On the ‘being’ front when shutting the chickens in last night I heard 2 different owls a tawny and a little. Hadn’t heard a little call before so had to look it up. I’ve seen barn owls around as well. This morning I went through owls calls with the kids at breakfast.
Our Journey
- Thread starter Samcowman
- Start date
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Given that is just "being in the world", how docks occur to us as individuals is going to be unique at any given moment, I can recall feeling most things about most plants and animals and people.... 
the one thing we all have in common
the one thing we all have in commonBuy some goats or teach your cows to eat the docks.
Docks are a fairly sh!t competitor before they've got big enough leaves so I wouldnt worry about the seedlings, the grass will swamp them
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Yeah. That is what I meant by resting your way out of a dock problem.. if you're compelled to "fix what is wrong" then it can be more fun to just learn a whole new dance
That paddock is the result of how it was managed .
You could change the management and see what happens
You could kill the docks and change the management and see what happens
You could kill the docks and keep the management the same and revisit the problem in 12 months or less
That paddock is the result of how it was managed .
You could change the management and see what happens
You could kill the docks and change the management and see what happens
You could kill the docks and keep the management the same and revisit the problem in 12 months or less
Management across the whole farm will be different to the previous. There are some fields which will have a management change and see what happens. Need to work out seed costs per acre to see if it will be worth it.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
How different, is a thing to consider.
As far as I can see with the naked eye, all management is based on the same selective grazing / too-short recovery thing that throws up common issues. Otherwise it wouldn't run out of grub.
Management is based on fear and all management is rooted in a scarcity mentality, which is "why" we problem-solve following a set pattern??
What you said about just being, this is crucial.
The docks are just being docks and the cows are just being cows - for any transformation, you have to just be being in the world and fluid as they are - not reactive and being reactivated and disconnected from "world".
It's not us in cubicles and adhering to rigid structures and prescriptive methods - these are just superstitious beliefs than run us, so we don't have to.
Life on Earth is just life on Earth, we can see things as separate and defined and put them into classifications and name them. Does a cow? Does a dock? Why should we?
I believe this is why management (as applied to the world) fails where 'just being an aspect of the land' gives us more of a "live and let live" mentality cannot fail.
If you fail, you have plants. If you win, you have plants!
so really any solution has to be discovered. My preference is to discover what assists pasture grasses to self-propagate and design around it, and to that end "being controlling" "forcing outcomes" wrecks the quality of the science.
I can't be beaten by things without conscious thought, which is how we prove a dock problem lives in our head, it cannot be elsewhere.
It's how humans came to think that command and control works in the world, despite evidence!
That only works on humans, coz we're the first mammal to wear pants, yeah? It's herd behaviour..
- Location
- West Country
That is a deep and highly philosophical thought on whether to spray a few docks
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Sure it is. But I reckon life is too short to fight boogeymen for the rest of it, and I wish I had gotten that 20 years ago . I got the grazing bit as a kid, but not the philosophy of loving it allThat is a deep and highly philosophical thought on whether to spray a few docks
If it is as I say, that we're only being in a dance in the world.. why would you be dock's doctor death? Why not just dance in the world?
All the stuff about weeds is in our head, change the head,, that's why I asked Sam if he wants to manage different, how different
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
It's a bit like drowning witches, who were actually people and not witches.
If you don't share the superstition of people might be witches, drowning people makes no sense.
If you are in that superstitious view, a person who says "that's no witch, just a person" occurs as dangerously stupid, and likely also a witch!
If you don't share the superstition of people might be witches, drowning people makes no sense.
If you are in that superstitious view, a person who says "that's no witch, just a person" occurs as dangerously stupid, and likely also a witch!
From set stocking with some cereal fed in in the summer to growing cattle. Some of what we do will be rotational with the younger cattle the cows will be more total grazing on stronger covers. The big heifers on their spring rotation now will have had about 24 days of daily shifts or twice daily for a couple of days in the wet by the time they have covered the field they are in and then maybe 24 days in the next field but I will only know that when I have some feedback when they start the field.How different, is a thing to consider.
As far as I can see with the naked eye, all management is based on the same selective grazing / too-short recovery thing that throws up common issues. Otherwise it wouldn't run out of grub.
Management is based on fear and all management is rooted in a scarcity mentality, which is "why" we problem-solve following a set pattern??
What you said about just being, this is crucial.
The docks are just being docks and the cows are just being cows - for any transformation, you have to just be being in the world and fluid as they are - not reactive and being reactivated and disconnected from "world".
It's not us in cubicles and adhering to rigid structures and prescriptive methods - these are just superstitious beliefs than run us, so we don't have to.
Life on Earth is just life on Earth, we can see things as separate and defined and put them into classifications and name them. Does a cow? Does a dock? Why should we?
I believe this is why management (as applied to the world) fails where 'just being an aspect of the land' gives us more of a "live and let live" mentality cannot fail.
If you fail, you have plants. If you win, you have plants!
My preference is to discover what assists pasture grasses to self-propagate and design around it, and to that end "being controlling" "forcing outcomes" wrecks the quality of the science.
I can't be beaten by things without conscious thought, which is how we prove a dock problem lives in our head, it cannot be elsewhere.
It's how humans came to think that command and control works in the world, despite evidence!
That only works on humans, coz we're the first mammal to wear pants, yeah? It's herd behaviour..
In the background there are lines of taller grass (grass hedges) I presume from under your dividing wires. I presume that is a consequence of using the Hotwire to move them forward rather than hold them back and them not reaching under for the next bite.
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- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Yeah, just no feet get under the wire to bowl the grass over.
The 'green' is more from feet than teeth.
I guess it's being generous, now that I'm calling out superstitions I guess I have 'little calves are vulnerable' running things... sometimes...
And:-
Thanks for not just laughing, I mean that is a lot to get.
The most common grazing superstition I get present to is "the grass needs to be grazed soon or we lose... something" which then rolls into "pasture needs this this this and this in order to grow"
Hence the dock spray guys are also the mower guys and the slurry guys and the silage guys and the "bang in a short term crop of some sh!t" guys as well.
I suggest time is cheap, but it rolls right off them like they're oiled, they're busy and time is scarce.
They've got enough time to do all that tractorwork, and post about their superstitions that aren't superstitions, but no more time than that
That's how life is "occurring in nature" but yet we usually see it as rigid and fixed.
Poor grazing practice means you can't always rest grass well, so the litter can be optional at grazing time.... and you can see the impact.
Money goes out almost as fast as it comes in.
But just think how much time there would be if you were only really concerned about managing time and space, and not rushing about getting in the way of life
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
"It occurs to me that my planned recoveries are still too short.
There is no is and isn't, that's just how it occurs to me, at the moment"
If I maintain this "type" of internal conversation then there is no blame.
No blame for me, no blame for 4 months of dry (expected), no "is", no "I am [stupid, wrong, etc] and no "because". The main in-order-to lies in the direction of minimising losses, and I can act immediately on that.
"Am I being a little too generous?"
"Are the calves really that vulnerable, they have bellies at shift time and great dung score, can we just slow down a little and monitor?"
Then there's room to see that we've been to this rodeo before, room to enjoy and celebrate the progress made, and a clear direction in which to look for 'better'.
Given the superstitions we've all lived inside for the past few years about what is and isn't dangerous to do, we all deserve a break from being run by stories and superstitions, I think!
For context, we grazed this area in my picture above on the 28th of January (8 weeks ago) and it's due to be grazed about the 13th of May (7 weeks to go).
My guess says it will probably be borderline in terms of litter, but it could be grazed already, so that is something
There is no is and isn't, that's just how it occurs to me, at the moment"
If I maintain this "type" of internal conversation then there is no blame.
No blame for me, no blame for 4 months of dry (expected), no "is", no "I am [stupid, wrong, etc] and no "because". The main in-order-to lies in the direction of minimising losses, and I can act immediately on that.
"Am I being a little too generous?"
"Are the calves really that vulnerable, they have bellies at shift time and great dung score, can we just slow down a little and monitor?"
Then there's room to see that we've been to this rodeo before, room to enjoy and celebrate the progress made, and a clear direction in which to look for 'better'.
Given the superstitions we've all lived inside for the past few years about what is and isn't dangerous to do, we all deserve a break from being run by stories and superstitions, I think!
For context, we grazed this area in my picture above on the 28th of January (8 weeks ago) and it's due to be grazed about the 13th of May (7 weeks to go).
My guess says it will probably be borderline in terms of litter, but it could be grazed already, so that is something
quick update whilst I am sat here in the truck waiting. It’s been a very busy Fred weeks with getting things sorted to finally move into the farmhouse. Cattle being sold and more calves coming in, we have 150 on milk at the moment thankfully the automatic milk machine is up and running so there’s 30 that are on that at the moment.
Top 2 pictures are a non GS4 herbal leys with the spring R2s this is its first grazing still and they seem to be impacting it fairly well. I had to shut their paddock size down on this half of the field from 0.4ha to 0.3ha.
First cut is happening in the autumn we put in 2 fields for silage 1 straight Italian the other Italian and red. @holwellcourtfarm @CornishTone this was the field on the bank that was previously spuds
we have finally Got the spring barley in seed bed wasn’t great but with a nice steady roll post drilling it isn’t looking too bad also put 2.5 acres of AB9 stewardship in whilst the drill was here.
Top 2 pictures are a non GS4 herbal leys with the spring R2s this is its first grazing still and they seem to be impacting it fairly well. I had to shut their paddock size down on this half of the field from 0.4ha to 0.3ha.
First cut is happening in the autumn we put in 2 fields for silage 1 straight Italian the other Italian and red. @holwellcourtfarm @CornishTone this was the field on the bank that was previously spuds
we have finally Got the spring barley in seed bed wasn’t great but with a nice steady roll post drilling it isn’t looking too bad also put 2.5 acres of AB9 stewardship in whilst the drill was here.
- Location
- somerset
nice to get some decent grass in the pit. Our ground, was drier than expected, a good, or bad thing, haven't decided yet, moisture wise.
- Location
- West Country
What system are you using for mixing up milk for 150 calves; presumably not just buckets and whisk!?!
- Location
- somerset
used to mix it with the pressure washer, really nice smooth mix, prior to its demise, used to use the steam cleaner, to heat it as well !
now have a holm and lea mixer/heater, 50/50 powder and waste milk. Works well.
now have a holm and lea mixer/heater, 50/50 powder and waste milk. Works well.
- Location
- West Country
Do you mean holm & laue? Their milk taxi looks very impressive, but am guessing it’s not cheap?!
- Location
- somerset
works well though, same heat, same consistency.
Pressure washer and wydale milk trolley. Works well. Take the lance off of the gun part of the steam cleaner and put a reusable coffee cup in the gun so it can fill itself whilst you do other things. And always try to remember to write on the part bags how much is left in there. Saves rechecking it for the next mix or later that day.
Thankfully got the silage bales up before it rained all Saturday 153 bales just over 600kg bales at 45% moisture in the bank for the winter.
one of todays shifts with the autumn R1s a quote docky piece of permanent pasture. This field was grazed in the winter around Christmas time last. They are eating some of the docks and with a good recovery the grass should do some more damage to them. I’m not back fencing this paddock due to it still being very wet at the gateway and along the top where quite a big acreage drains to. Where they muddy it up by where the big drag trough is I have some hay leftovers with a lot of grass seed in a will spread
one of todays shifts with the autumn R1s a quote docky piece of permanent pasture. This field was grazed in the winter around Christmas time last. They are eating some of the docks and with a good recovery the grass should do some more damage to them. I’m not back fencing this paddock due to it still being very wet at the gateway and along the top where quite a big acreage drains to. Where they muddy it up by where the big drag trough is I have some hay leftovers with a lot of grass seed in a will spread