Herbal Leys for Sheep

[som farmer]

I hate docks but perhaps I need to get over it and live with them ,

local farmer never sprayed for docks, he had copious amounts of the beetle that eats docks, just left with the veins in the leaf, no green. We don't have that help.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

local farmer never sprayed for docks, he had copious amounts of the beetle that eats docks, just left with the veins in the leaf, no green. We don't have that help.

We used to here, seems they got fat and lazy

 

[hally]

I hate docks but perhaps I need to get over it and live with them ,

Me too

 

[Henery]

How do “ organic “ farmers cope with creeping thistle, dock, nettles ? ….my ongoing war seems to get to a point where they are still there, in small numbers, but if I dropped my guard they would be all over like a rash….. stopped using N three years ago….

 

[Henery]

Shorn ewes and their lambs mob grazing GS4 ….. looks ok!

 

[unlacedgecko]

Shorn ewes and their lambs mob grazing GS4 ….. looks ok!

Half the field size. Quarters would be better

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Just taken 10 rounds bales acre if this ,Clover and Chicory growing away first bit to much red for sheep though

 

[Ysgythan]

Isn’t the benefit of herbal let’s the “no such thing as weeds” theory?

 

[steveR]

Isn’t the benefit of herbal let’s the “no such thing as weeds” theory?

Right up to the first Boar thistle, for me anyway...

Spot treatment on baby compact and an then finished off when walking the sheep in the evenings, with a hand sprayer loaded with herbicide.

 

[neilo]

Just taken 10 rounds bales acre if this ,Clover and Chicory growing away first bit to much red for sheep though
View attachment 1045141

Can you have ‘too much red for sheep’?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Can you have ‘too much red for sheep’?

I don't know to be honest , apart from at mating , do you know anyone who does know for sure , but hard grazing with sheep will reduce the lifetime of Red I know that , but it produces a lot more bulk than White

 

[som farmer]

Can you have ‘too much red for sheep’?

all the modern research is showing it has no negative effect on oestrus in sheep
the original research was done in the 1950/60's, the interesting point, we believed it, without question, for 50/60 yrs, Further research, will prove, one way, or another.

 

[hally]

I think the original research was done with pure stands of red clover which are rarely grown, usually grown with other species such as hybrid ryegrass, which will inevitably dilute any adverse effects on breeding.

 

[neilo]

I don't know to be honest , apart from at mating , do you know anyone who does know for sure , but hard grazing with sheep will reduce the lifetime of Red I know that , but it produces a lot more bulk than White

Hard grazing by anything will wipe out red clover pretty quickly. Grazing has to be managed, but that’s the only way to keep productive grasses and more productive white clovers going too.

If you continually graze anything hard then you either have to accept lower production, or the cost of regularly bolstering seed salesmen’s profits.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Small leaf White Clover and Late Heading Ryegass will stand hard grazing

 

[neilo]

Small leaf White Clover and Late Heading Ryegass will stand hard grazing

It will certainly persist better but the ryegrass won’t persist as well under heavy grazing as it would under rotation. Small leaved clovers will stand grazing better, but very low yielding and don’t fix more than a thimble full of Nitrogen.

Everything’s a compromise, as ever.

 

[Kevtherev]

Cutting low with mower and hard grazing/treading with stock especially in a wet back end can be very detrimental on Red clover due to crown damage.