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

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
A deconstructed vegetarian dish

I don't think the buttercups help with fibre @Jonny B88 and there's been quite a bit of that in their diet,, hence the soil is rather visible with all that shade removed

I don't think winter grazing with cattle necessarily "helps" as far as buttercup goes, however the disturbance does mobilise a bit of N and everyone eats everything,, so.... what's the worst that can happen?
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Calves are eating everything too
20211011_215854.jpg
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
A deconstructed vegetarian dish

I don't think the buttercups help with fibre @Jonny B88 and there's been quite a bit of that in their diet,, hence the soil is rather visible with all that shade removed

I don't think winter grazing with cattle necessarily "helps" as far as buttercup goes, however the disturbance does mobilise a bit of N and everyone eats everything,, so.... what's the worst that can happen?
yep I would say its a good way to promote buttercups
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
we had a DIY horse livery, for 8 years, l came to the conclusion, that anything a horse eats, is converted to dock and buttercup seed. Horses absolutely destroy pasture, eat money, and a complete waste of space.
Not quite true, a friend is off to a days shooting today, to a farm, that actually milks horses, horse milk is used in cosmetic production, and is worth a small fortune. I think l will stick to milking cows, l was told many years ago, a horse can bite you, and kick you, with front and back legs, a cow reduces the risk, by 66% !
 

Jonny B88

Member
Location
ballykelly. NI
Yeah, a bit looser than I would like, but hey it's spring grass.

Luckily keeping them tight and grazing tight has provided a good early feed supply for them, will keep them on about a 6 week rotation as I think that will give us balance
What i find really interesting is the difference Between individuals on the same grass. Some will be watery very loose and some will be quite solid and nice.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
What i find really interesting is the difference Between individuals on the same grass. Some will be watery very loose and some will be quite solid and nice.
Yes, I notice that the steers are very clean and leaving good pats, the calved cows are looser, and the little calves are loving it too because I let them creep a little

tricky to find a balance but I'm finding it a LOT simpler without sheep in the mix
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
A deconstructed vegetarian dish

I don't think the buttercups help with fibre @Jonny B88 and there's been quite a bit of that in their diet,, hence the soil is rather visible with all that shade removed

I don't think winter grazing with cattle necessarily "helps" as far as buttercup goes, however the disturbance does mobilise a bit of N and everyone eats everything,, so.... what's the worst that can happen?
What’s the plan with regards to the buttercups for next winter? Keep disturbing and long rests to help the more desirable species going forwards?
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
What i find really interesting is the difference Between individuals on the same grass. Some will be watery very loose and some will be quite solid and nice.
We are slowly starting to better understand the variation in gut biome between individual humans and the impact it has on, amongst other things, nutrition and digestion. Why would cattle be any different?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
years ago, we looked at having sewage sludge, water board was keen, so was l, then the one thing, l was told to avoid, at all costs, sludge from bournmouth, to many older people, taking too many pills, and heavy metal contamination in the sludge, end of that.
cows we look for a 'porridge' type, yet that in sheep, would shout worms ! But what comes out, is a very good indicator, of how efficiently each animal, is using the available feed. No doubt before long, the dairy bull semen companies, will bring out a 'new' standard, they seem to have 'measure grade' everything else ! The differences in measures now, are absolutely minimal, yet are boasted about.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
years ago, we looked at having sewage sludge, water board was keen, so was l, then the one thing, l was told to avoid, at all costs, sludge from bournmouth, to many older people, taking too many pills, and heavy metal contamination in the sludge, end of that.
cows we look for a 'porridge' type, yet that in sheep, would shout worms ! But what comes out, is a very good indicator, of how efficiently each animal, is using the available feed. No doubt before long, the dairy bull semen companies, will bring out a 'new' standard, they seem to have 'measure grade' everything else ! The differences in measures now, are absolutely minimal, yet are boasted about.
It's common in almost all commercially targeted science these days to only quote relative changes not absolute ones. It inflates minor differences.
 

Brad93

Member
Roughly halfway around the 14ac grazing lambs. I’ve done the first half on between 1-3 day moves kept as tight as possible. Regrowth is looking really good after around a month. I’m now trialing bigger paddocks with around 5 day moves to see what, if any, benefit the extra work of moving quicker has on the ground.

Enlisted the help of a friend with a drone yesterday and got a few nice shots of the ground. 2nd photo shows the whole 14ac and you can really see the difference in grass colour with different regrowth times. Bottom right is where I started moving up and then you can make out top left where they are now, plan on moving them down the left hand side now!
 

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holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Roughly halfway around the 14ac grazing lambs. I’ve done the first half on between 1-3 day moves kept as tight as possible. Regrowth is looking really good after around a month. I’m now trialing bigger paddocks with around 5 day moves to see what, if any, benefit the extra work of moving quicker has on the ground.

Enlisted the help of a friend with a drone yesterday and got a few nice shots of the ground. 2nd photo shows the whole 14ac and you can really see the difference in grass colour with different regrowth times. Bottom right is where I started moving up and then you can make out top left where they are now, plan on moving them down the left hand side now!
I can see a drone being a justifiable future business purchase...... :rolleyes: ;)
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 79 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

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    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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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