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Cows and Effect

Paul Allison and Michael Blanche
Cows and Effect
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  • Episode 3. French cigarettes, the Motown joke and there's someone Scottish that's really annoying me.
    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  
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  • Episode 2. Farmer jail, the first rule of ecology club and carry on with your dull stuff.
    We’re staying in Ireland for Episode 2 and talking about a research paper that looks at four different pasture types (permanent pasture, perennial ryegrass, a six species mixture and a twelve species mixtures) under grazing. They measured yields, nutritive value and how plant species persisted and it’s all fascinating stuff (it helps, if you keep telling yourself that). There’s more. Paul cries at a boat. Michael reveals his Joel Williams man-crush. And there’s four jokes. Here are the links. First things first; a link to a biograph of Fridtof Nansen. There’s loads of stuff about him on the interweb, but this one also gets you into The Polar Exploration Museum website (where the boat is). https://frammuseum.no/polar-history/explorers/fridtjof-nansen-1861-1930/ The main paper Shackleton, J., Boland, T.M., Kennedy, J., Grace, C., Beaucarne, G., Kirwan, S.F., Schmidt, O. and Sheridan, H., 2024. Annual and seasonal dry matter production, botanical species composition, and nutritive value of multispecies, permanent pasture, and perennial ryegrass swards managed under grazing. Grass and Forage Science, 79(4), pp.630-650. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gfs.12691 This is the Dee et al (2023) paper about how diversity (species richness) affects yields in grasslands. It's probably behind a paywall, but essentially they look at previous studies, take confounding factors into account, and integrate the results to get to a conclusion, which is; "Contrary to many prior studies, we estimate that increases in plot-level species richness caused productivity to decline: a 10% increase in richness decreased productivity by 2.4%.” Dee, L.E., Ferraro, P.J., Severen, C.N., Kimmel, K.A., Borer, E.T., Byrnes, J.E., Clark, A.T., Hautier, Y., Hector, A., Raynaud, X. and Reich, P.B., 2023. Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference. Nature Communications, 14(1), p.2607. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37194-5 Here’s the Raedts and Langworthy plantain paper. It’s behind a paywall. Sometimes if you Google the title, you can find a free copy on the interweb somewhere. If not, go to the next one. Raedts, P. and Langworthy, A., 2018. Establishing plantain in spring in existing perennial ryegrass pastures in northern Tasmania. Animal Production Science, 60(1), pp.114-117. https://www.publish.csiro.au/AN/AN18575 This is the open access paper on establishing plantain. Bryant, R.H., Dodd, M.B., Moorhead, A.J., Edwards, P. and Pinxterhuis, I.J., 2019. Effectiveness of strategies used to establish plantain into existing pastures. Journal of New Zealand Grasslands, pp.131-138.  https://www.nzgajournal.org.nz/index.php/JoNZG/article/view/406/63    
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  • Episode 1. Five billion, there's no snakes in Ireland and an upside down graph.
    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     
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  • The Prologue; contract work, wild animals and he knows who he is.
    Michael and Paul introduce themselves and explain why the world needs yet another farming podcast (it's a science podcast). There's bits about their farms, the other stuff they do and how science works and, for no obvious reason, a foray into the world of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.    Here's the link to Frank B. 1885.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00572-004-0329-y Link to the original wood wide web paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-01986-1 and the recent paper that says more research is needed  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-01986-1 These two might be behind a pay wall, so here's a link to a recent review of the ecological functioning of mycorrhizal networks that is definately open access. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.70063
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About Cows and Effect

Welcome to this occasionally mildly interesting farming podcast (it's a science podcast), hosted by award winning podcaster Michael Blanche (200m swimming badge 1978) and not-yet-not-a-real-doctor Paul Allison. We talk about recent research into soil, pasture, cows and sheep. People say that it's the podcast they didn't know they wanted or needed, and they definitely didn't ask for it. It's sometimes a bit sweary (not the big one). It's fine. Cows and effect sounds like cause and effect. It's a play on words. That's funny stuff. Warning: Following legal advice the listener should be aware that the views and information shared in this podcast do not constitute professional advice or even unprofessional guidance. For God's sake consult someone who knows what they are talking about before making any changes to your farm management practices. Logo image created in https://BioRender.com
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