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

[Kiwi Pete]

Hi Tom

sh!t, what a great place to start, a clean sheet

I envy you!
Freedom from baggage is a massive, massive help to looking at a new business venture without the idea that "we need to spend less money, and grow more grass" in the back of your mind, getting in the way of planning.

As Roy and Will have suggested, that aint the whole.

 

[Mrs Holwell]

I'd have been shot if I'd not come back

I would happily have stayed though

You could have stayed if you'd have arranged me a ticket to join you asap xx

 

[onesiedale]

Currently in the West Midlands, rainfall is around 750mm annually, I assume soil/rainfall affects rotation length and grass varieties to use?

Although I say West Midlands, as I was hoping to go for a low input system with minimal machinery and most likely use contractors for any field work, geography isn’t so much of an issue, although ideally West midlands. The agreement has come about as the current business would like to expand the business without milking more cows themselves, so the ‘opportunity’ is on the basis that a suitable farm comes up .... I am very much an eternal optimist, although they have been slow to come on the market this year so far...

I’ve started reading Andre voisin and a book by Sarah flack, any others you would recommend?

Hi, and welcome.
Guess you've got the basics of this thread; An open mind, challenge the conventional, get yourself a new bookshelf for the books you are going to collect, oh .and make sure you learn how to use the ''bookmark" tab so that you can file the words of wisdom that @Kiwi Pete so often freely gives away
You say you are in West midlands, pretty well my patch so you're more than welcome to call by if you have an afternoon spare

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I don't think I'm overly wise, just connected and emancipated

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Hi, and welcome.
Guess you've got the basics of this thread; An open mind, challenge the conventional, get yourself a new bookshelf for the books you are going to collect, oh .and make sure you learn how to use the ''bookmark" tab so that you can file the words of wisdom that @Kiwi Pete so often freely gives away
You say you are in West midlands, pretty well my patch so you're more than welcome to call by if you have an afternoon spare

Now that's where I've been going wrong. Methinks the bookmark tab will be my new favourite thing

 

[onesiedale]

I don't think I'm overly wise, just connected and emancipated

All the same, your ramblings do make for a good read. Some of it really is poetic!

 

[onesiedale]

Now that's where I've been going wrong. Methinks the bookmark tab will be my new favourite thing

I've gradually been building up my own library. I have numerous volumes of 'KPs HG tips'

 

[Farmer Roy]

That’ll be Daniel Macaskill, native of Dunvegan, he’s a couple of years younger than me, Police confiscated his bike when he was a boy, jumping off walls over unsuspecting tourists [emoji23] he’s a really nice guy tho.

I have watched a number of his youtube clips
he is just amazing - I am in complete awe of his skills

The Ridge is one of my favourites, beautiful scenery

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I have watched a number of his youtube clips
he is just amazing - I am in complete awe of his skills

The Ridge is one of my favourites, beautiful scenery

Here's the local "Dunvegan", @Macsky - just left of centre shot

Just so happened I got sent over this way today, to where the rain comes from

 

[Farmer Roy]

If you can survive, and get a crop of something to live, will you get something to graze and stimulate the soil back into life that way? Or has that ship sailed

to answer that question . . .

the plan is to get something / anything planted that is appropriate for the time of year, once / if we ever get any moisture. Ideally a full profile of moisture to grow a cash crop would be the best & easiest return. If not, then maybe a dual purpose crop with potential for grazing & then grain harvest if there is enough moisture to carry it through, or maybe purely a forage / grazing to then put agistment cattle on to generate some income & as you say, stimulate biology. However, the further away that moisture is, the higher the priority for quicker / greater financial return . . .
We do have lots of options once we get wet, but until then nothing . . .

You may remember I planted 160 ha of grain sorghum in Dec ( ideally would have done 400 ha, but only had about 60cm of moisture profile & it was just too marginal to throw everything onto "black". Im not that much of a gambler ). Anyway, the hottest & driest summer on record meant it wasn't much of a bet . . . It is now a failed grain crop. I was thinking of maybe getting cattle to graze it ( no fences & no water are only minor issues ) but . . .
when under a lot of moisture stress, grain sorghum produces a lot of nitrates & prussic acid ( cyanide ), which can be poisonous to ruminants.
I had mine tested, nitrates were ok but prussic acid was nearly 1200 gm / kg - the recommended "safe" level is 200 . . .
most sorghum crops ( not that there were many planted this year. PS - sorghum is our MAIN summer grain crop in this area ) are being baled for hay

 

[Farmer Roy]

Failed sorghum

A neighbour cut his for hay, his tested ok apparently
$50 / ha to cut
Dunno how much it costs to bale

I'm in 2 minds about hay ( assuming I had the option ) - on one hand the income is desperately needed now, on the other hand you are losing all that groundcover & residue from the surface . . .

I never said it was easy

 

[Farmer Roy]

PS - both of those sorghum crops in the above pics were planted zero till into standing legume stubble from the 17 / 18 harvest, even though there is very little residue or groundcover left
just shows you how much it breaks down or oxidises & why we are constantly trying to conserve as much stubble as possible

 

[Crofter64]

Thanks, but i just get more confused, maybe I'm just thick... maybe I will just stick to annual cropping, at least I somewhat understand that

We’re all thick when we begin. The key is not to understand but to begin. That’s when you’ll start to observe and as you observe you will understand and make better decisions. None of us started where we are today. It was a process.

 

[Farmer Roy]

this may be of interest to some, comparing "regen" to "conventional" grazing systems in Australia. Take from it what you will, whether you think its relevant or not

@holwellcourtfarm - you mentioned trials / comparisons ?

Long Term Research
The long term regenerative grazing study- grassy woodlands of NSW

This project was supported through funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program and was conducted by Australian National University, University of Canberra and University of Queensland researchers and economists, Vanguard agricultural consultants and statisticians from NSW State Government and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

Some of the interesting findings were that:

• The average profit levels from the regenerative graziers was comparable with the Holmes-Sackett elite producers.
• The average profit levels of the regenerative graziers were consistently higher than the average ABARES farm survey participants and showed less variability over the study period.
• The average profits of regenerative graziers were consistently better in years where there was low rainfall.
• The regenerative managed farms had substantially lower cost structures, in key areas such as supplementary feed costs/DSE, pasture costs/DSE and animal health and breeding costs/DSE.

Photo supplied by Rachel Lawrence
The wellbeing of regenerative graziers was assessed relative to the Regional Wellbeing Survey. This survey regularly checks the wellbeing of some 7,000 farmers across Australia. Regenerative graziers reported:

• Significantly higher levels of wellbeing compared to similar farmers in the Regional Wellbeing Survey.
• Greater confidence in their ability to achieve farming goals, and their optimism was higher.
• Significantly higher levels of general health.
• Some regenerative graziers reported challenges in gaining acceptance in their local communities.

The environmental health of their farms was also assessed with the following findings:

• The legacy of past practices such as cropping or high fertilizer inputs were still substantial on many properties (despite these practices, in many cases stopping over 20 years ago).
• Grassy woodland on the farms was observed to be regenerating, with the presence of many sensitive, rare species in the ground layer.
• The average ground cover percentage of the participants’ properties was up to 18% higher than the average in the locality (10km² radius) over time.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can transition your farm management or to attend a workshop on this study, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

View Full Report

Full Technical Report (88 pages, 4.2mb)

View Summary Reports
Summary Report 1: Farm Profit
Summary Report 2: Farm Business Costs
Summary Report 3: Season Quality
Summary Report 4: Farmer Wellbeing

 

[Farmer Roy]

• • Eleven of the past 15 years (around 70%) had some degree of deficit in rainfall from long term averages and were classed as "unfavourable"
  
• • Project participants interpreted this as farm business should be structured to be successful for the 70% of seasons classed as "unfavourable" rather than the 30% of years that were classed as "favourable".

• • Gross Income/DSE was consistently with the levels measured for sheep and beef farms.
  • • Substantially lower expenditure on supplementary feed/DSE.
  • • Substantially lower pasture costs/DSE
  • • Substantially lower animal health and breeding costs
  • • Substantially lower variable expenses except when compared to the Top 20% of cattle herds.
  
  
  
  • • Higher levels of profit than ABARES 12 of 14 years, the differences being greater in dry years.
    • • An increased degree of profit stability, returning more consistent financial returns with significantly reduced variability compared to the ABARES sample
    
    
    Regenerative grazing managers in this study had the following characteristics:
    
    
    • • Significantly higher wellbeing than other similar farmers.
    • • Were much more satisfied with their health,
    • • Significantly more satisfied with their future security,
    • • Happier with what they were achieving in life and their personal relationships.
    • • Much less likely to report being in fair or poor health
    Overall, the results show that Regenerative Managers had significantly higher wellbeing than comparison groups of graziers.
    

 

[Farmer Roy]

been a while since I posted any Charlie Arnott
4 hrs ·
Organics and Sustainable Food on every dinner plate? How do we make that our new normal? Adam Gibson speaks to Charlie Arnott about the the upcoming Sustainable... Food Business Innovation Summit at The Farm at Byron Bay designed to empower farmers and sustainable food producers to scale up their business and take it to the next level...all without compromising their own wellbeing as a business owner

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1198434040315619

 

[Kiwi Pete]

View attachment 775960 View attachment 775962

Failed sorghum

View attachment 775964

A neighbour cut his for hay, his tested ok apparently
$50 / ha to cut
Dunno how much it costs to bale

I'm in 2 minds about hay ( assuming I had the option ) - on one hand the income is desperately needed now, on the other hand you are losing all that groundcover & residue from the surface . . .

I never said it was easy

Amazing how it all oxidises like that

Amazing probably isn't your word of choice speaking of nitrates, I assume it is a fairly high-in-nitrogen plant? Do you have any "woodier" species that will/would grow? How long does the cotton residue last on the surface?

Went to ask these before but kept getting error messages

Down here nitrate issues are generally the opposite end of the temperature chart, one of the things I watch for as winter moves in and the soil N increases - (legumes begin to go dormant and their N is up for grabs)

I test with the refractometer fairly often and a clear line can indicate high nitrate levels, fuzzy line is good; our pastures are still up in the teens for brix so no issues for a while yet, but summer has lost its bite now.
Narrowly avoided getting a good soak today, patchy rain in the area... so it may be coming soon. Probably nowhere near the same but heat means little chance of rain, "great" that everyone around here runs such low covers and the heat is higher than it needs to be.
(A drive through the bush and it'll be several degrees below the surrounding farmland, all the time...)

Heat is the enemy, it hasn't set temperature records here this year and that's made a major difference to where we are, rainfall is very similar - we had a rain in November but last year it began to rain in Feb.. not this year, still very dry.. but more dew with the lower temp

 

[Kiwi Pete]

this may be of interest to some, comparing "regen" to "conventional" grazing systems in Australia. Take from it what you will, whether you think its relevant or not

@holwellcourtfarm - you mentioned trials / comparisons ?

Long Term Research
The long term regenerative grazing study- grassy woodlands of NSW

This project was supported through funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program and was conducted by Australian National University, University of Canberra and University of Queensland researchers and economists, Vanguard agricultural consultants and statisticians from NSW State Government and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

Some of the interesting findings were that:

• The average profit levels from the regenerative graziers was comparable with the Holmes-Sackett elite producers.
• The average profit levels of the regenerative graziers were consistently higher than the average ABARES farm survey participants and showed less variability over the study period.
• The average profits of regenerative graziers were consistently better in years where there was low rainfall.
• The regenerative managed farms had substantially lower cost structures, in key areas such as supplementary feed costs/DSE, pasture costs/DSE and animal health and breeding costs/DSE.

Photo supplied by Rachel Lawrence
The wellbeing of regenerative graziers was assessed relative to the Regional Wellbeing Survey. This survey regularly checks the wellbeing of some 7,000 farmers across Australia. Regenerative graziers reported:

• Significantly higher levels of wellbeing compared to similar farmers in the Regional Wellbeing Survey.
• Greater confidence in their ability to achieve farming goals, and their optimism was higher.
• Significantly higher levels of general health.
• Some regenerative graziers reported challenges in gaining acceptance in their local communities.

The environmental health of their farms was also assessed with the following findings:

• The legacy of past practices such as cropping or high fertilizer inputs were still substantial on many properties (despite these practices, in many cases stopping over 20 years ago).
• Grassy woodland on the farms was observed to be regenerating, with the presence of many sensitive, rare species in the ground layer.
• The average ground cover percentage of the participants’ properties was up to 18% higher than the average in the locality (10km² radius) over time.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can transition your farm management or to attend a workshop on this study, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

View Full Report

Full Technical Report (88 pages, 4.2mb)

View Summary Reports
Summary Report 1: Farm Profit
Summary Report 2: Farm Business Costs
Summary Report 3: Season Quality
Summary Report 4: Farmer Wellbeing

Would be quite interesting to survey over here, I'd expect very similar results to be fair.
Many of the regenerative farmers are over 70 though, they just don't know that's the new name for "smart" but they are never too worried about the details:

"any day above ground is a good outcome"

"Making some money and not trying to set the world ablaze"

"just trucking along"

"not too worried yet"

the words of experience it's all about that groundcover, the details are nicer later but without cover..

 

[CornishTone]

the words of experience [emoji41] it's all about that groundcover, the details are nicer later but without cover..

Spotted this today...

A lot of growers have had to graze down to the deck due to lack of hay, but at what cost? Which will recover quickest when/if the rain does come? Which will retain moisture the best?

Some may consider the right hand side a waste but I think he’ll come off better in the end.

 

[Farmer Roy]

I'd consider the left hand side a waste . . .

The right will recover so much quicker