"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..

to those above who were saying their dislike of sheep - Hell yes ! however its taken me 20 odd years to work out why - and its management or the wrong type.
i still hate them but a heck of a lot less. basically once we started HM and mobbing them - they became biddable - they now go where i want them too with little fus - no more running about like a loon or getting knackered trying to catch them - secret is a combo of temple grandins animal handling and just keeping calm, slow movements and quiet. (and getting rid of the stupid buggers)
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
The thing with electric fence is its not the stakes or the wire that keep them in its the electric
When you buy a fencer buy a good one

its psychological, not physical . . .


im really excited about the introduction of virtual fencing, using collars & being able to set up & move fences with an ipad - possibilities are endless
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
to those above who were saying their dislike of sheep - Hell yes ! however its taken me 20 odd years to work out why - and its management or the wrong type.
i still hate them but a heck of a lot less. basically once we started HM and mobbing them - they became biddable - they now go where i want them too with little fus - no more running about like a loon or getting knackered trying to catch them - secret is a combo of temple grandins animal handling and just keeping calm, slow movements and quiet. (and getting rid of the stupid buggers)

further to comments re flighty animals & management, Low Stress Stockhandling is becoming huge here & in the US & Canada . Many companies & family farms put all their staff or members through the courses, so everyone is on the same page & handling animals consistently & correctly

From an Australian perspective, Low Stress Stock handling goes hand in hand with HM grazing principles
dunno about UK, but here people seem keen to learn new skills & further their training - and their employees

https://www.lss.net.au/
https://www.lss.net.au/ - anyone heard of Bud Williams ? He is like the Alan Savory of LSS
http://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/vale-bud-williams/

 
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Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
I know a bloke who was managing a large cattle station in northern Australia. They worked on planned HM grazing principles, high density mobs, many cells of just a single hotwire. As part of their grazing management they regularly bought in & sold big numbers of cattle. They were very big on low stress stock handling methods, all staff were trained in it.
He told me that it didn't matter what sort of cattle ( temperament wise ) they brought in, they were able to train them & get them manageable fairly quickly, with very few culls

rather than build a stronger fence, have content cattle that don't want to go through it :scratchhead:

sh!t aye
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Would it pay to bring testing forward to the next couple weeks, so while vet is there can check for empty cow's & have a good clear out? I usually fit in health testing with Tb test so I realise it's extra work when cow's are out.
Walked silage fields this morning & they gone backwards from last week so will have to do something myself! Couple of heifers I don't think have held to service so will get them p'd & off they may go.
Bulls going in in next 10 days so not really an option. Current plan is to have a good clear out soon after housing so' s depleted winter fodder goes further.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
I suppose I better get me arse into this facebook lark, as there appears to be some interesting things to look at. I am a frikin mushroom with facebook etc.

DO IT

FB is f^ucking awesome, everyone & every organisation of any interest in HM, regenersative ag, organics, permaculture, livestock, cropping - whatever, has a presence there
It is a wonderful tool for finding & sharing information
the thing is, YOU have to take control of it, YOU like what YOU like, set up your privacy settings the way YOU want, follow the people YOU find interesting & ignore or even block the c^unts you don't. Once you start following certain people or pages, it will throw up more recommendations - some will be sh!t some will be gold, but its YOUR choice

It really is the most amazing resource - if you know how to use it
 

Ukjay

Member
Location
Wales!
DO IT

FB is f^ucking awesome, everyone & every organisation of any interest in HM, regenersative ag, organics, permaculture, livestock, cropping - whatever, has a presence there
It is a wonderful tool for finding & sharing information
the thing is, YOU have to take control of it, YOU like what YOU like, set up your privacy settings the way YOU want, follow the people YOU find interesting & ignore or even block the c^unts you don't. Once you start following certain people or pages, it will throw up more recommendations - some will be sh!t some will be gold, but its YOUR choice

It really is the most amazing resource - if you know how to use it

I have had an account for years, but never used it :oops:

Lead a sheltered life me you know. :whistle:

Will see how it works - as im an old Leftie :)
 

Crofter64

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Quebec, Canada
to those above who were saying their dislike of sheep - Hell yes ! however its taken me 20 odd years to work out why - and its management or the wrong type.
i still hate them but a heck of a lot less. basically once we started HM and mobbing them - they became biddable - they now go where i want them too with little fus - no more running about like a loon or getting knackered trying to catch them - secret is a combo of temple grandins animal handling and just keeping calm, slow movements and quiet. (and getting rid of the stupid buggers)
Same experience here. I did a major cull a few years back, set out criteria for keepers and try to stick with it. I find that keeping a couple of bottle fed ewes that trust you does a lot for calming the flock .The trusting ones don’t flee and come when called. Always helpful. I had a North Country Cheviot ram for a few years and kept many of his daughters. That is when my flock went bonkers - everyone fleeing for their lives whenever they caught sight of a human.They are almost all gone now, happily.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Thanks all.

Composting animal matter does seem like a good use of the nutrients within. I wonder if there are actually any real issues with it, when done properly? (In saying that I'm aware of seeing the odd decent sized bone go flying out the back of the spreader, so it doesn't always get done properly. I'm also aware of finding the odd sheep carcase with a topper, so collecting fallen stock for incineration doesn't alwyal get done properly either.)
No issues at all.
That's where the calcium goes!
I am a hoarder when it comes to nutrients as I don't really see the need to buy things in one form that are all around us in other forms - I gather those big horns that the kelp sticks to the rocks with, I see them washed up on the beach and fill my trailer while the kids and dog let off steam.

Just cut them free of the rest of the kelp and throw them on til the cage is full.
The whole top of my heap was covered in kelp roots for a month and then the worms came :hungry::hungry::hungry: nothing to see now

Calcium in... it's important to keep things just quietly ticking in if they are quietly ticking out, the rest comes down to cycling.
So dead things may as well not be exported IMO, they have cost money but it is our choice to "lose" them.

Gorse bushes - money in them (y)

Everything when it is dead is worth something, if you can figure out how to recover the nutrients.

An ruminant is roughly 18% carbon - from the sky :)
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
hopefully going up to this place in September

a mate of mine is going up to do a lot of drone work & asked me to come along
they are some of the fore fathers of regenerative agriculture in Australia

http://www.soilsforlife.org.au/cs-dukes-plain

Fu^cking read the story in the link to, im sure most of you c^unts just pass em by without reading
Shane also sees a threat to innovative land management in the dictation of practices, such as vegetation and pasture management, by authorities which often do not have direct experience on the land. “Ordinary people in remote places lack the opportunity to ‘have a conversation’ with such entities. To share and demonstrate actual experiences, is a missed opportunity for these authorities and virtually guarantees ‘more of the same’ from them.

UK Ag syndrome :rolleyes::sick:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.1%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 67 35.3%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,294
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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