The golden hoof...

Clever Dic

Member
Location
Melton
Most of thr nutrients are left behind in a more usable form ie dung
The sheep transfer nitrogen from one year to the next
Thats why they are called the golden hoof.
They Should be charging
I have an opposing view. We have 1500 acres of temporary grasses for quality horse haylage ..grass reseed every 2 years and it was becoming a real issue the levels of rough stalk and meadow grass getting into the leys.
My grass seeds specialist told me that he had good evidence that sheep grazing during the late autumn and winter hugely exacerbated the issue as the feet disturbed the soil between the rows and set off dormant weed grass seeds.
Took the plunge banned the sheep and bought a 8.5m mulching topper to keep winter growth minimal.
In 3 years I have been delighted with the results ...massive reduction in weed grasses. So I have to say policy now is no sheep on new seeds.
I appreciate it may be not such an issue if the new grass was following some other crop.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I have an opposing view. We have 1500 acres of temporary grasses for quality horse haylage ..grass reseed every 2 years and it was becoming a real issue the levels of rough stalk and meadow grass getting into the leys.
My grass seeds specialist told me that he had good evidence that sheep grazing during the late autumn and winter hugely exacerbated the issue as the feet disturbed the soil between the rows and set off dormant weed grass seeds.
Took the plunge banned the sheep and bought a 8.5m mulching topper to keep winter growth minimal.
In 3 years I have been delighted with the results ...massive reduction in weed grasses. So I have to say policy now is no sheep on new seeds.
I appreciate it may be not such an issue if the new grass was following some other crop.

I can see why that works against your system but outside of a cash crop I'm happy to see as much germinate as possible as it saves me selective herbicides in the next cash crop. No doubt that's worth another £30/acre to @glasshouse along with the £25/acre I've already spent on establishing the turnips. :rolleyes:
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
F
I have an opposing view. We have 1500 acres of temporary grasses for quality horse haylage ..grass reseed every 2 years and it was becoming a real issue the levels of rough stalk and meadow grass getting into the leys.
My grass seeds specialist told me that he had good evidence that sheep grazing during the late autumn and winter hugely exacerbated the issue as the feet disturbed the soil between the rows and set off dormant weed grass seeds.
Took the plunge banned the sheep and bought a 8.5m mulching topper to keep winter growth minimal.
In 3 years I have been delighted with the results ...massive reduction in weed grasses. So I have to say policy now is no sheep on new seeds.
I appreciate it may be not such an issue if the new grass was following some other crop.
fair enough, but that is not the usual scenario.
Wouldnt be a prob on longer grass leys
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
The annual value of a livestock presence on an “arable” farm is very hard to quantify, and certainly not something an accountant would be able or interested to do.
The only real way is to look at a farm that had livestock removed twenty yrs before and calculate the difference in yields output profit etc
 
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Massey7718

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Ireland
From an Irish view some reply’s are madness, the rate here is minimum 10 cents a day per sheep for grazing, wouldn’t be worth your while growing the crop for them otherwise
 

shumungus

Member
Livestock Farmer
When I started reading this thread I thought everyone was taking the pee or there was some big 'in' joke that I didn't know about.
But no, to me it seems unbelievable that men winter graze sheep for free, in NI winter grazing is 50p to 80p a week for lambs and 70p to £1 for ewes paid by the grazier. It would nearly pay me to send a wagon load over!
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Here the sheep owner generally pays for establishment/seeds /fert etc and takes the risk of how well the crop grows
The arable man sets a date for all sheep/fence to be gone by
No other cash changes hands
I have plenty of arable farmers wanting this type of deal ---everyone benefits , all are happy
This is the sort of agreement I have or had, I think the sticking point is always No1 in your list or the weather comes in wet and they do compact the hell out of the ground and if they get left too long.
Saying that I have a load going onto some worked ground where there is a good crop of volunteer SB, where I couldnt pick it all up with the header come harvest time.
See how we go and see how long this high pressure stays around for.
But normally he would sow Stubble Turnips, fert etc out of his own pocket, put sheep on/off and no funds change hands.
I also used to let his sheep graze the OSR when I used to grow it.
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Fence turns up.
Sheep turn up.
It gets a bit tacky.
Sheep leave.
Small cheque arrives.

Willing to accept smaller cheque for less hassle / mess. And tidies it up for next year. Don't want them on the same bit too often .
 
We have a number of different arrangements. One end of the scale is farmer doing all work (planting/growing/fencing/lookering) and getting paid a headage payment. This options means he is taking slightly more risk in terms of getting a poor crop or crop failure, sheep get out on a Sunday etc but also gets more reward £££.

Other end is the farmer does nothing other than make the land available over the winter. We do everything from drilling to fencing and lookering etc. No money changes hands.
Also have one agreement whereby we provide the seed, the farmer drills the crop, then we do the fencing/lookering. Still no money changes hands.

This obviously only works if the land is within a reasonable distance from ourselves. Otherwise, the top option usually works better for most folk.
 
We have a number of different arrangements. One end of the scale is farmer doing all work (planting/growing/fencing/lookering) and getting paid a headage payment. This options means he is taking slightly more risk in terms of getting a poor crop or crop failure, sheep get out on a Sunday etc but also gets more reward £££.

Other end is the farmer does nothing other than make the land available over the winter. We do everything from drilling to fencing and lookering etc. No money changes hands.
Also have one agreement whereby we provide the seed, the farmer drills the crop, then we do the fencing/lookering. Still no money changes hands.

This obviously only works if the land is within a reasonable distance from ourselves. Otherwise, the top option usually works better for most folk.

Yours more docile than some breeds too.

Amazes me to see sheep fenced on veg waste in South Lincs with two electric wires, little shelter from wind next to hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of crops. I'd be wandering around 24 hours a day checking. Guess very few badgers to bite through the fences down there.
 
Our ewes spent all autumn up with us behind 2 strands and are now in Norfolk with a Tff member behind 3 strands. Haven’t had one escape yet. These are Cheviots and Cheviot Mules as well.

Lambs can be a bit worse, theres and odd one or two in the gimmer lambs and fattening lambs that are in Lincolnshire that like to push their luck a bit, but nothing drastic.

We do have a bunch of bought in Romney store lambs that, as soon as the grass starts to get a bit low in their field, escape without trying. Maybe only half a dozen but still...
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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