- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
FFS don't post that openly in "Agricultural matters"
I don't stray far from here anymore.
Life's too short to read how everything should be worth double what it is now, to support their spending addictions - we won't live to see it happen, simple fact is you sometimes have to admit you backed the wrong horse, and move on
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
If only the wider food industry would do that!
I don't stray far from here anymore.
Life's too short to read how everything should be worth double what it is now, to support their spending addictions - we won't live to see it happen, simple fact is you sometimes have to admit you backed the wrong horse, and move on
It's now clear that the whole western government dietary advice basis over the last 50 years has actually been deeply harmful but nobody is yet willing to follow your advice on that one.
High fructose corn syrup with a side of hydrogenated vegetable oil anyone?
texas pete
Member
- Location
- East Mids
Very true....and is the case with life in general really, isn't it.
I have recently finished reading Doug Avery's book, following yours and @Bury the Trash 's recommendation in another thread.
I have never read (and probably never will again) such a thought provoking book. The guy is incredible and shows where you can end up, from where you currently are....He is seemingly flying now, but was anything but, before.
Made me realise I have been spending too much time on this forum too..
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Huge business though... this is why everything becomes hidden under layer upon layer of BS.If only the wider food industry would do that!
It's now clear that the whole western government dietary advice basis over the last 50 years has actually been deeply harmful but nobody is yet willing to follow your advice on that one.
High fructose corn syrup with a side of hydrogenated vegetable oil anyone?
People will read what suits them, and discredit anything that doesn't suit them, it's just how people are. Look at the study (I'm pretty sure you saw it on FB) on the f3 and f4 effects of glypho in rat diets - if you want a real display of what I described above, go and post THAT gem on Agr matters
the ensuing tears would flood your pastures all summer Hence I really don't bother attempting to convince people to change their minds on such matters, I prefer to demonstrate alternative options are available (including thinking for yourself)
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
You really have to watch "your circle" and keep those who pull you up, closer than the dreamstealers that want to drag you downVery true....and is the case with life in general really, isn't it.
I have recently finished reading Doug Avery's book, following yours and @Bury the Trash 's recommendation in another thread.
I have never read (and probably never will again) such a thought provoking book. The guy is incredible and shows where you can end up, from where you currently are....He is seemingly flying now, but was anything but, before.
Made me realise I have been spending too much time on this forum too..
However when it comes to TFF I struggle to look away, it's like a bad chainsaw wound under a dressing that lost its stick!
I am just a sadist, I openly admit this; yet it's helpful to see how badly things can go wrong in order to make better life choices.
Doug is a great guy, if you think his book is good, spend an afternoon speaking with him and you'll leave feeling like a giant - he's a bloody good bloke, with a great view on life .
Sheila Cooke
Member
Here's a 13-minute ABC news video that just came out from the Savory Network hub in Australia.
https://www.abc.net.au/landline/back-to-nature:-making-money-while-restoring-the/11126866
Tony Hill talks about Ecological Outcome Verification and how we can use it to assess our land.
I would like to invite you to a webinar coming up on the 28th of May on the topic of Ecological Outcome Verification. Please attend and invite your friends. We have two Land to Market partners in the UK who will be with us on the webinar, one for meat, the other for wool.
https://www.3lm.network/store/WEBINAR-Be-in-Demand-From-Brands-That-Care-p138166971
https://www.abc.net.au/landline/back-to-nature:-making-money-while-restoring-the/11126866
Tony Hill talks about Ecological Outcome Verification and how we can use it to assess our land.
I would like to invite you to a webinar coming up on the 28th of May on the topic of Ecological Outcome Verification. Please attend and invite your friends. We have two Land to Market partners in the UK who will be with us on the webinar, one for meat, the other for wool.
https://www.3lm.network/store/WEBINAR-Be-in-Demand-From-Brands-That-Care-p138166971
Have a couple of podcast interviews with him saved which have had multiple listenings. His book is on my to do list.
texas pete
Member
- Location
- East Mids
Seek the "radiators", avoid the "drains"...
I can imagine having a good yarn with him is about as good a tonic for life as you can get.
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
A rep once told me you've to pish with the cock you were born with.
The same sentiment as above.
ShooTa
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire - In the vale of Clwyd!
@holwellcourtfarm no i wasnt aware of his FB. cheers.
I don't know if anyone remembers last fall when I started spreading some chicken litter on a really poor section of one of my pastures. These photos might refresh your memory and show how bare the slope was.
Here's what it looks like now.
It was too thick in some areas so after being matted down under snow for the winter the grass didn't make it through some areas of straw. I just raked those out so hopefully it grows there now.
These two photos show the difference in the residue cover. Left side is the side I covered with litter, right side nothing. No bare patches on the left, probably at least 50% bare on the right!
Now obviously the chicken sh!t is playing a role in fertilizing as well as the straw providing cover which is going to be most of the reason that grass is three times the height of the other stuff. However it's made me want to play around and see what just providing litter with next to no manure fertilizer in it will do. Would there be such an obvious difference?
So right now I'm starting to spread just about straight straw on other parts of this field. I was too lazy to take more chicken litter there as the front yard was closer for my 6 dozen wheelbarrow loads But there's a straw bale the cows have beat up that's not too far away. It will have a bit of cow manure in it but most is just straw. We'll see if there's such a visible difference between areas with just residue applied.
Here's what it looks like now.
It was too thick in some areas so after being matted down under snow for the winter the grass didn't make it through some areas of straw. I just raked those out so hopefully it grows there now.
These two photos show the difference in the residue cover. Left side is the side I covered with litter, right side nothing. No bare patches on the left, probably at least 50% bare on the right!
Now obviously the chicken sh!t is playing a role in fertilizing as well as the straw providing cover which is going to be most of the reason that grass is three times the height of the other stuff. However it's made me want to play around and see what just providing litter with next to no manure fertilizer in it will do. Would there be such an obvious difference?
So right now I'm starting to spread just about straight straw on other parts of this field. I was too lazy to take more chicken litter there as the front yard was closer for my 6 dozen wheelbarrow loads
But there's a straw bale the cows have beat up that's not too far away. It will have a bit of cow manure in it but most is just straw. We'll see if there's such a visible difference between areas with just residue applied.
- Location
- Devon
I have noticed when leaving branches in a pile after cutting out the firewood during winter that by this time of year the grass is much taller amongst the branches than the surrounding area .
And we don't get much frost.
And we don't get much frost.
yep grows like mad with a bit of shelter from brash, I think it keeps the cold wind off it
- Location
- Devon
Turned 80-90 doubles and 21 cows + calves in here this afternoon.
Taking me longer to get sorted to get them into bigger mobs than I had hoped but slowly catching up. Another 50- 60 doubles to go with this lot in a few days when I can get them in and dock them. And a few more cows and calves as they calve.
On about 3 day moves atm. Would like a bit longer covers but this is much longer than I'd have gone into in the past. Will only take off about 50% of it too.
Intend to subdivide some more but until I get chance to sort water and some more fencing, 3 day moves it is.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Beat me to it, @Blaithin has a hell of a climate compared to me, and even what you described is very evident here.
I never really got a photo to show the effect, but on my silage fields this year there was about a 10' wide border around each paddock with roughly double the growth - purely because of the effect of groundcover nearby, creating a better microclimate.
It basically gave the appearance that I set the mower higher for the first round of the paddock, and the back-cut, but took the rest off 40mm lower. Quite striking.
For me it would have been wind/sun protection due to dry - in Blaithin's case it would have also possibly been due to the extra insulation afforded by the groundcover?
Could be due to insulation but that field gets plenty of snow cover to insulate it. It’s right between two good tree lines, one on the north, one on the south. It’s not like the plants suffer from winter kill, there’s always just as many. They just aren’t healthy enough to perform well. Too grazed down.
In this case I think it’s mostly the litter helping with moisture retention. Because of the tree line to the north the sun tends to just bake that pasture, yet the right wind can really reach it still. We’ve had a strong wind out of the south east for the last two days so it’s hitting that slope dead on. The straw I’m spreading I’m just tossing up in the air and letting the wind spread it Plus, being an east facing slope it gets the full sun blasting it for a lot of the day. The only part of the field that doesn’t struggle is the south edge because it’s protected from the sun by another tree line.
Being a bit of a slope and having no cover, I’m sure when it rains most of the water ends up down in the ditch, not up in the pasture. The hope is the litter helps it stay there instead of running away.
In this case I think it’s mostly the litter helping with moisture retention. Because of the tree line to the north the sun tends to just bake that pasture, yet the right wind can really reach it still. We’ve had a strong wind out of the south east for the last two days so it’s hitting that slope dead on. The straw I’m spreading I’m just tossing up in the air and letting the wind spread it
Plus, being an east facing slope it gets the full sun blasting it for a lot of the day. The only part of the field that doesn’t struggle is the south edge because it’s protected from the sun by another tree line. Being a bit of a slope and having no cover, I’m sure when it rains most of the water ends up down in the ditch, not up in the pasture. The hope is the litter helps it stay there instead of running away.
- Location
- Ardrossan Ayrshire
If you get the chance go and see him live. Better than the book. I did, and as I read the book I hear his voice and the emotion in him.......Very true....and is the case with life in general really, isn't it.
I have recently finished reading Doug Avery's book, following yours and @Bury the Trash 's recommendation in another thread.
I have never read (and probably never will again) such a thought provoking book. The guy is incredible and shows where you can end up, from where you currently are....He is seemingly flying now, but was anything but, before.
Made me realise I have been spending too much time on this forum too..
- Location
- Derbyshire
@Tassie Farmer Think you cursed my drill
. First tine I've snapped on it. Sure enough, it was the footings of an old stone wall long since removed.