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

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
View attachment 809174
errr, is this is this trampled enough?:eek::eek::eek:
15604253677013350508316751210991.jpg

exactly the same spot 24hours later
 

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
@onesiedale what’s your plan for those thistles. Whack them off with a grubber? Started doing the odd ones I have on the rotation when I move them now.
Thanks for the reminder!
Every time I go to move this group I tell myself;
'Tomorrow I'll bring a spade back with me and spend 20 minutes stabbing these thistles'

one day I'll remember. They shouldn't take too much grubbing out.
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
I'm trialling ignoring them this year :whistle:

The cows are actually eating quite a few docks this year :)
They eat docks and nettles but they really don’t seem to get the taste for thistles so I prefer to whack them off. Only the odd one really.
Dug some chicory up yesterday went down probably about 8inches with the main root and there was a narrow bit at the end broken. Just wish it had taken better in the overseed.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Please excuse me - I'm not being funny, this is a serious question

But, why does everyone seem to worry so much about thistles, docks, etc etc ?
Sheep grazing around Too many Thistles will on occasion break the skin on lambs lips / noses and let in the orf virus. Which is potentially disastrous
Spear or scotch thistles are even sharper barstweards to get seeds puffing over the hedge to not please yr neighbours :whistle: only good thing about them is thatgold finches love the seed that doesnt blow and hangs around till autumn / winter

Docks arent such a problem with sheep around as they eat them and i expect they have more than enough good minerals in them to balance out the negative anti nutritional things they might contain......good sheep eat them and stop them seeding as they are good at producing thousands of them and they will then smother out grass and worse ..... clover ...they are ok prescion chopped as welll actually , and put in the clamp and early silage cutting gets them before seeding again , hay cropping with docks is the worse thing of all to encourage them to world dominance.:cautious:
 

baaa

Member
I'm trialling ignoring them this year :whistle:

The cows are actually eating quite a few docks this year :)
Please excuse me - I'm not being funny, this is a serious question

But, why does everyone seem to worry so much about thistles, docks, etc etc ?

I am suffering the consequences of ignoring the thistles for a couple of years! The good thing is when I cut them all the stock devours them. I think these plants have deeper roots and bring more nutrients to the surface than grass can. So I am growing them as a stock health benefit!
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Please excuse me - I'm not being funny, this is a serious question

But, why does everyone seem to worry so much about thistles, docks, etc etc ?
No worries here.

They're only (trying) to fix a problem, if you cut them down every year then you have to fix the problems yourself, and it costs a fudge sight more.

But, that's the whole point, isn't it?
To replace natural systems and processes with extra work, extra cost, and a couple more scoops of hand-wringing....
:dead::whistle:
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
No worries here.

They're only (trying) to fix a problem, if you cut them down every year then you have to fix the problems yourself, and it costs a fudge sight more.

But, that's the whole point, isn't it?
To replace natural systems and processes with extra work, extra cost, and a couple more scoops of hand-wringing....
:dead::whistle:
And what problem is that exactly :unsure:

Biggest problem we had in with the lucerne was docks and spear thistles
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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

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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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