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

Kiwi Pete · Feb 16, 2020

I think it does, because there is much greater demand "on the system" then the legumes need to fix more.
Also, because suddenly the grazing is being managed by the predator and not the herd itself, that gappy "mosaic" look with pissy patches and gaps is avoided - stock naturally preferentially graze their urine patches first, and if their entire pasture is one of those, then the recirculation must improve?

It's interesting you question it, because the boffins who study the numbers at our place give an amazingly high figure for N in the system and it's all fixed nitrogen

As in, 250-300 units per hectare.
These same boffins look at the common 'clover can fix up to 80 units per hectare if well managed' advice and scratch their heads, what is obvious is that good healthy soil can sort it's own N out and share it amongst the plants.
Obv. mycorrhizae are a huge factor.

Also, in general terms as you run higher densities you can increase SR, the system becomes more productive. Conversely it gets very lazy if you don't.

Kiwi Pete · Feb 16, 2020

The other observation has to be: what's the story with "fairy rings"?
You can see instantly that increased fungal activity equals increased nitrogen availability, so that's probably another "healthy soil bonus".
Whether or not high-intensity grazing is increasing or decreasing that fungal activity is down to management-specific parameters, possibly not stocking density or stocking rate?
If the grass is up to your waist, you won't see the fruit but it is probably not needing to reproduce, the way unstressed pastures don't rush to seed in the springtime.

Just rambling on a bit here....

I think that's the major effect of tickling the biome with biostimulants, animals, residues and composts - not as "nutrient sources" but as biological and fungal "primers" in their own right.
There's such an abundance of nitrogen about, it's about that foodweb and getting its appetite up, the N in a living soil is massive.
Conversely, the N in an inert soil is whatever you applied in the last 3 weeks.

JohnGalway · Feb 18, 2020

Bit of bale unrolling to happen in the near future

Sharpy · Feb 18, 2020

JohnGalway said:
Bit of bale unrolling to happen in the near future
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Is this going to be like extreme bowling?

Kiwi Pete · Feb 19, 2020

JohnGalway said:
Bit of bale unrolling to happen in the near future
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What an amazing landscape

Kiwi Pete · Feb 19, 2020

The race is on!

JohnGalway · Feb 19, 2020

The 12v winch on the drawbar took all the donkey work out of the job yesterday, rolled the bales well uphill with no effort ?

Kiwi Pete · Feb 19, 2020

JohnGalway said:
The 12v winch on the drawbar took all the donkey work out of the job yesterday, rolled the bales well uphill with no effort ?

Great idea that is, the bale-unroller gadgets made over here have them on too.

Does anyone know what a 'parbuckle' is? That can work well enough for a lighter bale

Kiwi Pete · Feb 19, 2020

JohnGalway · Feb 19, 2020

That's pretty much what we did. Tied a strap to the front of the trailer, laid it out along the trailer bed and down the centre of the ramps out behind the trailer. Roll the bale over the strap to the ramp, loop the hooked end of the strap around the bale and clip on the winch hook. Bit of power and she's up!

ShooTa · Feb 19, 2020

Ohh and there was I using a fence pole to lever them in whilst the trailer was parked on a slope./ Sh it looks like i should finally fit that winch...

JohnGalway · Feb 19, 2020

One thing we learned was to move the winch closer to the trailer. It's now mounted right up to the wrapped lights cable. The issue was at a tight reverse turn the + wire got pulled out of it's crimp by the rear wheel of the bike. Thankfully an easy repair as it happened on the second bale ?

I fractured my hand a week ago, so a mate was bike pilot for the day, he couldn't get over how well it worked. Marginally cheaper than a tractor and loader too!

The bale can be tied to the front of the trailer using the same strap, chok the bale first if necessary. Didn't need the tailboard on. Saw another useful idea for welders, make a cradle that fits into where the tailboard fits, sit a bale on it and a winch should lift it up too.

ShooTa · Feb 20, 2020

great little vid with some great take-aways./

JohnGalway · Feb 20, 2020

First bale unrolled! Tomorrow will tell how horrified I am on a scale of 1-10 ? It would have benefited from a fork to fluff up the hay and a leccy fence on rebar posts down the centre methinks. Opened some Crystalyx tubs today too, "handy" is the order of the day with me being semi out of action. Currently 124 sheep there with a handful more to be added over the next couple of days. I think I'll lamb them here, wasn't the plan but God laughed ?‍

The upside is this will give the other land I want to paddock graze extra time to recover as it's currently overgrazed.

Kiwi Pete · Feb 20, 2020

ShooTa said:
great little vid with some great take-aways./

That was brilliant, I don't know where to begin so I won't even

Kiwi Pete · Feb 20, 2020

JohnGalway said:
First bale unrolled! Tomorrow will tell how horrified I am on a scale of 1-10 ? It would have benefited from a fork to fluff up the hay and a leccy fence on rebar posts down the centre methinks. Opened some Crystalyx tubs today too, "handy" is the order of the day with me being semi out of action. Currently 124 sheep there with a handful more to be added over the next couple of days. I think I'll lamb them here, wasn't the plan but God laughed ?‍ The upside is this will give the other land I want to paddock graze extra time to recover as it's currently overgrazed.

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Heaps of cover there John, when are they due to lamb?

JohnGalway · Feb 20, 2020

Kiwi Pete said:
Heaps of cover there John, when are they due to lamb?

Deceptive photo Pete, there's plenty of white molinia in it which has a feed value of licking pavement. Lots of ground cover in a soil sense though. Place would benefit greatly from high density grazing IMO, but the other, bigger, greener parcel of land is ahead on that list, easy burn through the €€€'s ???

Should start lambing around April 20 ? Might go later for the following season. Hope to have the place tightened up better for tipping by then to shorten lambing to 20 something days.

JohnGalway · Feb 21, 2020

Unrolling did not go well.

Henarar · Feb 21, 2020

when it comes to feeding animals outside when its wet small bales are wonderful things

JohnGalway · Feb 21, 2020

No fair play with small bales here, they're made deliberately small and light then charge €3 or more likely €3.50 a half pan, while good rounds are €30

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

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100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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