- Location
- Quebec, Canada
I know what you mean. Its the same when any group of animals leave- chicken or turkey butchering, slaughtering the pigs etc. So liberating.
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
You can have some of my geese. Even with poor egg and nest management they somehow managed to get four goslings running around.
Two hens, two big ganders and the asexual, confused goose, plus the four goslings.... I might have to start eating goose jerky!
I have found the best way to contain them is tall grass. They only stick to the mowed or grazed areas now
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
Thanks but no thanks. Every time I walk through the yard they follow me, hissing and trying to sneak up and pinch me. I take a couple of steps, then kick back, followed by a few more steps and kick back. The opposite of a german goose step, its the Canadian versionYou can have some of my geese. Even with poor egg and nest management they somehow managed to get four goslings running around.
Two hens, two big ganders and the asexual, confused goose, plus the four goslings.... I might have to start eating goose jerky!
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I have found the best way to contain them is tall grass. They only stick to the mowed or grazed areas now
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
There's just about double the stress of grazing someone else's stock, compared to your own. It's like having a kid's birthday party at your house!
I do like it, especially when you can turn stock around in a short while and be both praised and paid for it.... but it's hard to relax fully.
You always imagine them queuing up to drown in the creek, like lemmings.... however the only losses I've had were from that lightning strike, hard to prevent that.
So it's a great feeling to load them out, and just go back to cruising along...
@ShooTa & @Poorbuthappy it certainly isn't easy to get right & there's not many days I go out & think the grazings perfect , the problem is grazing is constantly variable . You have to plan, plan ,plan then change your mind as conditions change
I think you've been given various good bits of advise @ShooTa , try all of them & see which works for you.
@Crofter64 you are right I should of worded that better , really early in the season shouldn't be grazed to tight but rounds need to be tightened (or density) as we reach peak growing times , if the grass isn't grazed tight enough in peak times I believe it goes to head & dormant quicker.
I think you've been given various good bits of advise @ShooTa , try all of them & see which works for you.
@Crofter64 you are right I should of worded that better , really early in the season shouldn't be grazed to tight but rounds need to be tightened (or density) as we reach peak growing times , if the grass isn't grazed tight enough in peak times I believe it goes to head & dormant quicker.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
That's entirely optional.
It depends!
Never think it's the grass needing cut, because it doesn't need that.
Your "farm" in the whole sense, it may.
Depends what you want to achieve by doing it, it has up and down sides, as with most things.
That it is a poor substitute for grazing/fire in most respects doesn't mean it isn't a tool in the "available tool box".
And a good decision at certain times?
We need to know the why, to work out the quality of the decision
But you will still have dead stalks so the grass will still think it's done it's job, surely you would need to cut it lower to stimulate growth? But as Kp has said it's a tool in the box & may work at certain times?
Will be honest & say I have never used a topper in my life , think Dad had one for a short time in the late 70s.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
You'd also tie up your free N, that's why the grass that went to seed falls over in the winter, if it needed to fall over in the spring then nature would arrange it to happen.
But, she doesn't.
Late summer, if it's just going to sit there and wave in the breeze then nature would have something eat it, probably a big old cow - but these have strings attached too.
Biosecurity, overheads, loss etc.etc.
A pedigree heifer breeder probably is going to pick topping ahead of burning the grass or buying in a wagonload of friesian bulls, hence some of these decisions are context specific.
A store lamb fattener would also likely get the topper out if it was going to make more sense than buying more lambs on a falling market, but the market decides that to an extent; there's probably a situation where it makes more sense to just top everything back into the ground and keep no stock at all, and live on depreciation, go get a real job
It's a bit like going to the polling booth; when you open the toolbox and look at all the options some just aren't going to be considered; you end up narrowing it down to two, perhaps three, fairly smartly
But we all have different candidates, just because I would "get more cows" doesn't mean everyone should do it. Cow tops at the right height, topper tops at "a" height.
The feedback loop is important: top some, leave some, see what happens, learn from that - but 'see properly when you look' as Mum is known to say
I have done that in one field, went round a few times then drove around knocking of a couple patches of stingers and left the rest to see what gives by the end of the year.The feedback loop is important: top some, leave some, see what happens, learn from that - but 'see properly when you look' as Mum is known to say
I have never topped very low but this year put it up in the highest setting, it keeps more cover and keeps the land owners happy
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I think that anything we do 'out of habit' can hardly be considered holistic management, morelike habitual management - is that fair to say?
If we just top according to seeing we did it from our diary, then it's probably wide of the mark in terms of effectiveness just like having a grazing "recipe" or a dead-set crop rotation of: barley barley barley Bermuda, one particular pasture mix we always sow the week of our birthday
So in that sense @Agrispeed putting a bit of cake in, or me buying in some hay to fertilise a paddock isn't necessarily "anti-holistic" at all because it's part of a strategy, just as clipping a couple of paddocks for some lamb tucker maybe something that we decide to do, and maybe next year will be completely different.....
it's just when we rely on one particular tool or method too long it loses something in the process.Next winter could see us get 3x the rainfall of this one, or freeze for a fortnight so stuff has to be based on the big picture!
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
I’m going to mow and leave the residue in my maternity paddocks(6x1/4 acre each) so that at the end of August when some cows are calving the grass will be optimal.
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
What’s the highest setting.? Mine says 6 inches but looks more like 3-4. I use a lawn tractor, side discharge, and don’t mow every last bit as there are loads of frogs and other creatures in the grass.
not sure really but would say about 6 inches
ShooTa
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire - In the vale of Clwyd!
thats what they all say...
- Location
- Devon
Moved some sheep yesterday and Mrs PBH commented how some had gone straight to browse from the hedge.
Diversity
Trace element supplementation
Where did I hear/ read about beech being high in copper? On here, or at Groundswell? Or somewhere else? Should have made a note. Blood tests showed some cows being slightly low. Was thinking of lopping off a few beaches to feed them.
Diversity
Trace element supplementation
Where did I hear/ read about beech being high in copper? On here, or at Groundswell? Or somewhere else? Should have made a note. Blood tests showed some cows being slightly low. Was thinking of lopping off a few beaches to feed them.
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- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
And then add the woody stems to a muck heapMoved some sheep yesterday and Mrs PBH commented how some had gone straight to browse from the hedge.
Diversity
Trace element supplementation
Where did I here/ read about beech being high in copper? On here, or at Groundswell? Or somewhere else? Should have made a note. Blood tests showed some cows being slightly low. Was thinking of lopping off a few beaches to feed them.