This article was contributed by Denise Carpenter of Fieldstone Farm of Newfield, ME.

“Fieldstone Farm in Newfield, Maine is located in the northwest corner of York County. We raise grass-fed beef, pasture pork and chicken. The business consists of the original family farm and an adjoining farm I purchased in 2003. The farm I purchased had been idle for many years and had grown into pasture pine. When the elderly gentleman died, it was purchased by a young couple that clear cut 16 acres around the house for horse pasture.

When I acquired it, the “horse pasture” consisted of stumps, slash and new growth poplar birch and pine. Each year I have been renovating 3-5 acres to pasture as well as establishing new hayfields. The ground has poor soil structure with a tendency to dry quickly. To improve the soil castle have been pastured in a rotational graying system. Round bales are placed in the pastures on areas of poor topsoil and the subsequent wasted hay and manure improves the soil there is rich top soil a the original family farm but the soil at both farms is acidic and in need of lime.

Fiberlime is dust free and can be spread with a standard manure spreader. It is a mixture of lime, clay and short paper fibers. The short paper fibers provide organic matter and improve soil structure. As with any lime agent, it should be applied based on the results of a soil test.

I spread Fiberlime on all my pastures in the spring at a rate of 6-8 tons/acre based on the results of the soil tests. Using a disc harrow I incorporated 12 tons/acre of Fiberlime plus cow manure to pastures that were destumped on reseeded. This summer we received very little rainfall, in fact going over one month without rain the results we excellent. The existing pastures that received Fiberlime continued to be productive, growing despite lack of rain. The pastures also did not require a change in stocking rate. These pastures did experience the usual summer decrease in the length of time spent by cattle in each pasture. The newly seeded pastures also produced well and tolerated light grazing when appropriate.

I had heard that spreading Fiberlime in hayfields in the spring might result in some of the lime being picked during baling. As an experiment I did spread Fiberlime on 16 acres of hayfield at a rate of 6 tons/acre this spring and did not encounter problems with baling lime. The hayfield that received the Fiberlime produced better than fields that had not. I believe that this was due to the organics matter provided in the form of short paper fiber that retained moisture. This fall I spread the rest of my hay fields with Fiberlime at a rate of 6-8 tons/acre for a total of 1023 tons spread in 2010. Next year I will appreciate the increase in pH, and the further increased yield from the pastures in fields.”