Sheepy musings
- Thread starter Wood field
- Start date
- Location
- South Pennines ol14
Up to now , we as I said above, rest mowing fields for 8-10 weeks and also bring the sheep inside from end Jan until lambing ( mid March in to April)
If I had shed space I would be tempted to house the lot but unfortunately some are set stocked on various away ground
The cow manure helps combat sheep sick pastures ( I think)
Wasn't it 7 year fallow intervals in biblical times? I’ve often wondered if you left a seventh of your grazing ground untouched every year, maybe topped it once or twice, what would the effects be, besides bankruptcy perhaps
Sometimes I think farming is a bit like what the great Peter Alliss once said about the game of golf, "the wonderful thing is that there are so many different ways to do it well".Wasn't it 7 year fallow intervals in biblical times? I’ve often wondered if you left a seventh of your grazing ground untouched every year, maybe topped it once or twice, what would the effects be, besides bankruptcy perhaps
So an increasingly common question is, "which is better, rotational farming or permanent pasture?"
I guess either one done well is commendable, and with plenty of scope within each system to do it well.
The best farmers round here by far are an organic estate that run 3000 ewes, 400 suckler cows and big area of arable. The rotation is grass (sheep first year and cattle/silage second year) then wheat and finally barley/oats. The sheep only graze the same fields one year every 4 years and house them Jan/March. They buy some pretty ordinary ewes but but the flock looks world class, iv never see a lame one there and the lambs are incredible. There arable looks as good if not better than everyone around as well.
Last edited:
Aspiring Peasants
Member
- Location
- North Pennines
There was quite a bit of work done back in the day by EHF’s on the benefits of clean grazing. The system generally recommended on an all grass farm, was 1/3 sheep, 1/3 cattle, 1/3 mowing rotated round the farm each year. With all this talk about anthelmintic resistance, then reducing worm burdens by grassland management should be more important. But it needs cattle.
A very good sheep man told me that cows don’t make money but they make the sheep make more money. Shame here tb is so bad.
sticky
Member
- Location
- Near Stratford upon Avon
Used to go there for lambs and cattle excellent farm.
Also my current crop of tups came from the shepherd.
Brilliant shepherd and sheepdog trainer. We share the first name and people sometimes think I’m him, there very disappointed when they meet me.
- Location
- South Pennines ol14
That’s a good analogy, the reason I started the thread was more to see if using that block to almost mob graze would be beneficial rather than shutting fields down for mowing and still having to buy extra fodder in.
We are all sda land and quite poor at that , apart from the two lower 3 acre fields and the 15 acres to the right of them , it’s all steep.
There’s no arable it’s all permanent pastures.
I am just trying to look at other methods, as we move towards no subs ( as such) buying in fodder means I am not going mad bodging old hay making tackle and waiting for the baling contractors, I could also let one of the tractors go
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Your vet needs to go back to college and refresh his knowledge of worms then.
The length of time you would need would vary by worm species, and ashore break like that would only reduce worm numbers slightly.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Mature ewes should be resistant to worms (apart from heamonchus), so can be used to hoover up pasture contamination almost as well as cattle.
Another exception would be nematodirus of course, where the eggs don’t hatch out until the following Spring, so the larvae aren’t there to hoover up in the Autumn.
Aspiring Peasants
Member
- Location
- North Pennines
The problem is, if you’re all sheep and no cattle, it’s out of balance.
I've got into the FEC routine. Flock clear of worms and fluke over the past two tests covering last 5 months. Now need to apply method to lamb crop to identify and target problems. Isn't this the best way forward, especially if you're sheep only? Reduce resistance, save money and increase crop yield.
Aspiring Peasants
Member
- Location
- North Pennines
FEC‘s are definitely a good way of managing worm burdens but they don’t do anything to reduce them on their own
Agree. Sold all my cattle about 18 months ago. Be interesting to see how this effects the sheep flock going forward.
I've been working with him for coming up on thirty odd years.
I'll take his advice over yours thanks.
FEC's absolutely crucial I'd say.
Daughter always done the sampling but we'd gotten out of the routine the past couple of years with her having two toddlers under two year old to deal with. So I started again last year and intend to keep it going from now on.
Aspiring Peasants
Member
- Location
- North Pennines
Good stuff, this explains why shutting up good grass in the summer for deferred grazing of ewes in the winter is not very efficient IMO