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

Jonny B88

Member
Location
ballykelly. NI
So a couple of weeks ago we weighed our bullocks that have been grazing long grass. I think i let the grass get too stemmy that they were on, I think that this basically ryegrass monoculture is very hard to manage not to go to pure stem. Anyway they averaged 0.7kgs/hd/day. I was disappointed but as said i do think the grass got too hard. Lesson learnt hopefully. Also i took dung samples to the vet. They came back quite high, 450-500epg. A lot of lungworm especially. Surprised a little at this as i was hoping the longer recoverys would have broken the cycle more. However discussing with my vet he reminded me that due to the wet weather early on and now very dry it had been a good year for worms along with no real killing frost over winter. He told me most folk had a need to dose for worms a month to 6 weeks ago so i guess i had a small encouragement there. Perhaps i was too naive to think Rome could be built in a day!
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
by feeding those lego bricks, you are 'saving' poaching, that can't be bad, plus bringing in some extra p + k, those lego bricks were the ideal way, to feed cattle outside, in winter, bales on trailor, chuck the flaps out, as you drove along, if like me, tractor in bottom gear, me on the trailor, to save wages, but you didn't end up with the mess around round feeders.
Had a look at our hay, cut thursday evening, new growth between the swathes, is already sprouting 2ins tall, beginning to realise, we haven't got enough stock, and we cannot afford to buy, at these prices, for stores, l just cannot see a profit in them. Was also told, second and third quality milkers, have risen £400 a head, in the last couple of months, perhaps top quality milkers, will reach £3,000 by the autumn, as predicted by some ! But there are still cows out there, worth the money, by not calving the autumn group till november, they haven't quite risen by so much, and we have about 20, on their way, £850, delivered. But milkers at £2000 even, with land at £280 to rent.................
For reference, we had 29.74 ppl for june, that will be +0.8, for july, +better constituents, that is actual money paid into bank, not before the 'bits', taken off, as some like to quote.
today is weds, baled one piece last night, bit iffy, new growth has grown too much, to much green new grass when rowed up, new growth is at 4''+. Second field, disaster, rowed up ready, big baler to big, 400hp tractor to big, gateway to small, and one fancy stone gate post, needs rebuilding, a new tyre needed for brand new tractor, (170 hrs on clock) costing £700. Told the driver to come in from the other way, he reckoned he could, he couldn't, and guess who got the blame !
Actually think it would be better to wrap that field, regrowth has/is putting so much green into swathe, between the rows, looks like it's been down a fortnight ! Such is life
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
today is weds, baled one piece last night, bit iffy, new growth has grown too much, to much green new grass when rowed up, new growth is at 4''+. Second field, disaster, rowed up ready, big baler to big, 400hp tractor to big, gateway to small, and one fancy stone gate post, needs rebuilding, a new tyre needed for brand new tractor, (170 hrs on clock) costing £700. Told the driver to come in from the other way, he reckoned he could, he couldn't, and guess who got the blame !
Actually think it would be better to wrap that field, regrowth has/is putting so much green into swathe, between the rows, looks like it's been down a fortnight ! Such is life
why didn't he just stop, and what do he need 400hp for anyway ? @farmerclare would be asking if he was making up for deficiencies elsewhere
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
why didn't he just stop, and what do he need 400hp for anyway ? @farmerclare would be asking if he was making up for deficiencies elsewhere
not our normal chap, 400hp ? definitely overkill, but that unit was sent, because the one due to come, was bigger again ! Contractors, 4 big balers, and large hay/straw dealers, but like you, 400 hp, l cannot see a reason for, they do not do a lot more than baling, hay grinding. We were watching him through the gate, but he turned the wheels the 'wrong way' straight into gate hooks, in the fancy stone gate post', we now have to rebuild.
Not my choice, but son broke the rule, book baler before cutting, our normal couldn't get here till thurs, but, 'l'll ring around till l find one', isn't the best way, lesson learn't ? all my fault, of course !
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
:facepalm::(

Just the sort of thing designers don't think about (until they are made to).
I had the sides of the top chamber beginning to cut through by the end of her second season.... 😳 but got all the bugs well ironed out.

When the F2 arrived we had the opposite problem to @som farmer, ie we were so used to pointing the back of the baler downhill with the F1, that we'd put them straight out the back of the wrapper with the improved bale transfer :facepalm: had to turn the flow down a bit

used to suck when it put the net around a roller and not around the bale, that's for sure
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
So a couple of weeks ago we weighed our bullocks that have been grazing long grass. I think i let the grass get too stemmy that they were on, I think that this basically ryegrass monoculture is very hard to manage not to go to pure stem. Anyway they averaged 0.7kgs/hd/day. I was disappointed but as said i do think the grass got too hard. Lesson learnt hopefully. Also i took dung samples to the vet. They came back quite high, 450-500epg. A lot of lungworm especially. Surprised a little at this as i was hoping the longer recoverys would have broken the cycle more. However discussing with my vet he reminded me that due to the wet weather early on and now very dry it had been a good year for worms along with no real killing frost over winter. He told me most folk had a need to dose for worms a month to 6 weeks ago so i guess i had a small encouragement there. Perhaps i was too naive to think Rome could be built in a day!
managing rye grass, is hard, especially in weather like this, you fail, it just wants to head, not sure what the answer is really, rye grass is such a widely used plant in leys. Finding different varieties of prg, and other types of grass, which don't run to seed so quickly, is one way, or including clovers, herbs etc, is the other, both clover and herbs should increase their content, as grass slows down, and replace the grass. Whether that happens, is another thing ! Our clover and chicory, are rapidly increasing growth now, till now, prg has been in top gear, this is why we are looking at diverse leys, this time of year, we normally run out of grass, just to dry, the hope being, those 'other' plants, will provide grazing, till it starts getting damper. Unfortunately, this hasn't been quite the year to try it !
 

Jonny B88

Member
Location
ballykelly. NI
We have what i guess you would refer to as pp that we have some sucklers rotating round. Its much more diverse in terms of grass species, wish i could sit down and figure out what they all are, but there is a much greater leaf to stem ratio. Whether that translates to better animal performance or just better recoveries of the grass I’m not sure. Funny thing is its all very low ph and has patches of huge rushes. It was let go before we took over it and basically needs all drainage looked at, lime, fencing etc but we’ve started. A few years ago i was keen to look at how to reseed it all with prg….now I think I’ve got an asset I wouldn’t dare get rid of! Funny how it can change.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
we have improved old pasture, by very tightly strip grazing, with a back fence, getting them to get down to the roots, they even eat the docks, that is for dry cows, i/c hfrs, it's suprising how little the cows need, to maintain condition, grass improves as well. Perhaps many of us should have concentrated on improving the swards we have, instead of ripping them up, on a very regular basis, an expensive habit.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
I had the sides of the top chamber beginning to cut through by the end of her second season.... 😳 but got all the bugs well ironed out.

When the F2 arrived we had the opposite problem to @som farmer, ie we were so used to pointing the back of the baler downhill with the F1, that we'd put them straight out the back of the wrapper with the improved bale transfer :facepalm: had to turn the flow down a bit

used to suck when it put the net around a roller and not around the bale, that's for sure
The engineer in me finds Fusion balers fascinating. The experienced ballet and wrapper driver in me thinks I'd rather tow an inline wrapper behind a baler (HS2000 or similar) for just the reasons you mention.
 

Karliboy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Yorkshire
Congratulations (I think). What are your plans now?
Thanks. It’s been bugging me for a few years but I had a sudden wave of fudge it and go do it after reading your holistic plan the other week about being happy in yourself.
plans now are to go self employed and do something from farming to agri machine repairs general engineering odd job type of thing. There’s loads of folk around here need that sort of guy but no one to do it.
Ex to be boss wasn’t surprised and is happy enough that I’d go back and help out on the self employed basis as there is no way anyone can pick my job up in just over a week. But all at my rate. It will probably work out more beneficial to the both off us.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Thanks. It’s been bugging me for a few years but I had a sudden wave of fudge it and go do it after reading your holistic plan the other week about being happy in yourself.
plans now are to go self employed and do something from farming to agri machine repairs general engineering odd job type of thing. There’s loads of folk around here need that sort of guy but no one to do it.
Ex to be boss wasn’t surprised and is happy enough that I’d go back and help out on the self employed basis as there is no way anyone can pick my job up in just over a week. But all at my rate. It will probably work out more beneficial to the both off us.
Everyone (not just farmers) should write a holistic plan. It makes you think deeply about what you actually have, who is actually in control and what you really want from life.

Glad to have helped a little bit mate.
 
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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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