"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
Hoping for a bit will be 4 weeks since we had any on Monday. Extending out my rotation for those steers a keep talking about by about 10 days should help them greatly. Also splitting some cows and calves out of a bugger group and putting them on some rental silage ground to protract the grass on that rotation.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
No drought here, but compared to my expectations it's certainly very dry..
I have imaginings that "all that water must be somewhere", you'd assume that the Weather Gods would compensate for these drier summers.
When you least want it....
However that memo seems to have been lost
- Location
- Devon
Sent you a pm t'other day @Agrispeed
baaa
Member
Yes I remember trying this on the horses years ago. Apparently the seeds stun the tapeworm. If it is followed by lots of fibre, the tapeworm pass through before they gain consiousness. How many pomegranates for 130 lambs? In France we need to get a prescription from the vet before buying wormer, such a pain.
- Location
- Devon
Will be your quality internet connectionSorry missed that!
Dairy cows have been on mob stocked grass, that I had planned to bale for dry cows in order to pad out the rotation for an extra 10 days. Cost was about 2l/cow a day, but needs must.
Used the pet cow to move them the other day.
I now am back to crap, but usable internet
Used the pet cow to move them the other day.
Will be your quality internet connection
I now am back to crap, but usable internet
RushesToo
Member
- Location
- Fingringhoe
If you have a system that is better than last year, then more land on your terms is a good thing - it will pay you more in the new system.Very dry here, grass is burning off but as @Poorbuthappy says seems slightly better than last year (as long as we have rain fairly quickly), as have extended my rounds (compared to last year ) which have helped a lot.
Tipping out fats regularly so helping to keep numbers down.
Land next door up for rent
Make sure you have a Brexit clause before you sign anything - same terms for both sides regardless.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Peppermint usually has an effect, I guess it depends on the size of the fly problem? We used a product called "udder comfort" for high SCC cows and noticed it kept flies away, so then found some cheapish peppermint essential oil online and just gave them a wee squirt on the tailhead with a vaccinator gun during milking, worked a treat for us.
Hence I had no problem mentioning it to @sjewart for her problem with a heifer, once the flies bite it seems to cause a frenzy and the peppermint must block any "pheromone signals" for want of a better term
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
This is from Will Winter DVM who I met at a conference .:
Here’s the BASIC PROTOCOL we use for natural control, prevention and eradication of all fly problems. As I’ve outlined in my TOP TEN WAYS TO GET RID OF FLIES article (which can be found under “articles” at willwinter.com) flies are really more of a “farm problem” than a livestock problem so I encourage you to approach it with a holistic attitude, that is, by looking at every single reason flies are bugging you. The Top Ten
article includes everything. The products below can be found at grassfarmersupply.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Remember, flies are just another parasite, an external one. Everything listed here also helps rid other parasites too! Both internal and external. That’s a nice bonus!
~Not only are flies a nuisance, they cost you money! A typical case of 200-500 horn flies per animal will steal a 1/2 pint of blood a day, which will cost you at least 1/2 pound of daily gain or a half gallon of milk. Flies also transmit over 30 infectious diseases!
~Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine states “All Disease Begins In The Gut”. Which includes parasites! This means that there isn’t a disease that doesn’t go back to nutritional deficiencies. Dr. Francis Pottenger removed any doubt of the truth of this. Our holistic plan, therefore begins by making sure nutritional needs are met.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#1- In addition to good forages (year-round, high brix-10 or better, no mold, and lots of greens), supply high-quality FREE-CHOICE MINERALS. Repel all insects and worms with these critical traces: Copper, Sulfur, Iodine. These should be at high levels in your mineral mix. For all cattle & goats, we like 5000 ppm Cu, 5% S, and 800 ppm I. Same for sheep except way less Cu, we use a mix with 1300 ppm Cu for sheep.
#2- It’s a well-documented fact that animals that have free-choice access to RAW APPLE CIDER VINEGAR are extremely resistant to flies and worms. New animals, weak animals or stressed animals should be allowed to drink all they want every day.
Following that, and when the flies have been knocked down, it’s safe to drop to the standard dosage range of 1 oz/200# of body weight. ACV makes money for producers!
#3- During heavy fly pressure: Add SALT SIDEKICK to all your free-choice salt. This is 60% pure yellow sulfur with over 9000 ppm Iodine in a tasty base. Mix in 10# to every 100# of salt and keep giving it until the fly season is gone. Offer no other salt.
#4- To get an instant knock-down w/o poisons: We recommend ECTOPHYTE livestock insect spray. There is nothing on the market that is stronger or more effective. A gallon of concentrate makes up to 10 gallons total when mixed with mineral or vegetable oil. If you have extreme fly problems, mix it stronger, like a gallon with only 3-4 gallons of oil. Spray it on heavily, especially face, feet, shoulders and belly. A backpack sprayer usually works best. Then get some good oilers and put them near the mineral boxes (or the water source). Keep them drippy wet with the oil mix
sjewart
Member
Thank you [emoji4]
Sorry @baaa not sure about amounts, always thought it was just a few drops of juice to a water trough to create the wrong conditions in the gut for the worms .
If you kept adding a small amount of juice to their water over several weeks & sprinkled seeds over any feed they have may work??
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
Cheap food is great isn't it
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-is-health-and-climate-crises-says-commission
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-is-health-and-climate-crises-says-commission
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I bet that'll go down well
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its all very well but it will be you do this that and the other so we can feel good while we import from places where they don't give a sh!t and under cut you, so that's fine another problem well and truly exported, it leaves me wondering just WTF we are going to be allowed to do in this country that is not seen as bad,
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
I don't have any problem with the main ideas they espouse, at least THEY are not trumpeting "Stop eating red meat".
As ever the devil would be in the detail.
I don't see farming represented much in their makeup, especially smaller farms. The only practical agriculturalist on the committee heads up Dyson Farms, the biggest farming operation in the UK.
They claim to have consulted thousands of rural people in researching the report. It would be interesting to see exactly who.