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

[GC74]

I fully expect an artificial fertiliser tax at some point. Either that or using it will disqualify you from agri-environment schemes.

After CH4 (which is a contrived issue anyway in UK ruminant farming) the next biggest climate impact of UK ag is nitrogen fertilisers.

I would expect something similar here in NZ too. Some Government papers are calling for Tax on artificial fertilizer while some groups are calling for a ban altogether.
Animal Methane is coming under more pressure too several articles in the media in the last few days saying animal numbers will need to reduce.....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I was considering putting some on a week or two back, but thought "I'd wait and see what happened"

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What happened was, we got 13mm of rain and a couple of good fogs and dewy in between, and now it just looks like it needs chewed off

 

[GC74]

I was considering putting some on a week or two back, but thought "I'd wait and see what happened"

Hear it’s pretty dry your way

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Hear it’s pretty dry your way

Only on the dry side of the fence

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Hear it’s pretty dry your way

Yeah, you could say that you can kinda see our boundary now

it's not looking like Ranfurly but it's certainly dry for this time of the year. A lot of the grass around is showing the stress now that it's cooling off.

We're all good for the time being

Grass is going a bit rusty but coming away pretty strong behind the mobs, there's a good pick a week behind them and we're looking about 16- 20 weeks out at this stage.
Might get a few more cows and calves for a couple of months because my workmate's cows have been living on baleage since new year and he has a couple left to calve (we lent him our SP bull last winter).

 

[GC74]

We’ve had a good autumn for grass growth.......crap for combining harvesting no wind!!!! Mind you that’s been the case for a few years now........there’s definitely a change in weather patterns in fact smacked a golf ball with a mate yesterday who works on super yachts he said he knows of guys who says sea currents and patterns are changing too!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

We’ve had a good autumn for grass growth.......crap for combining harvesting no wind!!!! Mind you that’s been the case for a few years now........there’s definitely a change in weather patterns in fact smacked a golf ball with a mate yesterday who works on super yachts he said he knows of guys who says sea currents and patterns are changing too!

Local grain to us (Glen Isla) came off just right at the right time, late Feb, see they also got a great strike on the new WW . Would have been crap ever since as we've had so many cool grey days that never amounted to many heat units at all.. and incredible humidity

 

[Henarar]

We've historically tended to do the same,

eg "the baby boom"
eg the odd desire to get a leg-over after attending a funeral

put up a few more tillers just in case

Was tempted to say that I had best take @farmerclare to a few funerals but thinking again that would be in bad taste so I won't

 

[crashbox]

I fully expect an artificial fertiliser tax at some point. Either that or using it will disqualify you from agri-environment schemes.

After CH4 (which is a contrived issue anyway in UK ruminant farming) the next biggest climate impact of UK ag is nitrogen fertilisers.

Quite possible.

There are a lot of things that we can't immediately see the impact of, so we carry on doing them. Fertiliser, splash plates, heavy cultivation.

Often, the only way to try is to do your own experiments. A few I'm trying:
- High legume herbal leys with low fert use
- Minimum tillage maize establishment
- Reduce hedge cutting frequency, let them grow tall
- Composting manure and spread on grassland, rather than plough it
- Mob grazing

It would be nice if there was a greater focus from industry to showcase practical measures to produce food more sustainably.

To offer a good example, AHDB has done some useful videos on herbal leys, here's one in case it is of interest:

 

[crashbox]

Yeah, you could say that you can kinda see our boundary now View attachment 959642

it's not looking like Ranfurly but it's certainly dry for this time of the year. A lot of the grass around is showing the stress now that it's cooling off.View attachment 959643
We're all good for the time beingView attachment 959644
Grass is going a bit rusty but coming away pretty strong behind the mobs, there's a good pick a week behind them and we're looking about 16- 20 weeks out at this stage.
Might get a few more cows and calves for a couple of months because my workmate's cows have been living on baleage since new year and he has a couple left to calve (we lent him our SP bull last winter).

How long since that was grazed @Kiwi Pete?
Remind me again, what's would you say is a minimum rotation length?
Working on 30 days here for the more ryegrass stuff (weather dependent) but trying longer on herbals... But will the faster growing grasses outcompete the herbs/legumes and crowd them out?

 

[som farmer]

I fully expect an artificial fertiliser tax at some point. Either that or using it will disqualify you from agri-environment schemes.

After CH4 (which is a contrived issue anyway in UK ruminant farming) the next biggest climate impact of UK ag is nitrogen fertilisers.

another reason diverse leys interest me, low N, there are many things we can do to reduce use, but would still think judicious use is helpful. Typical of guvs, they will tax it, and when more food is required, they will up the tax, well somethings got to pay for covid ! A call for more production, will inevitably lead to more fert use.
Rotation length, where they are now, 1st grazing was 14 march, so 25 days, really wouldn't want to put them in anything longer, it's nearer a mowing crop rather than a grazing one, eating it well, that will be the longest grass they have been in, bulk tank will tell us, good or bad. Night grazing, on an exposed hill ground, reseeded last aut, behind rape, fair take for where it is, but looks like a lot of annual meadow grass as well, got a double patch tonight, so they can get some shelter under the hedge, it's a bit bleak up there, to say the least, the rain is coming sideways.
We tight grazed a paddock with dry cows, down to the roots tight, there was vetches in it, grass is coming back quite well, but no sign of vetches, we have overseeded it with prg, plantain and clover, see what happens, not sure if the vetches will come back.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Quite possible.

There are a lot of things that we can't immediately see the impact of, so we carry on doing them. Fertiliser, splash plates, heavy cultivation.

Often, the only way to try is to do your own experiments. A few I'm trying:
- High legume herbal leys with low fert use
- Minimum tillage maize establishment
- Reduce hedge cutting frequency, let them grow tall
- Composting manure and spread on grassland, rather than plough it
- Mob grazing

It would be nice if there was a greater focus from industry to showcase practical measures to produce food more sustainably.

To offer a good example, AHDB has done some useful videos on herbal leys, here's one in case it is of interest:

There aren't many videos made that advise you do less of stuff, or spend less on stuff

Keep up the good work when it comes to more from less, often your best bet is to just do your own trials, and let curiosity sponsor it. You're all over it

How long since that was grazed @Kiwi Pete?
Remind me again, what's would you say is a minimum rotation length?
Working on 30 days here for the more ryegrass stuff (weather dependent) but trying longer on herbals... But will the faster growing grasses outcompete the herbs/legumes and crowd them out?

Had to look back through the camera roll for the answer.

this was taken 22 Feb, so 11 weeks ago. We've had nearly an inch of rain since then.

I think if we work on the "one grazing per 10 inches of rainfall" rule of thumb, that means 3.7 grazings a year (in our climate) should be about right..

if we then work on this 98 days "average" but bung into the equation a slow winter round of 160 days, then it means we can do a 40 day round in the spring to put us on track with the 3.7 grazings per 365 days

As you say though, ryegrassy pasture isn't going to do as well with that in the springtime. When I was dairying in Southland I worked on 5 weeks to go around in, but instead of doing the spring rotation planner to "pasture balance date" I would use our heading date do do plan A, and balance date for plan B.
Moving the fastest round date back those 5.5-6 weeks made all the difference, from 10 October to 17 November doesn't seem like much until you try it

 

[exmoor dave]

Always get a fair bit of scald going through the early lambs this time of year,
Plus a much longer rotation meaning the 2 mobs of early lambs are some distance from the yards and any effective foot bathing.

I've oft noticed how lambs love playing in exposed dirt, or sand, field lime... heaps of anything really.
So as abit of a experiment I'm putting little plastic footbaths filled with powder out,
Starting with 'dry bed' cubicle/ bedding disinfectant powder.
Abit pricey to use too often, so next up is cubicle lime.

So far, lambs are going proper nuts playing in the powder!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Completely unrelated but slightly relevant. I thought of @martian when I read it on whatsapp, so here it is

 

[Henarar]

Always get a fair bit of scald going through the early lambs this time of year,
Plus a much longer rotation meaning the 2 mobs of early lambs are some distance from the yards and any effective foot bathing.

I've oft noticed how lambs love playing in exposed dirt, or sand, field lime... heaps of anything really.
So as abit of a experiment I'm putting little plastic footbaths filled with powder out,
Starting with 'dry bed' cubicle/ bedding disinfectant powder.
Abit pricey to use too often, so next up is cubicle lime.

So far, lambs are going proper nuts playing in the powder!

View attachment 959792

Seen heaps of lime in yards with the dairy cows walking around on it so maybe worth a punt

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

View attachment 959793

Completely unrelated but slightly relevant. I thought of @martian when I read it on whatsapp, so here it is

A good story. It might be true. The principle seems plausible. However it was around then that the party set up the communal kitchens and insisted everyone only ate at them leading to between 30 and 50 million starving to death because they couldn't get to the kitchens.

Either version shows a failure to understand the consequences of a specific action.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

A good story. It might be true. The principle seems plausible. However it was around then that the party set up the communal kitchens and insisted everyone only ate at them leading to between 30 and 50 million starving to death because they couldn't get to the kitchens.

Either version shows a failure to understand the consequences of a specific action.

There are several likely "unwritten laws" including that of "unintended consequences" and "the law of maximum"

eg "we're always about 200TDM short" or "we need to be growing 14+TDM/ha per year" according to my neighbour. Do we though?

Is trying to grow that much feed actually causing him to grow less feed than he could if he stopped trying so damn hard to fill the gap, I can see several ways to make it happen but... those pesky laws

 

[Samcowman]

There aren't many videos made that advise you do less of stuff, or spend less on stuff

Keep up the good work when it comes to more from less, often your best bet is to just do your own trials, and let curiosity sponsor it. You're all over it

Had to look back through the camera roll for the answer.View attachment 959785
this was taken 22 Feb, so 11 weeks ago. We've had nearly an inch of rain since then.

I think if we work on the "one grazing per 10 inches of rainfall" rule of thumb, that means 3.7 grazings a year (in our climate) should be about right..

if we then work on this 98 days "average" but bung into the equation a slow winter round of 160 days, then it means we can do a 40 day round in the spring to put us on track with the 3.7 grazings per 365 days

As you say though, ryegrassy pasture isn't going to do as well with that in the springtime. When I was dairying in Southland I worked on 5 weeks to go around in, but instead of doing the spring rotation planner to "pasture balance date" I would use our heading date do do plan A, and balance date for plan B.
Moving the fastest round date back those 5.5-6 weeks made all the difference, from 10 October to 17 November doesn't seem like much until you try it

Do you mean you aimed to finish first round on approximate heading date?
Trying a bit of total grazing with the 1 mob of cows and calves here the one I spoke about a few pages ago. Drift grazed the first 2.4 hectares in twice daily shifts over 5 days. Worked really well. Next 1.2 hectares they have had the whole chunk for 3 days, plan was to split it in half and do it in 2 breaks but I had a fencing fail so they got the lot, definitely not grazed as well more picky and less even. Going about 88 days per hectare harvested off that paddock in this visit.
Will be interesting watching recovery. Will be well over 40 day round. First time I’ve gone this long.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Do you mean you aimed to finish first round on approximate heading date?
Trying a bit of total grazing with the 1 mob of cows and calves here the one I spoke about a few pages ago. Drift grazed the first 2.4 hectares in twice daily shifts over 5 days. Worked really well. Next 1.2 hectares they have had the whole chunk for 3 days, plan was to split it in half and do it in 2 breaks but I had a fencing fail so they got the lot, definitely not grazed as well more picky and less even. Going about 88 days per hectare harvested off that paddock in this visit.
Will be interesting watching recovery. Will be well over 40 day round. First time I’ve gone this long.

No, not quite what I meant - time your acceleration so you're at your fastest gear at heading date, instead of balance date. Balance date is more susceptible to change than the number of minutes of daylight, is one part of the equation; but delaying top gear for a few weeks means you don't hit that second round and find you have not enough grass