Grassroots September 2016, Vol. 16, No. 3 | Page 44
Congress
The tour party then enjoyed a good lunch at
Arendsrus restaurant (sponsored by Capstone
Seed), which provided some warmth from the cold
wind.
d. After lunch the tour proceeded to the farm
Uitkyk of Alfie Louw. This is also mainly a dairy
farm, but the production of macadamia nuts has
recently been added to the enterprise. The
interesting aspect of Alfie Louw’s farming
operation is the extensive use of compost and a
focus on recycling and utilising all by
by-products
within the system. For example, dry
dry-land and
marginal fields dominated by Eragrostisplana are
cut to be used for calf pen bedding, which is in turn
utilised within compost heaps.
He has also
invested significantly in specialized equipment to
allow for high quality compost to be produced. To
process the slurry from the dairy, he uses an
extruder which separa tes out the solids. These
manure solids are then incorporated with other
organic material
aterial such as old grass bale silage and
bedding from the calf pens into long compost heap
rows. The combination of materials is carefully
managed according to a recipe as is the so
so-called
inoculant for optimal composting. The compost is
regularly turned using equipment specifically
designed for this purpose. The final product is then
spread onto the pastures, and will in the future also
be utilised in the macadamia production system.
Alfie has a strong interest in biological soil
processes and health, with
th the management of his
soil forming the basis of many decision making
processes relating to thee management of pastures
on the farm.
A compost-turner.
turner. Compost is turned on a daily
basis for the firstt two weeks followed by turning
every second day.
The delegates could see three very different
approaches to pasture
ture production in the southern
Cape all of which are successful in their own right.
Van Greunen dairy pastures consisting of perennial ryegrass
ryegrass-clover,
clover, lucerne and kikuyu depending on the
characteristics of the field, are grown for a number of years followed by a break crop such as rape mixed with
oats.
Grassroots
September 2016
Vol 16 No.3