Cattle grazing on abandoned land

Cultivating abandoned land with cattle

Saikai City, Nagasaki Prefecture, at the western end of Japan.
The terrain is bumpy and mountainous.
There is little flat land, and heavy machinery is not allowed.
The fields, which have been protected and passed down from generation to generation, once there is no one to take over the land, the fields are left to fall into disrepair.
Once there are no successors, the fields become desolate and covered with hard grasses such as thorns and thistles, and it is difficult for humans alone to reclaim the land.
It is difficult for human beings alone to reclaim the land.

There are many such abandoned fields.

Abandoned land covered with rough, hard grass.

Kaoru Morikawa said,
"If people and animals don't help each other, we won't be able to do it anymore.
Humans have done what they want, and have destroyed the environment.
Humans alone cannot revitalize it."

This is where cows come in.

Cattle graze on abandoned fields, eat grass and trees, and cultivate the land.
The manure from the cows mixes with fallen leaves, and the naturally formed humus enriches the soil.

Cattle eating grass

The soil had become so hard that the land could not even be entered by a tiller,
Once the cows came in and tilled the soil, it became soft and pliable in one year.

If it had not been for the cows, it would have taken four years to regenerate the soil.

The land was abandoned until a year ago. The land was cultivated with cattle and is now a rich field.

Pioneer Sites

Cattle cannot suddenly be released into abandoned fields.
To some extent, the land is first cultivated by human hands to make it easier for cattle to enter.

Abandoned farmland that has been cleared a bit by human hands

It is then necessary to enclose the land to be grazed with electric fences to prevent cattle from going out to houses, roads, etc.

Electric fence. Electric current flows when touched.

A view of the electric fence posts being erected.

Because of the poor footholds and thorny plants, it is quite difficult to set up an electric fence in an undeveloped area.

The wire is stretched over the uprights that have been erected.

The whole family works together.

Before cattle are put out to pasture, a ground-breaking prayer is made with salt, rice, and sake.

Cattle eating Japanese knotweed.