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

[Kiwi Pete]

https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/crop-production/naked-farmer-smashes-convention-pockets-670000-savings?fbclid=IwAR2uvO4-LL1ws_oFfJc7BdZokhOsxshwpsXyipa4cqqd8oyBm8nEKq9vB6c

"But you need to replace those nutrients you're taking off"

One rough calculation I made as I drove up the road reading that article, $670,000 ÷ 7000 acres really isn't a huge spend. US$95/acre, NZ$500/ha, I would say that would be fairly average for arable farms here.

I'm much aligned with it, reduce risk by putting the money in your own account instead of an input supplier's account and you can afford to test a lot of different things.
Increase risk by spending that cash, and you're scared of everything (hand wringing and pizzle-dampening behaviour, and trust disappears)

 

[Walwyn]

Made a start grazing summer cover crops, this paddocks grown more biomass than any other over the past 12 weeks

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I will have to pay a contractor to come and cut it.

Maybe you should sample a square meter and estimate the yield off that to work out the potential value.

 

[NFI]

View attachment 1052333
View attachment 1052336

Made a start grazing summer cover crops, this paddocks grown more biomass than any other over the past 12 weeks

Impressive.
What's in it.

 

[Bobby D]

How long is that cover crop in?

View attachment 1052333
View attachment 1052336

Made a start grazing summer cover crops, this paddocks grown more biomass than any other over the past 12 weeks

 

[Fenwick]

View attachment 1052333
View attachment 1052336

Made a start grazing summer cover crops, this paddocks grown more biomass than any other over the past 12 weeks

Do tell, when sown, whats in teh mix and what was the preceeding culture?

 

[Walwyn]

Impressive.
What's in it.

How long is that cover crop in?

Do tell, when sown, whats in teh mix and what was the preceeding culture?

We bale grazed on this paddock last oct/ Nov to buy some time before housing R2s. Made a bit of a mess really so came out the winter with fair bit of bare capped soil. Grazed off what did grow back then light dose of roundup and direct drilled in. I ran an empty drill a bit deeper in the worse capped areas to loosen it up.
Gave it a bit of seaweed, fish and fine lime post drilling. Been in the ground about 12 weeks

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

View attachment 1052648
We bale grazed on this paddock last oct/ Nov to buy some time before housing R2s. Made a bit of a mess really so came out the winter with fair bit of bare capped soil. Grazed off what did grow back then light dose of roundup and direct drilled in. I ran an empty drill a bit deeper in the worse capped areas to loosen it up.
Gave it a bit of seaweed, fish and fine lime post drilling. Been in the ground about 12 weeks
View attachment 1052650

What's the seedrate and cost per kg

 

[crashbox]

View attachment 1052333
View attachment 1052336

Made a start grazing summer cover crops, this paddocks grown more biomass than any other over the past 12 weeks

What did that go in behind?

 

[crashbox]

What did that go in behind?

Oops just read above...

 

[Walwyn]

What's the seedrate and cost per kg

Seed cost approx £180/ ha.

 

[crashbox]

Seed cost approx £180/ ha.

Looks fantastic but that's near the price of a long term reseed ley, for a summer cover. How do you make sure you get a return from it? Is the feed volume compensation enough, or are you factoring in reduced fert in next crop etc.?

Following our maize, we'll put a Winter cover in, a blend of 2 to 5 brassicas, gets a sensible feed by Spring, cost under £20/ha.

 

[Walwyn]

Looks fantastic but that's near the price of a long term reseed ley, for a summer cover. How do you make sure you get a return from it? Is the feed volume compensation enough, or are you factoring in reduced fert in next crop etc.?

Following our maize, we'll put a Winter cover in, a blend of 2 to 5 brassicas, gets a sensible feed by Spring, cost under £20/ha.

I agree it is a high spend on seed but I'm looking at it further than just the feed it grows. It was a bit of a "what would happen if?" approach. Idea come off a video of jono frew. The diversity of plant species will hopefully reboot soil life as it has come out of a fairly unproductive monoculture ryegrass. The clovers and herbs should persist after I drill the perennial grasses in. So to my mind some of the spend is displacing cultivation spend and some will displace fert spend going forward. I have a hypothesis, and have taken base samples, that we will have sequestered more carbon to more depth. If we all have to net zero our business this too will have a value (not that I agree with it so much).

 

[Fenwick]

View attachment 1052648
We bale grazed on this paddock last oct/ Nov to buy some time before housing R2s. Made a bit of a mess really so came out the winter with fair bit of bare capped soil. Grazed off what did grow back then light dose of roundup and direct drilled in. I ran an empty drill a bit deeper in the worse capped areas to loosen it up.
Gave it a bit of seaweed, fish and fine lime post drilling. Been in the ground about 12 weeks
View attachment 1052650

Wow. Lots of cool stuff going on at your place. Wish I could Come over for that farm tour!

 

[Walwyn]

Wow. Lots of cool stuff going on at your place. Wish I could Come over for that farm tour!

I don't know, I just like trying stuff, job gets boring otherwise. Think I'd be far more profitable if I didn't mess about though

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I don't know, I just like trying stuff, job gets boring otherwise. Think I'd be far more profitable if I didn't mess about though

We've all got to learn somehow.

Worst case scenario, what can happen?
You grew a heap of feed and the cattle ate it, hardly "a failure".

 

[Tyedyetom]

View attachment 1052333
View attachment 1052336

Made a start grazing summer cover crops, this paddocks grown more biomass than any other over the past 12 weeks

What stock are you grazing it with?

 

[Walwyn]

What stock are you grazing it with?

Milkers, they're just having a few hours after afternoon milking. Plan was to use it to extend rotation, in reality with the dry summer means we're not using quite as much silage

 

[Kiwi Pete]

 

[Farmer Roy]

i saw that earlier in the week & was nearly going to post it, but couldn’t be bothered writing an explanation to go along with it