Farming going full circle

[Bury the Trash]

always told they where 90% water

Ahh..... but it was good quality water

 

[Whitepeak]

Anyone remember cow cabbage? I've heard stories of my family feeding it and the cabbages being nearly the size of the cows themselves!

 

[JWL]

One of my first jobs as a student farmworker was hoeing mangolds. Little did I know that it wasn't the only job that went with the things, lifting by hand, then loading the trailer, making the clamp and to cap it all there was the covering with straw all done without bruising the things.
It still hadn't finished as we then dug them out, shoved them through the root cutter before feeding them to the sheep!
Certainly a character building crop

 

[Bury the Trash]

Anyone remember cow cabbage? I've heard stories of my family feeding it and the cabbages being nearly the size of the cows themselves!

Flatpols? I think if my memories any good ..
can't remember them being used but dad used to talk about them they used to grow a lot of plants and sell on to others .....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Flatpols? I think if my memories any good ..
can't remember them being used but dad used to talk about them they used to grow a lot of plants and sell on to others .....

I'd forgotten about them, Dad told me he grew them before rediscovering pasture was often the most profitable crop.

Again, it'll never work!

 

[glasshouse]

Dad used to tell me about similar experiences growing kale in the 60s, washing mud off cows and the rye. They'd let a bit go to seed & combine it & it was terrible itchy stuff.
Barrowing it off the field in a wet year, to wet to let the cows on, they soon changed to silage in the early 70s. 1967 they changed from batch milking in tie up cowshed to a 6 abreast parlour, they had 40 Friesian cows

Nowadays it's grass/maize silage & straights in the Keenan & has been for over 15 years. At the moment I can't see it changing, much as I'd like to - we have 90 Holstein X Friesian & Danish red X Holstein cows & a 10/20 parlour. I'd love to retire from milking as I've had enough of 80 hour weeks but nothing else will pay the bills & mortgage and it fits in with the arable, sheep & diversification

We have a "neighbour" (2 farms away) who keeps 50 cows, out winters them on a Swift type kale & still milks in a tie up cowshed. He has some dry ground, we have wet ground. He's 70 next month & a batchelor - aha tenant living in a cold 21 room dilapidated house, never spent money on the place as it's the Landord's job ! Neither has he done himself any favours. He's always done as his Dad & Grandfather did, under sown leys etc, I tell him he's a trend setter, he reckons he's 30 years behind

I bet he keeps rolling off the bed, with so much cash under the mattress!

 

[som farmer]

Anyone remember cow cabbage? I've heard stories of my family feeding it and the cabbages being nearly the size of the cows themselves!

as students we used to pinch a cabbage from a field close to our digs, used to keep us in greens all week, never weighed one, but they were massive, tasted allright….if eaten with the right spirit.

 

[Tarw Coch]

The first time I ate kale was coming home from school in the back of a neighbours old Series I Landie which was usually loaded with the stuff and we sat on top of it and helped ourselves. Just remembered those days, I've always had as soft spot for Land Rovers since, can't say the same about kale though.

That reminds me of one of my birthdays in primary school when everyone came back to the farm for a party.
Eddie Williams led us all into the barn and started munching on a raw swede, everyone else doing likewise.
Mother had a hell of a job cleaning everyone’s faces up for tea which by then nobody wanted, she was not amused.

 

[borderterribles]

Anyone remember cow cabbage? I've heard stories of my family feeding it and the cabbages being nearly the size of the cows themselves!

Perhaps not quite the size of cows,( not even my cows,) but a decent Cow Cabbage would fill a wheelbarrow. I have dibbed and planted acres of the damn things. Not to mention watering them with a watering can when it came a dry time just after they were transplanted To be fair, they were a tremendously productive feed on a small acreage, as were Mangolds.

 

[PostHarvest]

My dad used to mob graze 30 years before it was "imported" from New Zealand only he called it paddock grazing.

 

[Brisel]

My dad used to mob graze 30 years before it was "imported" from New Zealand only he called it paddock grazing.

Moving the cows daily?

 

[davieh3350]

Ransomes experimented with a electric crawler connected to a electric pole in the centre of the field....they kept ploughing through the cable but still they was 50 yrs or so to early with their idea

they should plough the field in a circle, start from the outside and work in, cable would get wound round the pole and be nice and tidy




Be a begger to have to reverse all the way back round to unwind it though

 

[glasshouse]

Perhaps not quite the size of cows,( not even my cows,) but a decent Cow Cabbage would fill a wheelbarrow. I have dibbed and planted acres of the damn things. Not to mention watering them with a watering can when it came a dry time just after they were transplanted To be fair, they were a tremendously productive feed on a small acreage, as were Mangolds.

They sound good, can you get seed?

 

[borderterribles]

They sound good, can you get seed?

Dunno? Never tried, used to buy them as plants wrapped in damp newspaper, from an old bloke in the local cattle market. He called them Ox Cabbages!

 

[glasshouse]

Dunno? Never tried, used to buy them as plants wrapped in damp newspaper, from an old bloke in the local cattle market. He called them Ox Cabbages!

I have seen some big cabbages grown for sheep, but never cows

 

[Renaultman]

Grew mangolds and fodder beet in the 80s. Excellent feed for stock, but I never want to wield a root hook again
Machine harvested next time ...

We grew Turnips (Swedes), Mangolds, Cabbages, beetroot (just one row) and potatoes. The best stuff went to the local fruit and veg man the rest to the stock. Pigs, sheep and cattle. They all loved cabbages. We eventually ended up with a turnip puller but the mangolds and cabbages were all pulled by hand. We called the root hook a snagger and I wouldn't like to use one again either.

 

[Renaultman]

always told they where 90% water

Followed by 'but oh What water'