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

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Man, that thread is entertaining...
A few points of interest re the flaws that can creep into rotational grazing:
1. "No drought reserve", as you say the shortish round and low atocking density means that the animals kinda manage their own grazing... which leads to
2. "Untoward acceleration" where the grazing gets faster to feed the stock 'today' which leads to less grass for 'tomorrow'
3. Long recovery rotational grazing (due to lower density at key times) generally means there is a trade-off to be made regards quality and quantity - but that's more an understanding issue than anything else.

Yes, destocking definitely makes a difference but at the present point we're stocked pretty high - if my bulls are 5 'sheep equivalent'? then were running over 12 sheep per acre and we've never been feeding stock so well for summer.
It's a combination of many different things.... such as that figure above is influenced by a reduction in grazing area that's only just happened :rolleyes: and probably isn't sustainable let alone regenerative

So..... the sheep go home next week because my grass cover is more important than anything


Thanks Pete, that sums it up nicely ?

We're not grazing high intensity enough.... I guess we are working mob numbers up/ cell size down, but coming from a extensive set stock past, each step seems a scary number of stock/ over the alloted area.

Frustratingly, the bit of ground where we could have the most impact for the minimal outlay of time and equipment (yearling cattle, so single wires) is on short term grazing agreement and that institutional landlord doesn't want intensive grazing or long rounds ?‍♂️
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
For the last few years we have been scorched at summer ,and running out of grass. Last year we extended our grasing days in the round to 24--27 days during summer, even though we had less rain we maintained grass(year not as hot though).notable thing though infiltration had significantly improved. Oo and 1/4the fertiliser
It's really obvious BUT summer starts in the spring, far too many maim their grass early on in the season and any "recovery" that follows is really rather relative

It's all about that microbial mass in the soil, measuring grass doesn't measure microbial biomass or assist it
 

awkward

Member
Location
kerry ireland
Thanks Pete, that sums it up nicely ?

We're not grazing high intensity enough.... I guess we are working mob numbers up/ cell size down, but coming from a extensive set stock past, each step seems a scary number of stock/ over the alloted area.

Frustratingly, the bit of ground where we could have the most impact for the minimal outlay of time and equipment (yearling cattle, so single wires) is on short term grazing agreement and that institutional landlord doesn't want intensive grazing or long rounds ?‍♂️
Dont tell him let him work it out
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Thanks Pete, that sums it up nicely ?

We're not grazing high intensity enough.... I guess we are working mob numbers up/ cell size down, but coming from a extensive set stock past, each step seems a scary number of stock/ over the alloted area.

Frustratingly, the bit of ground where we could have the most impact for the minimal outlay of time and equipment (yearling cattle, so single wires) is on short term grazing agreement and that institutional landlord doesn't want intensive grazing or long rounds ?‍♂️
Baby steps.... better than no steps.
What people "want to see" is rather difficult, eg if people just want to see PRG and white clover then rotational grazing can suit this very well.... as I said "it's many things combined" and changing what I want to see has been one of those things
 

Fenwick

Member
Location
Bretagne France
Pete,
You mentioned on the suckler thread about running out of grass on rotational grazing, but using the "multipaddock" system, have improved on that?

What is the fundamental differences? Or is it your approach to destocking at certains times, the big difference?


The running out of grass conundrum is kinda of where I feel we are, in particular in mid summer, the area's set up for RG are growing earlier, longer into the season, growing more, but only delaying the inevitable in our usual dry summers here.

Reality could just be that we're over stocked midsummer and grazing rounds are too short.... but then that goes against the idea of RG potentially being about being able to carry stock more comfortably, or potentially more stock, thus spreading costs further.
Baby steps.... better than no steps.
What people "want to see" is rather difficult, eg if people just want to see PRG and white clover then rotational grazing can suit this very well.... as I said "it's many things combined" and changing what I want to see has been one of those things

Dry summers have been a real problem for us here.

Changing thé plant species in our fields has really helped alot. PRG is completely pants in a drought.

Plantain has proven great, cocksfoot and red clover quite good too.

Plantain especially has been very impressive for us under 'rational' grazing. It really résponds well if you just let it grow.

Really hope we can avoid feeding stored forage this summer. ?
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Dry summers have been a real problem for us here.

Changing thé plant species in our fields has really helped alot. PRG is completely pants in a drought.

Plantain has proven great, cocksfoot and red clover quite good too.

Plantain especially has been very impressive for us under 'rational' grazing. It really résponds well if you just let it grow.

Really hope we can avoid feeding stored forage this summer. ?
Last summer was the first for several years that I didn't feed the cattle any hay. Spread much less fert too. And it was a relatively dry year.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Thanks Pete, that sums it up nicely ?

We're not grazing high intensity enough.... I guess we are working mob numbers up/ cell size down, but coming from a extensive set stock past, each step seems a scary number of stock/ over the alloted area.

Frustratingly, the bit of ground where we could have the most impact for the minimal outlay of time and equipment (yearling cattle, so single wires) is on short term grazing agreement and that institutional landlord doesn't want intensive grazing or long rounds ?‍♂️
National trust?
They are encouraging mob grazing now I thought.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
National trust?
They are encouraging mob grazing now I thought.


As you know, literally down the road from me, well down the coast.
Different estate, different team.
I think ours will get there, but we're on 0.75 stock units (uk not kiwi!!) Per hectare on the agreement.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Dry summers have been a real problem for us here.

Changing thé plant species in our fields has really helped alot. PRG is completely pants in a drought.

Plantain has proven great, cocksfoot and red clover quite good too.

Plantain especially has been very impressive for us under 'rational' grazing. It really résponds well if you just let it grow.

Really hope we can avoid feeding stored forage this summer. ?
It's very much the same here, in many respects it's the PRG dominance that creates "the drought" because it so actively suppresses the other species in its rush to put up a seedhead.
The management to counter that "hay paddock look" seals the deal, give me a diverse old pasture over "improved" any day - even in a damp year it can produce just as much starch equivalent as a cereal crop can.

It just doesn't look as 'tidy' when it's filled with early-seeding persistent species, but they are successful for a good reason.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
353E3AEF-7CB4-459F-BDBE-EE34EABE3CC7.jpeg
 

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