Here in NZ we have a raging a debate about the impact of cows. I’m a soil scientist and staunch environmentalist so what I’m about to say may surprise you.
Cows are not a major cause of water pollution and global warming from agriculture. Overuse of fertilisers/chemicals and shonky grazing practices are the cause.
Cows have gotten a bum climate rap, which is not to say industrial dairying or beef feedlots are environmentally sound. They’re not. They are huge energy guzzlers, pollution generators, inhumane and rely on unwise monoculture crops to feed the cows.
Animals grazing naturally on grass can actually help to create deeper, healthier soils that clean up water. Fertilisers and chemicals, not cow manure, are the major causes of NZ water pollution. Urea, antibiotics, prescription drugs, pesticides and manufacturing wastes are the water pollution culprits. Blaming cows pooping in streams for river pollution is sadly simplistic. The most potent causes of farm water pollution have been erosion, farm chemicals and water soluble nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers moving into streams and aquifers. Our mega tonnes of cow manure are a valuable source of soil fertility when distributed from the rear end of a cow onto diverse grass pastures.
As for the charge of being climate wreckers, animals grazed naturally are actually an important part of maintaining and improving grasslands: those oceans of vegetation have always played a role in cooling the earth’s surface.
What’s more, microbes on the soil and leaves of healthy pastures can eat many time more methane than cows burb. Cows on organic, high brix, diverse foliage burb less methane than cows on urea-fuelled pastures, and much less than cows fed grains in feedlots. This is a case of Nature’s GIGO response – Garbage In, Garbage Out. Cows fed pastures high in nitrates from excessive fertiliser use DO generate more methane and more nitrate in their urine. Cows grazing on diverse, organic pastures generate less methane and less nitrate in their pee.
The quality of soils and nutrition makes all the difference in health outcomes for the animals, us and the environment.
Pastures actually help cool the atmosphere by lifting heat from ground level through evapo-transpiration from grasses. Plant sweat can cool the Planet! As that cooling water vapour rises it carries bacteria from leaf surfaces into the stratosphere where the heat can dissipate harmlessly into space. The now highflying bacteria become the rain drop nuclei and ice crystals that create the dense white clouds which reflect the sun’s heat and provide us more consistent rain, along with atmospheric cleansing.
That’s in a well-functioning natural system. What we have now is many fewer forests and pastures along with a low, brown chemical haze of transport and manufacturing pollution that blocks the plant-warmed air from rising as it should.
Healthy, diverse taller pastures grown on microbe-rich soils suck CO2 out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it in the soil carbon sponge. This natural enrichment process can store (sequester) tonnes of deep carbon per hectare per year. With continued regenerative fertilising and grazing practices, this rapid soil carbon storage can be permanent. A modest, already demonstrated amount for pastures is 1.5 tonne carbon banked per hectare per year. If all 11 million hectares of NZ’s improved pastures were managed regeneratively, the CO2 stored would be enough to off-set all of NZ greenhouse gas emissions. Add to that impressive number, we would get carbon emission off-sets from expanded, permanent, native re-afforestation plantings and New Zealand becomes carbon negative, which means we would have an substantial income source from selling cow based carbon credits and go from global warming black hats to agricultural white hats.
Support Planet Friendly Cows …..Eat More Butter!
Phyllis Tichinin True Health Ltd and Helia
A version of this article also appeared in Bay Buzz June 2022
https://baybuzz.co.nz/cows-are-our-friends/?utm_source=BayBuzz+-+Email+subscribers&utm_campaign=62ef7c7f65-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_10_23_02_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_87f3fe1203-62ef7c7f65-345212086#respond
]]>Lots of creams and salves claim to be ‘natural’ but are mostly water and rancid seed oils preserved by toxic chemicals. Oh, yeah, with a drop of the latest whizz substance – Green tea, Aronia, Rose hip, Manuka, etc. usually as the last or least ingredient.
Our skins are not meant to absorb water and inflammatory seed oils. Traditional wisdom indicates we’re meant to be using fats that are closest in composition to those in our own skins – which are saturated animal fats high in healing Vitamins A, D, K2 and CLA. That’s what Helia balms provide. You can tell by Helia’s bright yellow colour that it is healing sunshine stored in the leaves of diverse green pastures, concentrated by generous cows and passed on to us in their butter fat and suet.
Helia Pure Skin, and especially Helia Repair balm, soothes, nurtures and provides key fats and essential oils to reduce irritation and speed healing. Apply over the affected areas 2 to 3 times a day for relief and protection.
Janet B of Rotorua New Zealand was ecstatic about the immediate improvement in her 18 month old daughter’s skin.
“I love Helia balm. It has all the qualities that it says it delivers, so happy! Here are two photos off my baby girl’s cheeks. They kept coming up with an angry red rash that cracked the skin, every time she got a fever. And after trying a number of different creams your balm worked. Yea!!” 15 Oct 2017
Janet’s Child with rash Janet’s child 1 day after
before Helia use first Helia application.
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“I had a 13 year old patient with overall body eczema who tried Helia and found it really helped. When confronted with not having the balm, his mother suggested alternative creams. He indicated to her, ‘It’s Phyllis’ balm or nothing!’”
Angela Hair health practitioner New Zealand
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My 12 year old daughter had eczema on her face, arms and hands. She saw changes on the first day of using Helia Repair. This is awesome stuff! After 10 days she has NO EVIDENCE of eczema anywhere on her body!!
Elise W Texas USA
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]]>We now know that the skin is not an impenetrable barrier. Up to 60% of what we put on our skin goes into our bloodstream within 26 seconds. The rest stays in your skin or evaporates.
And if you’re thinking ‘this doesn’t affect me since I only use natural skin care products’, then think again. Many of the supposedly natural skin care products still contain industrial chemicals that strip the skin of important fats, clog pores and even worse, have been scientifically proven to disrupt hormones and cause cancer.
On average we have 400 to 800 chemical residues in our bodies already.
So how can we stop putting on more chemicals through our skin care routine?
First you can start by reading the label. If there are chemicals listed or words you struggle to pronounce, don’t buy the product. Compounds like Methylsilanol Tri-PEG-8 Glyceryl Cocoate will not be good for your skin or for you. Here are some of the harmful chemicals routinely found in skin products:
So why are these toxic chemicals put into our skincare?
Many of these harmful chemicals are used as preservatives in the products so that they can remain usable for years.
So how can you avoid these chemicals in your skincare?
Reading the label is one of the best ways of knowing what is in your skincare products. Again, if you can’t pronounce it then you shouldn’t be applying it. Check here for more specifics on chemicals in most skin care products: http://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/chem-of-concern/
But now you don’t have to put up with skin care that gives you cancer. Helia contains no chemicals, no toxins…. just sunshine, and pure ingredients. If you are wanting to keep your body safe, then make the switch to real health, and stop putting chemicals onto and into your body.
Wishing you the best of health,
Phyllis Tichinin
]]>Wishing you the best of health,
Phyllis Tichinin
]]>As a regenerative soil consultant Phyllis helps farmers to revive their soils and pastures. Getting the soil nutrition and microbes right makes for robust animals that don’t need drenches or antibiotics. Regenerated soils as also grow food with high vitamin and mineral content. These farm soils and plants can then reduce greenhouse gases by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it deep in the soil where it came from and where it belongs.
With alive carbon sequestering soils there is an increased production of higher quality food, cleaner streams and lakes and a tremendous sense of satisfaction for farmers knowing they are profitably creating foods that can truly nourish and heal people.
Phyllis’s home and model farm was situated several kilometres inland from the dramatic Cape Kidnappers coast on the North Island of New Zealand.
Over the last 9 years Phyllis transformed the hard-packed orange soils into dark brown, friable ‘chocolate cake’ soils that grow lush, high Brix pastures. She has purposely seeded dozens of different species of grazing plants to provide the diversity that cows need for optimal health. Old fashioned meadow species like: Timothy, Fescues, Bromes Lucerne, chicory, trefoil, comfrey, and several types of flowering clover. Phyllis’ beautiful, purebred Jerseys only eat grass, hay or shrubs grown here on the 125 acres of organically certified home farm.
To create the best possible natural source of fat-soluble vitamins from the suet, Phyllis leaves the Jersey calves on their mothers for many months. That way they always have the perfect food tailored to their specific needs. This practice is unheard of in farming circles. Most dairy calves are taken from their mothers within 12 hours of birth and raised on 4 litres a day of reconstituted low-fat milk powder and GMO grain meal, isolated from other cows and even from each other.
Phyllis explains it like this: “Here at the home model farm, the calves stay with mum and the herd all their lives, frolicking with each other and eating a salad bar selection of herbs and grasses along with that all important access to their mother’s creamy warm milk whenever they want. This enables them to lay down the initial fat cells they need to create and store the highest quality internal cavity fat called suet which is rich in skin nourishing Vitamins A, K2 and CLA. Ultimately, after humane dispatch, the steers provide the rich suet for my Helia balm products. It’s a pact I make with my animals - I provide them protection, the world’s best pastures and a happy low-stress life. Then they provide you with the world’s best skin care.”
“Te Ukaipo is the name of the home model farm. It’s a Maori word that represents the concept of a spiritual touchstone – a place you to mentally when your soul needs nourishment or protection. Attempting literal translations is always tricky but – it is something like ‘the breast that nourishes one in a time of darkness or night’. I’ve named this very special balm Helia in recognition of the farm, the animals and the crucial role of the Sun, Helios …. and because it truly nourishes and heals the skin”
A special note from Phyllis:
“I would like to personally thank the many people who have generously contributed to my dedication to nutrient dense soils, pastures and food. My understanding of the science behind biological agriculture is due to Dr Arden Andersen and his amazing courses. Through that beginning I learned from a range of other experts: Dr Dan Skow, Dr Paul Dettloff, Wendell Owens, Jon Frank, Graeme Sait, Dr Christine Jones, the late Dr Bruce Tainio and the late Dr Jerry Brunetti. All of these greats deserve our deep gratitude for providing the science and inspiration for humus rich soils and high Brix nutrient dense food with the goodness and regeneration that agriculture CAN provide. I thank you all.”
Wishing you the best of health,
Phyllis Tichinin
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