Man I've been scouring books on this very question for weeks now. No one has concise info on this. Most people talk about mob grazing time duration and patterns but not mathematics of feed requirements. Thank you so much good sir!!!
What he's talking about at the end is the difference between external validity and internal validity. Internal validity is internally consistent, meaning that the study in question can be replicated so long as you follow the methods exactly. It's very useful for understanding clearly defined aspects of whatever you're studying (like how long grass takes to regrow given certain parameters of light, CO2, water, etc.); it's basic discovery science. External validity is much harder to replicate because not all of the conditions are controlled, but it's more representative of the real world. It's the applied science that takes the basic science and asks "but what if we did the same thing in a bunch of different environments?". As Dr. Lane says, it's much harder getting those studies published in top journals because science needs to be replicable in order to discover what is real, but nature really doesn't care to make this easy. This is something I have to deal with all the time in my field (behavioral ecology), because it's really hard to replicate a complex ecosystem in a lab and have all organisms within it behave in expected ways. My field does use labs to answer some questions, but anything applied has to be tested or observed out in the field.
This is so helpful to quantify things - really looking forward to spring to figure this out. Maybe just starting out with 2 lambs for meat this year and see how it goes. Would really love a guard llama. Ah never ending homestead dreams.
Superb content. Currently reading Dr. Lane’s book. There seems to be this ongoing trade off, do you hay a section of your land or do you outsource and purchase it? Live in the Northeast and it’s inevitable to feed hay for five months out of the year. Thank you.
A scientist with wisdom, understanding and common sense! Definitely helping the world with his knowledge.
Man I've been scouring books on this very question for weeks now. No one has concise info on this. Most people talk about mob grazing time duration and patterns but not mathematics of feed requirements. Thank you so much good sir!!!
Glad to help!
What he's talking about at the end is the difference between external validity and internal validity. Internal validity is internally consistent, meaning that the study in question can be replicated so long as you follow the methods exactly. It's very useful for understanding clearly defined aspects of whatever you're studying (like how long grass takes to regrow given certain parameters of light, CO2, water, etc.); it's basic discovery science. External validity is much harder to replicate because not all of the conditions are controlled, but it's more representative of the real world. It's the applied science that takes the basic science and asks "but what if we did the same thing in a bunch of different environments?". As Dr. Lane says, it's much harder getting those studies published in top journals because science needs to be replicable in order to discover what is real, but nature really doesn't care to make this easy. This is something I have to deal with all the time in my field (behavioral ecology), because it's really hard to replicate a complex ecosystem in a lab and have all organisms within it behave in expected ways. My field does use labs to answer some questions, but anything applied has to be tested or observed out in the field.
Excellent explanation! Thank you, Rachael.
Great information!
Thank you for providing this.
Hi Dan, glad to see you happy again and sharing .......
Hi Gary
This is so helpful to quantify things - really looking forward to spring to figure this out. Maybe just starting out with 2 lambs for meat this year and see how it goes. Would really love a guard llama. Ah never ending homestead dreams.
two lambs is a great starting place!
Alot of great information 👍
Have a good day ❄❄❄
Superb content. Currently reading Dr. Lane’s book. There seems to be this ongoing trade off, do you hay a section of your land or do you outsource and purchase it? Live in the Northeast and it’s inevitable to feed hay for five months out of the year. Thank you.
Morning Dan
Hi Brian!