Breeding grazing habit traits

SLA

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
I started with north ronaldsay, Ronnie x Hebridean, black welsh, badger welsh ewes and used a North Ronaldsay or badger tup, the crossbred lambs went to a Texel x char tup and are now on a Suffolk x tup. Sheep have improved but still eat the rubbish and are very low maintenance.
 
Here' on great grass but she spends most of her days eating the thistles
 

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GreenerGrass

Member
Location
Wilts
Mine hammer rushes, docks and buttercup love bindweed and brambles too. Not got them to eat thistles yet other than the flowers when flowering. If cut they will eat thistles more readily.

Some years ago I read of people training their stock (cows) by using molasses on plants and then once they started eating them it would last and be passed on. Might have to give it a go, have a fair few creepin thistles here
 

edwhite

Member
It can be encouraged, try putting a handful of grass nuts around the docks and thistles. Be aware that artificial fertiliser can make docks bitter
 

SLA

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Watched horned ewes eating thistle- they often tenderise them first, did wonder what it was doing first time saw one thrashing the thistles. Also watched them munching between nettles and docks, Lots of sheep will only eat weeds at certain growth stages.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Yearling cattle have just cleared a load of docks on some HLS type ground.
Only the leaves though, they've left the seed head.
Also going mad for tree leaves in the hedge.

Loads of grass, so there's something they need in the docks and hedges
 

primmiemoo

Member
Location
Devon
Yearling cattle have just cleared a load of docks on some HLS type ground.
Only the leaves though, they've left the seed head.
Also going mad for tree leaves in the hedge.

Loads of grass, so there's something they need in the docks and hedges


I feel strongly that livestock self-medicate.
A lame heifer here (trod on foreign object, sorted out quickly and healing) has been eating willow. Aspirin originally came from willow and meadowsweet.

Marsh ragwort is interesting. Sheep avoid it (as far as I've observed), but cattle will nibble it. Cattle are reputed to aquire a small amount of tolerance of liver fluke, and I wonder if the marsh ragwort helps this. Roe deer definitely eat marsh ragwort, and it's to be wondered if that's against fluke.

Always reckon that a day or two (maximum) grazing trefoils is worth a dose of anthelmintic in the lambs after weaning, too.
 

Danllan

Member
Location
Sir Gar / Carms
...Loads of grass, so there's something they need in the docks and hedges

Not disagreeing with you, but it's hard to tell whether they're going for things because they need them or just because they like them - even harder to tell because those two aren't mutually exclusive... :scratchhead:

Out of interest, which are your beasts' preferred leaves? In order of preference, mine seem to go for: Hawthorn, Ash, Blackthorne, Willow, Sycamore and, lastly, Hazel.
 
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Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
We only have limited trees yet but hawthorne, elder and poplar all get a hiding over summer, the cattle leant a small stand of elder over and devoured them, and it wasn't due to hunger!
Of course they know the farm better than we do by the time they've grazed it twice, it's their pantry
 

Danllan

Member
Location
Sir Gar / Carms
We only have limited trees yet but hawthorne, elder and poplar all get a hiding over summer, the cattle leant a small stand of elder over and devoured them, and it wasn't due to hunger!
Of course they know the farm better than we do by the time they've grazed it twice, it's their pantry

Mine won't touch elder, it has cyanide in it doesn't it? That is supposed to be why it is common on rabbit warrens, they won't touch it.
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Theres an american woman whose a bit famous (as famous as an american farmer can be for being a farmer anyway) who trained cattle to eat weeds and wrote a book about it. I think her name is Kathy Voth ill see if i can find a link her stuff gets shared to FB groups quite a lot
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Not disagreeing with you, but it's hard to tell whether they're going for things because they need them or just because they like them - even harder to tell because those two aren't mutually exclusive... :scratchhead:

Out of interest, which are your beasts' preferred leaves? In order of preference, mine seem to go for: Hawthorn, Ash, Blackthorne, Willow, Sycamore and, lastly, Hazel.

I thought dock leaves were spose to be bitter, so they wouldn't eat unless necessary, but they've only eaten the leaves as the plant has come to seed so maybe the leaves become less bitter


They've got access to hazel, Ash and willow, seem to like them all equally
 

The Ruminant

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Hertfordshire
I’ve got a group of cattle that are going mad for alder. They’ve eaten all the leaves and stripped the bark off too for good measure.

They also love common hogweed and will eat that and the alder before anything else.

A separate group of dairy heifers - 33 of them, aged 6mths to a year old - rush to eat the docks first, before the grass. A matching (but younger average age) group in a field down the road doesn’t touch the docks...yet.
 

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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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