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

[Henarar]

WHISKEY = 23+8+9+19+11+5+25 =100 .. nuff said.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Have just been pricing up a full techno system for our place.

At this point in time, all my ground engaging gear can go other than my deep subsoiler (good for laying pipe?)
May keep my airseeder and sprayer.

May keep my 55 sheep.

Everything else is open

Sick of being "half arsed regenerative" and doing twice as much work to achieve the same result with half as many stock... when I could have 6/7 mobs instead and have a lot more time and money... go fishing instead of putting up wires on Sunday.

 

[bitwrx]

Good on ya. Feckin have at it!

 

[bitwrx]

Sorely tempted to sell my sprots car to do the same here. Although I don't have any grazing animals. And I work in an office 60 miles from the farm.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Good on ya. Feckin have at it!

Cheers, the thing is what I'm doing is working - in both respects - to the point I'd rather go live in town than "farm conventionally"
But I need the money I spend over the next year to keep working for us for the next 40, and then work for the next generation

Between a tunnel house and a techno system we then have some very powerful tools...

 

[Agrispeed]

Sorely tempted to sell my sprots car to do the same here. Although I don't have any grazing animals. And I work in an office 60 miles from the farm.

If you buy the kit I'll let you use it here for free

I am waiting for enough cash to get a decent kiwi tech setup. I reckon there are serious time savings to be had with a techno type system

 

[Kiwi Pete]

If you buy the kit I'll let you use it here for free

I am waiting for enough cash to get a decent kiwi tech setup. I reckon there are serious time savings to be had with a techno type system

Mate up the road is down to under 2 hours/ha, and the whole time is the good bit- watching things eat and grow

No f**king about with porta troughs, untangling birdnested reels, it turns management back into management instead of being your own coolie

I'd like my boys to see the best bits of ranching - the big full furnaces and calves hitting the grass (rather than all the BS) so it may be time to get the chequebook out and buy us a future....

 

[Agrispeed]

Mate up the road is down to under 2 hours/ha, and the whole time is the good bit- watching things eat and grow

No fudgeing about with porta troughs, untangling birdnested reels, it turns management back into management instead of being your own coolie

I'd like my boys to see the best bits of ranching - the big full furnaces and calves hitting the grass (rather than all the BS) so it may be time to get the chequebook out and buy us a future....

I'm effectively a tenant so for me Portable kit is king, which would fit nicely with my long term plans to do some cover crops and a bit of arable. I do like the idea of a quad based system for reeling and putting posts out, which kiwitech seems to have the best for. I do need a quad first though

I Can currently set up 8 days in less than an hour, but there's quite a bit of walking involved setting up. If I can streamline it i can set up a few weeks In a lot less time than that and get someone else to move them.

 

[Henarar]

I'm effectively a tenant so for me Portable kit is king, which would fit nicely with my long term plans to do some cover crops and a bit of arable. I do like the idea of a quad based system for reeling and putting posts out, which kiwitech seems to have the best for. I do need a quad first though

I Can currently set up 8 days in less than an hour, but there's quite a bit of walking involved setting up. If I can streamline it i can set up a few weeks In a lot less time than that and get someone else to move them.

whats the difference between kiwitech and something like rapa ?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I'm effectively a tenant so for me Portable kit is king, which would fit nicely with my long term plans to do some cover crops and a bit of arable. I do like the idea of a quad based system for reeling and putting posts out, which kiwitech seems to have the best for. I do need a quad first though

I Can currently set up 8 days in less than an hour, but there's quite a bit of walking involved setting up. If I can streamline it i can set up a few weeks In a lot less time than that and get someone else to move them.

That's the bugger.

I want to set up the next hundred year's worth, this winter! Then I can relax and plant trees that I want my grandkids to lean against. Dagged some sheep this weekend and realised by the third one that my future is bound to cattle although I will likely keep my weedeaters... however they are pretty destructive to the sward.

 

[bitwrx]

I'm effectively a tenant so for me Portable kit is king, which would fit nicely with my long term plans to do some cover crops and a bit of arable. I do like the idea of a quad based system for reeling and putting posts out, which kiwitech seems to have the best for. I do need a quad first though

I Can currently set up 8 days in less than an hour, but there's quite a bit of walking involved setting up. If I can streamline it i can set up a few weeks In a lot less time than that and get someone else to move them.

Ha. I'm a step ahead of you there. Have access to a 1990(ish) TRX350D, from back when the big H knew how to make ATVs. Just needs a new battery and she'll be back in action.

 

[bitwrx]

If you buy the kit I'll let you use it here for free

I am waiting for enough cash to get a decent kiwi tech setup. I reckon there are serious time savings to be had with a techno type system

Nice try.

I could bankroll it for ya, but would want a return. What say you keep the gear till I need it in a year or so, then run it up the A30/A303 along with an in calf heifer and a couple of calves? You'll have earned so much money off it by then you'll be able to get some brand new stuff.

 

[bitwrx]

whats the difference between kiwitech and something like rapa ?

Bendy posts and stretchy wires (with springs) mostly. Just drive across it with the quad. Or lift it up our the way to get the animals through.

 

[Agrispeed]

whats the difference between kiwitech and something like rapa ?

Cheaper! and better for cattle. I think its a bit simpler to use - mainly one wire fencing so I don't need a powered winder etc Kiwitech stuff seems like more of a system to me, at least. Rappa stuff is excellent though, but expensive and a bit overkill for what I need.

Nice try.

I could bankroll it for ya, but would want a return. What say you keep the gear till I need it in a year or so, then run it up the A30/A303 along with an in calf heifer and a couple of calves? You'll have earned so much money off it by then you'll be able to get some brand new stuff.

Quite tempting... Do you have plans that involve dairy cows? I had some figures for you about carbon btw, but I have put the sheet somewhere silly and need to unearth it it was per Ha across a couple of different fields.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

whats the difference between kiwitech and something like rapa ?

Very similar in principle, IMO the kiwitech is just a little more refined/ user-friendly

even the insulators are well thought thru, the wedge system locks them on the rod and the claws have a nice chamfer to guide the wire in.
Not much between them to be fair, rappa is great stuff but more geared towards where I came from than where I want to be... (bugger the internal combustion engines and making work) hence my move toward "semi" permanence.

Then its done, trees go in the cells and it's even more done, be a barsteward to plough around 1200 trees... I am worried about the "post Pete landscape"

 

[Agrispeed]

Then its done, trees go in the cells and it's even more done, be a barsteward to plough around 1200 trees... I am worried about the "post Pete landscape"

We've just been fencing our silvopasture trees off, creating 0.6Ha (24hr) paddocks with a 1m gap where the trees are between them, They happen to be long and thin so will suit techno alleys well too. It's looking quite smart now. I hope something grows this year. It's quite exciting.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

We've just been fencing our silvopasture trees off, creating 0.6Ha (24hr) paddocks with a 1m gap where the trees are between them, They happen to be long and thin so will suit techno alleys well too. It's looking quite smart now. I hope something grows this year. It's quite exciting.

What species are you growing?

 

[bitwrx]

Quite tempting... Do you have plans that involve dairy cows? I had some figures for you about carbon btw, but I have put the sheet somewhere silly and need to unearth it it was per Ha across a couple of different fields.

Probably better described as dreams, rather than plans, but I do really like cheese. I mean, everyone needs a hobby; why can't mine be black and white and furry?

Happy to receive carbon figures any time. Quite a lot of the people on the fringes of my urban social circle don't do food of animal origin cos it's "bad for the environment", although they'll happily go out for a breakfast of smashed avocado with fresh OJ and an oat latte. Meanwhile, a dairy farm in Cornwall is quietly sucking CO2 out the air and shoving it in the soil fast enough to offset at least one of their completely unnecessary holidays to a yoga retreat in Bali.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Bendy posts and stretchy wires (with springs) mostly. Just drive across it with the quad. Or lift it up our the way to get the animals through.

Yes, and integrated stockwater systems set them apart too.

Most of my conversion cost will be pipes and troughs, I'd say well run either a 63 or 40mm from the tank to give good head to 40mm arterial lines, and 20/25 mm lines off that.
Plus about 210 micro troughs, I want plenty as we could subdivide it all again in future.
Will probably keep my existing laneways and use a 3 or 4 wire springy fence just to aid stock management because I really don't want to rule out sheep/goats/ milking in future .

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

That's the bugger.

I want to set up the next hundred year's worth, this winter! Then I can relax and plant trees that I want my grandkids to lean against. Dagged some sheep this weekend and realised by the third one that my future is bound to cattle although I will likely keep my weedeaters... however they are pretty destructive to the sward.

See, I KNEW you were like me and prefered cattle really

Once you have it all running well I can visit again to learn help