- Location
- Quebec, Canada
I like your carryall on the back of the quad- I wish I’d seen it earlier. I’ve nearly finished my own inferior version.
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
I'll post pics later, I've recently modified it to make it stronger (since the bull decided to rub his itchy neck on it
) and easier to put on and off.
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Thanks. Interesting. It was not sown and I've never seen it here before. This was in the field Mel's horses used to graze (they were both put down in January
) so it's in long recovery now before cattle grazing again. I'd quite like it to spread now I know what it is .
I know what you mean a ring fence farm and all long term land would be so much easier
there is one for sale next door if you fancy it ? will even tell you the price if you really want to know
would it have come in some horse feed ?Thanks. Interesting. It was not sown and I've never seen it here before. This was in the field Mel's horses used to graze (they were both put down in January
- Location
- Devon
I'll pass thanksI know what you mean a ring fence farm and all long term land would be so much easier
there is one for sale next door if you fancy it ? will even tell you the price if you really want to know
I sometimes wonder if I'd be better off giving up all the off ground and concentrating on home.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
It's a "roadside weed" down here, looks like common vetch vicia sativa in your photos.Thanks. Interesting. It was not sown and I've never seen it here before. This was in the field Mel's horses used to graze (they were both put down in January
It spreads quite quickly if you don't hammer your pastures, similar to trefoil in the respect it can lie dormant or invisible in your pasture until something changes. Also similar in that it will provide a bit of nitrogen for your stock without bloat risk (not that bloat is an issue if you know how to feed a cow properly).
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Work them all out as separate jobs and you'll soon know whether the away stuff actually pencils or notI'll pass thanks
I sometimes wonder if I'd be better off giving up all the off ground and concentrating on home.
Well, they generally do up to the point you cost in your time and tyres!!
I was looking at a bigger block a way away and unless I was going to buy a whole set of gear to make it work (bulldozer, tractor, couple of quads and a trailer) it stopped looking like an investment about the time I threatened to pay myself......
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Possibly I suppose but it's appeared at the same time in another of our fields 300 yards away.
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We have some old pastures which haven’t had fert for 15-20 years only haytime and graze at backend. Quite a lot of vetch and trefoil, and a lot of buttercup come every year. Would like to get a bit more production out of them but lies water in winter and rabbits an issue as well
Depends what it costs to rent, some of it may well be just buying workI'll pass thanks
I sometimes wonder if I'd be better off giving up all the off ground and concentrating on home.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
It's hard on wet-lying land, sometimes, to graze them on time as weather always seems to get wind of a plan and mess with it.
Does it have safe spots, say you plan to stock it and then the weather breaks - can you have a piece set-aside for that?
It sounds maybe like it just gets over rested and falls short of what it could be capable of?
Folks with less rain can give looong plant recoveries just grow big plants slow - but when moisture and temperature aren't limiting we have to get those leaves pruned to encourage recovery.
That's a big thing I notice on FB regen groups, what is deemed an "adequate time for recovery" varies wildly. And likewise, the amount of groundcover taken off per grazing also varies massively.
Dont forget the rabbit prob. Overgrazing little bar stewards.
I think you are right it probably does get over rested, again though it is an outlying block, only a mile or so away but not convenient to move stock too and from.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Possible/practical to keep a small mob there?
A few farmers here have a "daggy bit" of land from land acquisitions or subdivision, and often the most practical use is to keep their young bulls or something there, put them on 3-day breaks and keep them rotating around to maintain the pasture for a bit, then bring them home and hay it.
Not a full time comittment but they get a bit extra out of it for their rates and costs.
It's very difficult to improve grassland without grazing it, it can be done if you're prepared to spend merrily but then the 'why' comes into it
I had a wee patch on the other side of town, 12 acres with a house and I got very very drunk the day it was taken over by someone who could use it - just an extra job to do, was all it was.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Rabbits are reasonably easily cured - just have your covers longer than the surrounding area and they go away
They focus on an area and make it their own with constant 'maintenance ' longs covers arnt allowed there
And also play havoc with little trees etc.
They have a nice home and surrounding enviroment in our hedgerow banks.
They aint going anywhere too soon ...
Unless we shoot them
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Have you tried egg-powder spray on your trees?They focus on an area and make it their own with constant 'maintenance ' longs covers arnt allowed there
And also play havoc with little trees etc.
They have a nice home and surrounding enviroment in our hedgerow banks.
They aint going anywhere too soon ...
Unless we shoot them
I think it works for rabbits, definitely keeps hares from topping seedlings and cheaper than most repellents. Hares are barstewards for nipping tops, and they don't even eat what they nip off
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
I often read of farmers in the regenerative movement who do just that. Focus on their own land, produce less, work less, earn more.I'll pass thanks
I sometimes wonder if I'd be better off giving up all the off ground and concentrating on home.
We lost a bit of land recently through no fault of our own but can’t say I am massively disappointed, it is focusing my mind more on the land we have control over.