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

[Bury the Trash]

short term yes it is, we use to do it with hay and straw, tried sheeting it to, we have a shed now, yes it cost a bit but when you consider it should see me out I suspect it adds up quite well considering the number of bales it has and potentially will keep dry not to mention the other things it keeps dry when its not full of bales

yeah, simple tin roof pole barn would be ok long as its got a bit of height,...no need even for concrete just bore out the holes nice and deep.…..bit of stone base and bobs yer beano ….need a few frees around it to stop windy tho...

. my next building project possibly.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Not too bad, I think it's been baled fairly fit.
Not quite enough wrap really, there's the odd wee patch on the bottoms that has had moisture (but waaay cheaper than building a shed)

I'm aware that sheds are bl00dy expensive in NZ. There could even be a business there in importing kit build sheds from the UK

https://www.rbscotland.co.uk/agricultural/standard-special-offer.html

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I'm aware that sheds are bl00dy expensive in NZ. There could even be a business there in importing kit build sheds from the UK

https://www.rbscotland.co.uk/agricultural/standard-special-offer.html

Basic sheds actually aren't too expensive.

But they are compared to $20 of plastic wrap, the years you decide to bale hay, on some far-off lease block with no shedding.

 

[Bury the Trash]

I already got the telegraph poles

Basic sheds actually aren't too expensive.

But they are compared to $20 of plastic wrap, the years you decide to bale hay, on some far-off lease block with no shedding.

additive development ?, something that would pickle it reliably would be ideal

​

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Basic sheds actually aren't too expensive.

But they are compared to $20 of plastic wrap, the years you decide to bale hay, on some far-off lease block with no shedding.

until silage wrap is outlawed

 

[Henarar]

plus every time I needed to get bales of hay of straw out from under the sheet it was always blowing a gale and pissing down best thing we done putting that shed up so much so we put another by it a few years later

 

[Bury the Trash]

will cost me a fiver to wrap em and still need to protect the heap from birds and rats. and sharp objects and need a wrapped bale handler and use a contractor to wrap them thats why I avoid making anything wrapped well that not wanting to have sheep with listeriosis.

 

[Crofter64]

will cost me a fiver to wrap em and still need to protect the heap from birds and rats. and sharp objects and need a wrapped bale handler and use a contractor to wrap them thats why I avoid making anything wrapped well that not wanting to have sheep with listeriosis.

Do you always manage to make dry hay. It sounds like its quite difficult in the u.k. Newman Turner even bemoans it in his book, hence the hay drying racks he recommends.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Do you always manage to make dry hay. It sounds like its quite difficult in the u.k. Newman Turner even bemoans it in his book, hence the hay drying racks he recommends.

Making dry hay is generally ok in most parts of the UK, but making good dry hay can be a challenge some years.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Do you always manage to make dry hay. It sounds like its quite difficult in the u.k. Newman Turner even bemoans it in his book, hence the hay drying racks he recommends.

Yes its mostly difficult with some exceptional yrs, its why silage took off for mainstream forage in the 60 and '70 of course. Saving energy and generally bit higher protein as well
At the college course i did as a teenager alongside being lectured on how to make hay and silage we were taught how to barn dry hay as well .(with lister meu blowers )

I was actually only thinking about it today, the fact that in my time of farming (just over 40 yrs) weve made hay in every year , or rather never not failed as far as i can remember and as a child on the farm either , they only had strawy sticks and very little even of that in the drought of '76 and one of the hardest year s to cut and make it was 2012 but always with patience and waiting if need be , even until August some that was clean enough for sheep has been made.

But yes its a challenge and not something to be relied on for feed value, that would have to be made up with other stuff .
it needs youre own kit to make it best as well, which we are fortunate to have, being able to bale hay or stop exactly when you want to is a must in a catchy season at least.

This and last year have been (almost ) perfect . Last 20 acres left to make now and its set fair , as long as it doesnt come to thunder rain
Decent amount of Really good stuff already made so im not too worried

 

[Henarar]

I can't remember ever not making hay in any year but wouldn't want to have to make it all to hay
2012 was a bugger but IIRC I cut some one morning and baled it the afternoon of the following day not sure what month July or aug I think

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Do you always manage to make dry hay. It sounds like its quite difficult in the u.k. Newman Turner even bemoans it in his book, hence the hay drying racks he recommends.

Like NZ, few who don't live here (and even some who do ) realise just how much the climate varies across this little island. Here in the dry East it's a rare year that we can't make good hay. Dad's neighbour makes around 1000 acres each year and 80% is sold to racehorse stables. West Wales, on the other hand, relies on silage as 2 consecutive dry days are rare in summer. That's only 200 miles away!

 

[Samcowman]

Latest update on the steers on the rotation and they have been doing 1.1kg day average since the middle of May. So definitely paying their way and have comfortably already paid their summer costs.

 

[davieh3350]

Had a neighbour cut my hay and he was not convinced said that with taller grass when trampled the mat generated would suppress grass growth. Of course he's right to an extent but a very short term view. He did seem impressed by the amount of grass we had mind!

Anyway I decided to have a poke around and amazing how much cooler and less dry it is under the mulch. The plant matter from the previous rotation is brown underneath as per photo. I'm not concerned about it in the slightest but just wondered does it take a while for the soil to get into equilibrium or during say dry summer months do things slow down. For now to my mind it's doing a great job!

I am struggling to get the same trampling on this rotation, think I need more mouths. And smaller paddocks! But for this week they'll have to stay as they are with 3 day moves. I have a couple of patches of very fine stemmed grass with delicate flowers, that the sheep don't seem to touch. I'll get a photo. At the minute I'm putting their salt lick on these spots but anything else worth thinking about with this grass? Will get a photo of them. Look quite palatable to my eye but sheep clearly don't agree!

It's the same in the winter, I tried putting electric posts in to bare soil where the pigs were, couldn't get them in even a wee bit, yet where the grass was still covering the ground they sank in no problem. Not a massive amount of grass cover either.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

https://lachefnet.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/its-the-soil-biology-stupid/

 

[Samcowman]

Top picture is old pasture bottom picture is ryegrass ley. Both cut for silage end of May both had the same levels of muck spread on after silage which hasn’t gone in that well due to it being dry. I measured them both today. Unfortunately I didn’t measure them after silage so I can’t say the growth per day but I do know the difference.
Which one has had the most growth?

 

[Henarar]

View attachment 819282 View attachment 819286

Top picture is old pasture bottom picture is ryegrass ley. Both cut for silage end of May both had the same levels of muck spread on after silage which hasn’t gone in that well due to it being dry. I measured them both today. Unfortunately I didn’t measure them after silage so I can’t say the growth per day but I do know the difference.
Which one has had the most growth?

the ryegrass is bound to be better as nobody would bother to reseed to grow less would they

 

[Samcowman]

the ryegrass is bound to be better as nobody would bother to reseed to grow less would they

I’ll tell you later. The ley was after arable about 4 years ago

 

[onesiedale]

View attachment 819282 View attachment 819286

Top picture is old pasture bottom picture is ryegrass ley. Both cut for silage end of May both had the same levels of muck spread on after silage which hasn’t gone in that well due to it being dry. I measured them both today. Unfortunately I didn’t measure them after silage so I can’t say the growth per day but I do know the difference.
Which one has had the most growth?

Well, if your old pasture behaves like ours and really motors on from 2nd week of June then I would say that the best growth is on the old pasture.

 

[Samcowman]

As you guys thought the old pasture has performed better 650kg dry matter/hectare better and looking at it the old pasture will keep going and the ryegrass has headed fairly well so will naturally slow down