- Location
- Lincolnshire
Is there really so much money in cattle that people can afford to store them? Sounds like a hobby to me where people have paddocks to fill and aren't too bothered about profit.
Calves should be out on the grass first year with mother (preferably on somebody else's farm) then buy them in as stirks in the autumn. Prices are silly in the spring. Thereafter in a shed growing and fattening and turning straw into muck. Putting them back out for the second summer will slow them down and you can't afford to keep any animal that is not growing / fattening at maximum rate IMO.
Let the ewes and lambs have spring and summer grazing. They will rocket on it and get them away quickly. Shut up what gets away from them and conserve it for winter silage for the cattle and bit for the sheep. Sow stubble turnips on spent grass leys for the sheep in the autumn / winter and also fatten later lambs on them and on beet tops. Keep a bit of beet back for the stock.
That's mixed farming in the East for a one or two man band using no extra labour. Won't suit all of course but it fits well for us. Buying store cattle in the autumn suits us as we know how much forage and bedding we have in stock by that stage and we can buy numbers to suit. Buying them in the spring is no good as prices leave no margin and we want the best spring grass for the sheep.
All that mob grazing cattle outside all year round sounds like bloody hard work.
I think it was fairly traditional for farms here in the East to buy in stirks in years gone by to keep arable folk busy over winter using waste products like straw. Makes sense to us. Putting up a few cattle sheds is better than putting 50 acres more down to grass.
Calves should be out on the grass first year with mother (preferably on somebody else's farm) then buy them in as stirks in the autumn. Prices are silly in the spring. Thereafter in a shed growing and fattening and turning straw into muck. Putting them back out for the second summer will slow them down and you can't afford to keep any animal that is not growing / fattening at maximum rate IMO.
Let the ewes and lambs have spring and summer grazing. They will rocket on it and get them away quickly. Shut up what gets away from them and conserve it for winter silage for the cattle and bit for the sheep. Sow stubble turnips on spent grass leys for the sheep in the autumn / winter and also fatten later lambs on them and on beet tops. Keep a bit of beet back for the stock.
That's mixed farming in the East for a one or two man band using no extra labour. Won't suit all of course but it fits well for us. Buying store cattle in the autumn suits us as we know how much forage and bedding we have in stock by that stage and we can buy numbers to suit. Buying them in the spring is no good as prices leave no margin and we want the best spring grass for the sheep.
All that mob grazing cattle outside all year round sounds like bloody hard work.
I think it was fairly traditional for farms here in the East to buy in stirks in years gone by to keep arable folk busy over winter using waste products like straw. Makes sense to us. Putting up a few cattle sheds is better than putting 50 acres more down to grass.