"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..

[Crofter64]

Hi, the video I'm referring to was in regard to the [possible] link between human health and humans poisoning their environment in order to follow fashion, narrated by Zach Bush. He's just been on tour down here I think

Zach Bush knows his stuff.

 

[som farmer]

average £1317 a head.

so very pleased with that, its always a bit 'tense', as always, some seemed a bit cheap, and others were 'how much .....'
perhaps we should have sent a few more .............................

the 50 odd back here should be about 1200 l/day, that's roughly 24 litres head, so a respectable milk cheque to ease the pain !

best part, eased the work load for son, 100+ calves will get kicked out to grass as well !

30/40 calves to come in on wednesday.

 

[som farmer]

average £1317 a head.

so very pleased with that, its always a bit 'tense', as always, some seemed a bit cheap, and others were 'how much .....'
perhaps we should have sent a few more .............................

the 50 odd back here should be about 1200 l/day, that's roughly 24 litres head, so a respectable milk cheque to ease the pain !

best part, eased the work load for son, 100+ calves will get kicked out to grass as well !

30/40 calves to come in on wednesday.

read £1392, forgot it was in guineas.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It seems you've changed your management approach with this project, am I right in saying that? If so, how have you, the cattle, the land, the land owner reacted to the change? What made you change your approach and do you see the management practices reverting to old ways or changing again in the next 12 months to 5 years?

Hi, yes it's all pretty new to us up here, I went more towards risk minimisation for a start.

We just didn't know how summer was going to be, you know going from somewhere wet to somewhere dry it'll be different... but how dry is 'dry'?

Now we have some data: rain turned to snow in July and that largely was it as far as rain went, until about a fortnight ago. Over the past 9½ months half the recorded precipitation has arrived in that last fortnight, this is a much different "look" than where we were.

Management of the two is actually very much the same, plants are ready to graze when they look like ungrazed plants, however, it takes a lot longer to get to that stage over summer than just a few weeks.

I don't really see pasture management changing too much over the next year or two, we have 3x as many cattle on as 12 months ago, so it will sure look different.
But still the same basic process, graze it well but not too well.. the same basic timeframes, main point of difference is that last winter we had very short covers and they've come up quite a bit, so there's my opportunity to make a bit of dough on the side.
Bought some store cattle last week? and then got offered good money so sold them on, making a little over $11k in 10 days

Still won't be doing any topping/mowing or that kind of stuff, will plant some rye in the next few weeks

 

[som farmer]

so, now you have got loads of grass, and way many more livestock than the last man,

what are your neighbours saying ?

probably like you, l don't give a toss what other people say about the way we farm, but it has been interesting to hear how those same neighbours, comment, 3/4 yrs in.

gone from ridicule to asking questions, or passing no comments whatsoever.

don't get it all right, we have to redrill half the wheat, with spring barley thought we had got that in 'just right', both pieces to re drill, are our 2 driest flattish fields.

straw, its going to be stinking dear next yr. We had a load in 3/4 weeks ago, and been offered more than we paid, by the chap we bought it off ! not interested. So our bit of arable is quite important to us. Barley straw, is the same money, as a ton of feed barley grain ! Wheat isn't far off either

 

[Kiwi Pete]

so, now you have got loads of grass, and way many more livestock than the last man,

what are your neighbours saying ?

probably like you, l don't give a toss what other people say about the way we farm, but it has been interesting to hear how those same neighbours, comment, 3/4 yrs in.

gone from ridicule to asking questions, or passing no comments whatsoever.

don't get it all right, we have to redrill half the wheat, with spring barley thought we had got that in 'just right', both pieces to re drill, are our 2 driest flattish fields.

straw, its going to be stinking dear next yr. We had a load in 3/4 weeks ago, and been offered more than we paid, by the chap we bought it off ! not interested. So our bit of arable is quite important to us. Barley straw, is the same money, as a ton of feed barley grain ! Wheat isn't far off either

Same thing as everyone on here says.

"Oh, it's alright for you", followed by a list of reasons, excuses, and complaints

Only real difference is that I am responsible, even for all the stuff I can't be responsible for. That is a choice

 

[Fenwick]

Same thing as everyone on here says.

"Oh, it's alright for you", followed by a list of reasons, excuses, and complaints

Only real difference is that I am responsible, even for all the stuff I can't be responsible for. That is a choice

this x 1000

I had a conversation with a mate last year on this theme.

We figured you know your doing something right when you hear.

"he's lucky because' or 'its alright for him because'.

 

[som farmer]

this x 1000

I had a conversation with a mate last year on this theme.

We figured you know your doing something right when you hear.

"he's lucky because' or 'its alright for him because'.

that is a perfectly true statement.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Nothing wrong with 'being at the effect of' either

it's just very limiting when we can't spot it in ourselves, there seems to be nothing we can do about whatever it is, nowhere to go.

I'd like to blame it on covid but that would be false, it merely reinforced what was already always there

 

[som farmer]

Nothing wrong with 'being at the effect of' either

it's just very limiting when we can't spot it in ourselves, there seems to be nothing we can do about whatever it is, nowhere to go.

I'd like to blame it on covid but that would be false, it merely reinforced what was already always there

covid was the reason/excuse, everything went haywire, costs shot up, getting spare parts etc became stupidly slow.

in fairness, shipping was all in the wrong places, that caused delays, but several yrs later ?

the just in time policy, has been well and truly shafted.

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

covid was the reason/excuse, everything went haywire, costs shot up, getting spare parts etc became stupidly slow.

in fairness, shipping was all in the wrong places, that caused delays, but several yrs later ?

the just in time policy, has been well and truly shafted.

I was training in the engineering world when someone came up with "just in time technology" and at the time I remember thinking it was a good way of getting other people to do your storage. We have taken this to the next level and adopted "just too late technology" which encompasses all the things that might have been useful, but turn out to be un-necessary. Thus we progress with whatever is to hand and the bare minimum of anything from outside.

The idea that the people couldn't get eggs, not because eggs were short, but because there were not enough egg boxes is a salutory lesson, and we are brewing up for a difficult time for people who can't imagine life without constant electricity or heaven forbid ...the internet....

 

[som farmer]

virtually everything we buy, has components from several countries.

if we fell out with China, the country will grind to a halt !