tootin' episode 3. of Lab Rat Jazz Club, where things are fixing to get plumb loco down in the lab. Hot-diggerty-dawg. As usual, there's the odd cuss word, but not the big one. Here's the link to the paper, but listen first and read after. Link to Dr Eren's fine research paper. Here is a link to the Supplementary Data, which has all the photographs in it. It's true, they actually did it. Email questions, comments, suggestions and Michael Blanche fan mail to cowsandeffectpodcast@gmail.com. You should probably open with; "Dear Michael, loving the show; oh my goodness, you are so fab (etc, etc.)" We really can't be arsed with the admin for social media or fending off all the inevitable and well deserved online abuse, so help us out listener. In the unlikely event that you 1. enjoy the podcast and 2. don't mind people finding out that you enjoy the podcast; then tell your friends. You know the drill by now; "Have you heard about Cows and Effect? It's a farming podcast with the charming, handsome and and brilliant Michael Blanche. You know, the guy from The Pasture Pod and that time thing. He's amazing. I love him. There's another one, but I've forgotten his name. It doesn't matter; did I say it's got Michael Blanche in it?" Somehow, we keep coming back to polar explorers and we finally got around to Scott. Links to short films about Scott's last expedition. Geordie of the Antarctic Scott's equipment list

This festive episode comes out on 25th December 2025, so Happy blooming Christmas listener. If you're anything like me, the morning so far will have been; 1. Put the turkey in the oven around 06.00 hrs; 2. Check round the stock, 3. Get back to the house in time for a late morning snifter, 4. Check how the turkey is doing, 5. Turn the oven on, 6. Explain that Chistmas dinner is running late. There's some robust swearing in this one listener, including the big swear at around nineteen minutes in. Sorry about that. We know a lot of people don't like the big one, but think it's canonically justified in this case. We'll try to avoid it in the future. The original recording included my favourite ever Christmas joke, but Michael cut it out and burned the tape. I thought it was funny, but he explained that being funny isn't always enough to avoid being taken off air. We have exchanged Christmas presents. I don't understand why I received a £50 voucher for therapy, but Michael says that me not understanding that there is a problem is "just another symptom". Micheal has only very recently realised why he received a dictionary with the word "canonically" underlined. As promised, this month we're in Denmark and looking at Nitrogen transfers from legumes into grasses and herbs. Which legumes are good at fixing? Which are good at transfering Nitrogen to neighbouring plants? Which non legumes are good at acquiring the Nitrogen? Only one way to find out the answers listener. Actually, there is another way. If you just read the paper, you don't have to listen to the chaos and the big swear. Here it is. Pirhofer-Walzl, K., Rasmussen, J., Høgh-Jensen, H., Eriksen, J., Søegaard, K. and Rasmussen, J., 2012. Nitrogen transfer from forage legumes to nine neighbouring plants in a multi-species grassland. Plant and soil, 350(1), pp.71-84. Nitrogen transfer from forage legumes to nine neighbouring plants in a multi-species grassland | Plant and Soil Unfortunately, once again, it's behind a paywall. Sorry about that. I only realised at the last minute. Karin has very very kindly messaged us to say that if you want a copy of the full paper, she will send you one. You will need to email her on pirhofer@weltacker-berlin.de to request a copy. Our expertise in internet stalking of scientists revealed that this is where Karin works now. It's Weltacker Berlin and they all look like they are having fun. Weltacker Berlin | Weltacker . Weltacker is a global agroecology demonstration and education organisation (the Berlin site was the first). They are not for profit (which definitely aligns them with our sort of farming). Check it out. Welcome to 2000m2 . For the real nerds, who like an old reference. Fred EB, Baldwin IL, McCoy E (1932) Root nodule bacteria and leguminous plants. University of Wisconsin, Studies in Science. ‎Root nodule bacteria and leguminous plants - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries And our old mate Frank, FRANK, B. 1889. Ueber die Pilzsymbiose der Leguminosen. Ber. Deut. Bot. Gesell., 7: 332-346, 1889. Ber-Deutschen-Bot-Ges_7_0332-0346.pdf And proving that scientists absolutely love citing themselves, the earlier work with just three species; Høgh-Jensen, H., 2006. The nitrogen transfer between plants: an important but difficult flux to quantify. Plant and Soil, 282(1), pp.1-5. The Nitrogen Transfer Between Plants: An Important but Difficult Flux to Quantify | Plant and Soil Sheep / halal statistics. England and Wales slaughter statistics 25-02-14 Slaughter Sector Survey 2024 (REVISED) UK sheep slaughter numbers Lamb market outlook | AHDB Scottish sheep numbers RESAS Agricultural Statistics Hub Northern Ireland sheep numbers Slaughtering of cattle and sheep since 2001 | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Edith Piaf - Non, Je ne regrette rien Where to begin listener? Well, you could begin about 45 minutes into this unfeasibly long episode, because that's how long it takes to get to this fascinating research paper and it's 45 minutes of your life you will never get back. Salomon, M.J., Demarmels, R., Watts-Williams, S.J., McLaughlin, M.J., Kafle, A., Ketelsen, C., Soupir, A., Bücking, H., Cavagnaro, T.R. and van der Heijden, M.G., 2022. Global evaluation of commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculants under greenhouse and field conditions. Applied Soil Ecology, 169, p.104225. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929139321003486 Apologies listener, you will only find the abstract and some section snippets, because the full paper is behind a paywall. Michael just tried to make me feel better by saying, "Surely no-one actually reads them, do they?" This is the review paper that sets off all the nonsense in the first 45 minutes; the one with the peloton. It's got an abstract. Genre, A., Lanfranco, L., Perotto, S. and Bonfante, P., 2020. Unique and common traits in mycorrhizal symbioses. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 18(11), pp.649-660. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-020-0402-3 Another bloody paywall, but you can read the abstract and here is the peloton picture. https://share.google/images/droIULxU1yL85Lrgl We promise that we will definitely do more science next time with data, graphs, tables and statistics. Well, not exactly next time. Next time (Ep. 6.) is Ep. 2. of Lab Rat Jazz Club. But, definitely the one after that. Episode 7. will be just science with no funny business. Promise. Three punch lines; in one joke; brilliant.

Bored with multi species pastures episodes? Welcome to North America dear listener and a research paper that is definitely not about multi species pastures (although they get a mention in the intro). No spoilers, but it's proper science done by proper scientists. As well as the science, Michael reveals that he is a High Noon guy, Paul admits a life long obsession with Katy Jurado and Black Cat disgraces himself on mike (on microphone, not on Michael). Links Jim and Stan's paper. Polston, J.E. and Glick, S.D., 2011. *****-******* context preference following ******* conditioning in ****. Behavioral neuroscience, 125(4), p.674. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3144275/ Carbon Calling 2023. Nikki Yoxall (head of research at Pasture for Life and regenerative farmer), Amy Hughes (podcaster and AHDB engagement lead for beef and lamb), Claire Whittle (regenerative consultant and vet) and Sarah Langford (author, lawyer and farmer) talk about their experiences within the agriculture sectors and being in leadership roles. They are brilliant. They say things that need saying and say them with clarity and passion. Boys and men who work in agriculture really need to listen to this. It basically finishes at 49 minutes and 50 seconds; no need for anyone to listen after that. So, just turn it off at that point. That's 49 minutes and 50 seconds. Please. Carbon Calling Panel It's outdoor lambing in the old west. Katy Jurado plays Michael Blanche checking his ewes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFxwq33rVAs&list=RDhFxwq33rVAs&start_radio=1 Katy Jurado gives Grace Kelly an acting class in High Noon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo_CKWb8eJY And then does the same with Gary Cooper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6dmg07VBcg

Episode 1 dives into the science with an Irish research paper that looks at the yields of multi species pastures (along with the various different plant species that go into them) at several levels of Nitrogen (including zero). Which grasses work best in different systems? Why bother with Plantain and Chicory? Which plants drive yield? There's some chat about ewes and Red Clover and there's a smell under the table. Link to the main paper Moloney et al, 2020. http://archive.sciendo.com/IJAFR/ijafr.2020.59.issue-1/ijafr-2020-0002/ijafr-2020-0002.pdf Links to the other two Moloney papers in the trilogy. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27041764?seq=1 and https://www.jstor.org/stable/27041763 Link to the Egan et al 2025 paper on plantain hoovering up nitrate in the soil. This may be partially behind a paywall, but the key bits are available. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880924004948 Link to Mustonen et al 2014 which is the study on the effects of feeding red clover silage to ewes https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S175173111400161X?via%3Dihub Link to the Innovative Farmers trial on ewes and red clover. https://www.innovativefarmers.org/media/l00oqr1t/mating-sheep-on-red-clover-final-report.pdf Link to an early UK study into red clover and ewe fertility; Newton and Betts 1973. Still behind a pay wall, but you can see the abstract without paying. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-agricultural-science/article/abs/effects-of-red-clover-trifolium-pratense-var-redhead-white-clover-trifolium-repens-var-s-100-or-perennial-ryegrass-lolium-perenne-var-s-23-on-the-reproductive-performance-of-sheep/DBE300E13E0D8D81BF0B6D00ED9B3E90 Link to a review paper/report not mentioned in the podcast which is Marley et al 2011. This is an IBERS report. https://projectblue.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/Research%20Papers/Beef%20&%20Lamb/effects_of_legumes_on_ewe_and_cow_fertility_review_-_final_report_20jul11.pdf