Longmeadow, it sounds like you are doing a good job. As far as an organic system goes, to me grassland with ruminants is about the only truly sustainable systems that works.What scares me is the consumer buying organic today frequently shuns meats, especially ruminants. And any system organic or not, doesn't function well without livestock. Most of the organic vegetable cultivation I've seen involves a lot of tillage and other things I'd consider environmental compromises.
As far as your quiz goes: Brix to me is a measure of sugar content; while it may exist, Bt toxicity in ruminants is not scientifically proven (some contested data from Europe, little elsewhere that has been peer reviewed and accepted); glyphosate toxicity may or may not be an issue- depends on who you want to listen to. Glyphosate (and perhaps Monsanto) seems to be Organic's favorite ox to gore. I've often wonder who they would rail against if it wasn't glyphosate. Frankly, I wish they'd worry more about aatrazine or some of the other insecticides out there.
To me, the greater toxicity to soil life (and perhaps all life) is the plow! And our experiences here show it. But again, our soil gets breaks from herbicide due to hay in the rotation. Yet the worms, soil organic matter, and soil life never really thrived until the plow left. That change made more improvement than any other. My experience has shown the biggest detriments are tillage and anhydrous ammonia.
Your story about the gulls returning made me laugh. Ditch the plow man... nature doesn't have one. Only worms. The gulls will follow the hay mower and manure spreader if you quit plowing. I promise. :)
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Today's Featured Article - Hydraulics - Cylinder Anatomy - by Curtis von Fange. Let�s make one more addition to our series on hydraulics. I�ve noticed a few questions in the comment section that could pertain to hydraulic cylinders so I thought we could take a short look at this real workhorse of the circuit. Cylinders are the reason for the hydraulic circuit. They take the fluid power delivered from the pump and magically change it into mechanical power. There are many types of cylinders that one might run across on a farm scenario. Each one could take a chapter in
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