Design on contour or off contour?

Hi permies.
This is my first post here. I am in the proces of designing a 1acre land heavy clay soil located in Scandinavia.
There is a small slope on the land about 7-10 degrees so not quite steep but not flat either.

I have been looking into key line design and on contour farming however I am not sure as to when it is a good idea to plant on contour and when it is Best to plant off contour like keylines. (I do not have acces to the yeoman plow)

Anyone can help clarify?

Before I provide my own humble response, I have two questions:

Do you own the land?

If so, how long have you been there?

If you don't own the land, how long do you plan on staying there.

Do you have consumer debt (outside of the mortgage?)

I ask these questions, because had I changed my thought process when I began designing 7 years ago, I'd have saved myself a *lot* of money...

...and a *lot* of heartache as well!

Rob Kaiser wrote:Before I provide my own humble response, I have two questions:

Do you own the land?

If so, how long have you been there?

If you don't own the land, how long do you plan on staying there.

Do you have consumer debt (outside of the mortgage?)

I ask these questions, because had I changed my thought process when I began designing 7 years ago, I'd have saved myself a *lot* of money...

...and a *lot* of heartache as well!

HI Rob thanks for the reply.yes I own the land and I Hope to keep it forever 🙂

I do not have Any consumer debt no.

I am looking forward to your feedback

Best

HI Rob thanks for the reply.yes I own the land and I Hope to keep it forever 🙂

I do not have Any consumer debt no.

I am looking forward to your feedback

Best

Perfect!  You're already on the right track.

I don't have access to a yeoman plow either

Personally, if I could take a time machine back...

...I wish I would have hired an experienced designer.

I am of the opinion that a designer is the best money spent - especially with no debt and land ownership.

Working with a designer will help prevent many of the Type 1 errors that myself and many others are dealing with becasue we opted NOT to use a designer.

Take advantage of your positive financial situation and consider spending the cash on a design before you get to putting anything in the ground...

...whether it's equipment, plants, seed, or anything.

You won't regret it.

Hope that helps!

Thanks Rob.

I am however still curius to know If there is a guideline or other Peoples choice as to when to plant on or of contour.

It depends.  Off contour helps if you have definite ridges and valleys that stay dryer and wetter.  On contour swales are an easy way to retain water in micro ponds and grow trees.  BUT either one can be done right or wrong for your land and weather and goals.  I agree with Rob 1000%

Off contour stuff like keyline is great for broadacre (like 1000 acres or more).  

On contour stuff is great for tropical and sub tropical climates.

Counter-contour (perpendicular to contour) is great for cold climates trying to give that cold air a downhill path to go away (think of it as trying to not build frost pockets).

I think a lot of people in cold climates like building terraces that are not perfectly level, but instead help direct water to certain spots.  Combined with tall hugelkultur that generally goes up and downhill.

On this subject, my knowledge is still theory. The answer depends on what the goal is for your land. Does it tend towards soggy, or dry? Do you plan to use the swale with irrigation or just rain?

I've seen a beautiful plan that used slightly off contour to gravity feed irrigation from an uphill pond. It was a large project, I don't remember if it spiraled around the hill, or if it zigzagged down. My house is on the highpoint of my acre, but it slopes from all sides into a bowl. The pond at the bottom drains into the local watershed from a neighbor's land. I think I'll be doing a small degree of off contour in my long range plan. I'll get to use bunches of hauled buckets as my irrigation, if the grid goes away. Recent years irrigation he's only been needed in spots for two months.

Hi everyone,

I'm also trying to design an 80 acres hay fields area on our farm à la Mark Shepard (Sylvopasture with fruit and nut trees, tons of diversity and multi-species grazing, or at least cows) and juggling with keyline vs. counter-contour vs on-contour swales concepts.

We are in the equivalent of USDA zone 3 (pretty darn cold), 2-7% south-facing slope at the top of a hill, strong south-west cold winds in the winter. As we are uphill, even if we have a decent amount of rain over the summer, I'm tempted to go the keyline/swale route instead of the typical counter-contour planting (north-south lines) as I want to maximize water retention on the site before it goes to the bottom of the small valley (and on the neighbour's land). I'm also going to plant a lot of windbreakers using a mix of species.

Contacted a few designers around but did not get a lot of traction so far. Trying again this year as we just got our farm accreditation which gives us access to a lot of governmental resources.  

Any ideas are welcome. The goal is not to highjack the thread, but to keep the debate alive!



Cheers