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

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
AS requested pics of the mineral sled/freechoice bar.
first pic is of the old roof which was car floor mats, Out in the field and then the testing with a old pet lamb.
Minerals im running is a salt stone, seaweed, sulphur, copper sulphate, limestone and , dolomite.

seaweed is being cleaned out pretty fast atm.
View attachment 798212 View attachment 798216View attachment 798224View attachment 798214View attachment 798218
all they need now is an arm chair and a telly
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
That's what I'm aiming to do as well, we only draw water thru a 20mm out of the scheme so I'd put my dosatron in that line and feed a header tank to keep up with daytime demand
Does that include the house feed Pete? :whistle:

Dad used to user a liquid magnesium supplement in the water but added it manually. It meant the dosage was always changing. It did seem to work ok though.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Does that include the house feed Pete? :whistle:

Dad used to user a liquid magnesium supplement in the water but added it manually. It meant the dosage was always changing. It did seem to work ok though.
No, the house tank comes out of the line halfway down the hill through a restrictor/metering device.
The farm supply comes out of the base of one of the tanks, they've just tapped a hole in and sealed it up - which is why I'm doing it this way.
If it was my own tank then I'd just whack a bigger outlet in :rolleyes:
I've used a few different systems over my dairy career and the dosatron seems much more reliable than the pump/injector systems, plus doesn't need electricity, plus I already have one waiting (y)

So we'll probably aim to add at least Se, Cu, and Mg into the system for a start - as has been discussed NZ is devoid of selenium-carrying parent rock and so it probably has to come from somewhere
 

Karliboy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Yorkshire
Been playing around with the pizza sliced fields lately on 24hr moves mainly maybe 36hrs on the slightly bigger areas. Everything had 50kg per acre of 20-10-10 the week before to avoid cold turkey so we should get some quick regrowth
Threw some clover in with fert with the idea cows will tread it in as they go.
E0467BAE-81B6-4F0F-AF2B-04857A045FB2.jpeg
0C524141-6A84-4648-ACBF-C6636DEF331B.jpeg

The left side of pic below is 5 days after the above pics.
9BB54C72-CC0C-4C35-A5C3-64168FA01ADE.jpeg


Cow dung is very sloppy and not holding together well but I guess that’s the rich spring grass not helping.



F7D5C8B4-536F-403D-BBED-4C079F7A13CF.jpeg
3ADEB2CA-C0CF-4342-AC21-9877E60CBCBA.jpeg

A little damage around the water area as we got 3 wet days last week but I’ll throw a little seed on here on the last day for cows to tread in. Can’t really do much about it really as it’s the only water in here until I get a portable bowser or something else rigged up.
98BFB6E5-83F6-4DB5-B785-226A92D8D67A.jpeg


Mowing land below got same fert as above 2 weeks ago.
3D83F458-C59D-4AE9-BD9B-EAE7F32C300A.jpeg

Probably ready for cutting now as it’s above my knees. I normally would but I’ve decided to let it go to seed this year as I haven’t done that for the last 5 or so years.
I may be kicking myself in a few weeks though as weather is great at the moment and will probably turn poo when I want to crack on.
D3FC5424-F8E3-4D3F-BFAD-E0F388344E69.jpeg
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Been playing around with the pizza sliced fields lately on 24hr moves mainly maybe 36hrs on the slightly bigger areas. Everything had 50kg per acre of 20-10-10 the week before to avoid cold turkey so we should get some quick regrowth
Threw some clover in with fert with the idea cows will tread it in as they go.
View attachment 798374View attachment 798376
The left side of pic below is 5 days after the above pics.
View attachment 798382

Cow dung is very sloppy and not holding together well but I guess that’s the rich spring grass not helping.



View attachment 798372 View attachment 798380
A little damage around the water area as we got 3 wet days last week but I’ll throw a little seed on here on the last day for cows to tread in. Can’t really do much about it really as it’s the only water in here until I get a portable bowser or something else rigged up.
View attachment 798386

Mowing land below got same fert as above 2 weeks ago.
View attachment 798388
Probably ready for cutting now as it’s above my knees. I normally would but I’ve decided to let it go to seed this year as I haven’t done that for the last 5 or so years.
I may be kicking myself in a few weeks though as weather is great at the moment and will probably turn poo when I want to crack on.
View attachment 798390
You have some "interesting" bits of land there a bit like some of ours, some flat land farmers would wonder why we are bothering
 
its so odd looking at some of these fields that have fert/lime and cows on them - grass always at high boot level - compared to my sheep grass which im getting excited if its getting over ankle high..

getting alot of seed heads from early grasses now which the sheep are ignoring... - im still moving fast but on 1 day moves which is meaning larger areas .. not quite ready for doing multi day moves ..
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
Quick update on how things are going here
This is what they went into yesterday morning measuring about 4200
17E34DF9-A03D-4564-BFC9-ACD9AF9706CC.jpeg

Went to shift them this morning and there was too much so left them till this afternoon
83720386-A50A-4677-A201-E9E25F616EF6.jpeg

This is what it was like this afternoon when I moved them on as you can see it is pretty up and down with some too tight and others not enough. so I decided to tighten them up overnight so they are on 0.2ha for the night
EA9C06A8-9A74-4F02-A3DB-499D8BAA6019.jpeg

I blame @Kiwi Pete it they escape from their postage stamp. There’s 52 400-450kg steers in this group. They seem to be going in at the right stage with 2 good leaves and one starting to die off and another coming through.
What’s everyone’s thoughts? Be brutal!!!
 

Crofter64

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Quebec, Canada
AS requested pics of the mineral sled/freechoice bar.
first pic is of the old roof which was car floor mats, Out in the field and then the testing with a old pet lamb.
Minerals im running is a salt stone, seaweed, sulphur, copper sulphate, limestone and , dolomite.

seaweed is being cleaned out pretty fast atm.
View attachment 798212 View attachment 798216View attachment 798224View attachment 798214View attachment 798218
You’ve got more information on each of your sheep than an encyclopeadia.:LOL:
 

Crofter64

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Quebec, Canada
No, the house tank comes out of the line halfway down the hill through a restrictor/metering device.
The farm supply comes out of the base of one of the tanks, they've just tapped a hole in and sealed it up - which is why I'm doing it this way.
If it was my own tank then I'd just whack a bigger outlet in :rolleyes:
I've used a few different systems over my dairy career and the dosatron seems much more reliable than the pump/injector systems, plus doesn't need electricity, plus I already have one waiting (y)

So we'll probably aim to add at least Se, Cu, and Mg into the system for a start - as has been discussed NZ is devoid of selenium-carrying parent rock and so it probably has to come from somewhere
Will you get bootle calves again this year? On the powdered milk replacer it says not to feed any other sources of selenium. Do you think the soluble selenium you will add will be enough to do harm to those calves?
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Quick update on how things are going here
This is what they went into yesterday morning measuring about 4200
View attachment 798590
Went to shift them this morning and there was too much so left them till this afternoon
View attachment 798596
This is what it was like this afternoon when I moved them on as you can see it is pretty up and down with some too tight and others not enough. so I decided to tighten them up overnight so they are on 0.2ha for the night
View attachment 798600
I blame @Kiwi Pete it they escape from their postage stamp. There’s 52 400-450kg steers in this group. They seem to be going in at the right stage with 2 good leaves and one starting to die off and another coming through.
What’s everyone’s thoughts? Be brutal!!!
Looks pretty good to me, I probably wouldn't be eating it that low in spring - is it ryegrass mainly?
Only you know your farm and growth but I'd be aiming for quite high residuals early on in the season.. a hectare per hundred is almost too hard on the grass IMO and then you'll get a lot of grass booting late spring?

Just aim to take the top third, if you can, and your grass will be ever larger and more robust/resilient.. plenty of time yet to tighten them up?
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Will you get bootle calves again this year? On the powdered milk replacer it says not to feed any other sources of selenium. Do you think the soluble selenium you will add will be enough to do harm to those calves?
No, unless we have one that won't foster onto a mum, Sarah has reared calves for 14 years on the trot and is "done with it".
I can't say I blame her, it's all good for the first fortnight and then can rapidly become a chore, which goes against our ethos here.

So the short answer is no, we'll aim to get a few calves out of our heifers and maybe attach an extra one each.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
its so odd looking at some of these fields that have fert/lime and cows on them - grass always at high boot level - compared to my sheep grass which im getting excited if its getting over ankle high..

getting alot of seed heads from early grasses now which the sheep are ignoring... - im still moving fast but on 1 day moves which is meaning larger areas .. not quite ready for doing multi day moves ..
Will your sheep happily go over a pegged down fence?
That's been a real game-changer for us, hopping them over as opposed to reeling fence back, as it means we can now shoot them any which way, to their next area.

It soon goes small again, quite interesting to see y'all with heaps of spring grass as ours is rather short and dense now. We've had a fair bit of precipitation over the last fortnight but cooler temperatures have meant it's not really ripping out of the turf as it would have a month ago :unsure:

However my accountant says we are doing a LOT better than most, in his words "I simply can't believe how much profit you make off a hundred acres when some clients are running a six-digit loss with the dry summers we've had" :):angelic:

The main point I guess is don't worry about the height of your grass, or a few early seedheads - don't get in the way of grass wanting to grow, unless it is halfway up your thigh. (y)

Let it all express itself as a plant and money will ooze out of your land :)
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 76 43.7%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 27 15.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 3 1.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,284
  • 1
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/
Top