farmdoc's blog post number 387

I’ve previously twice mentioned [1,2] Gilbert & Sullivan’s marvellous operetta The Pirates of Penzance. The denouement occurs early in Act II when it’s revealed our hero Frederic was born on 29 February. A most ingenious paradox. Here in Mole Creek we have one too. Mole Creek’s a limestone/karst region [1], limestone’s calcium carbonate which is alkali, yet our soil’s acidic. I’m sure there’s a ready explanation of this paradox. But I don’t know what it is. Anyway in recent years our soil’s become more and more acidic. Increased bracken fern (a native of Tasmania) is the tell. Also the New Zealand native weed bidgees (aka bidgee-widgees) which stick in wool and reduce its price. So last Friday a big truck spread 30.58 tonnes of crushed dolomite lime (named after the northern Italian Dolomite Alps which in turn were named after the 18th Century French mineralogist Deodat Gratet de Dolomieu who was the first to describe the rock dolomite – which is garden lime with a higher percentage of magnesium) on our paddocks. That’s about a tonne to the acre. It’s not cheap. Per tonne the Dolomite cost us A$44 and the spreading A$13.20, making a total of A$1,749. That’s our biggest farm expense. By far. Yesterday it rained to the tune of 4.6mm. That should start to wash the dolomite in nicely.