RushesToo
Member
- Location
- Fingringhoe
Ungrateful buggers - couldn't they try a little harder!
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
JohnGalway
Member
- Location
- Connemara, Ireland
Beatings shall continue until morale improves!
- Location
- Derbyshire
To me it looks like your unrolling went ok. It's just that the stock didn't seem interested in what you put out for them. Have you got them on too big an area?
I'm guessing also, given your westerly location, that the grass is starting to give a bite now more than you think.
Btw. It looks like a beautiful part of the world there. We're planning on a trip to Ireland this summer, may be tempted to travel way out West.
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
If you’re not satisfied, why not keep the bales intact with netting. Make them work a bit and not have the luxury of being choosy.?
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so appologies if not.
I had my first attempt at Rotational Grazing last year. 35 cows & calves on 40 acres divided into 6 roughly equal paddocks. Started by moving them once a week.
Worked fairly well in some respects, much more grass. But the main problem was that they were unsettled. Charging over to the gates every time I entered the field. This became worse as the grass started to go back at the end of the season and I had to open up all the gates. They immediately settled down! What am I doing wrong? paddocks to large? more frequent movement?
I had my first attempt at Rotational Grazing last year. 35 cows & calves on 40 acres divided into 6 roughly equal paddocks. Started by moving them once a week.
Worked fairly well in some respects, much more grass. But the main problem was that they were unsettled. Charging over to the gates every time I entered the field. This became worse as the grass started to go back at the end of the season and I had to open up all the gates. They immediately settled down! What am I doing wrong? paddocks to large? more frequent movement?
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
I think that you have figured it out on your own. I will leave it to others to elaborate more, but for my part , giving my cows just enough grass to fill them comfortably and moving them twice a day, kept them very quiet all summer. I have figured out my water delivery issues and can now fully back fence . In the past I moved them once a day and had to keep an alley to a water source, essentially creating a back fence for part of each pasture. This worked well also.
The essential ingredient to the success of this system, to my mind, is a grazing chart, multiple reels of twine ,lots of pickets and making moving the animals an unbreakable habit. It took me several attempts to get the twice a day moves in place, but once successful it became second nature to just trot out in the afternoon for the move.
This year I am hoping to combine the sheep and cattle for part of the summer to grow more grass.( one mob instead of two to plan for on my chart) . You can get these charts for free on ‘On Pasture’. They are created by Troy Bishopp. Definitely a game changer.
Welcome on board! Its a great adventure
JohnGalway
Member
- Location
- Connemara, Ireland
About 50 acres of slim pickins, with the weather we've had and the nature of this ground I'd be shocked if there's anything much growing. But they do have access to the other bales and buckets so there's that. I'll drop the next load in a more organised fashion.
Do head West, let me know if you are. My avatar has a drone shot of a great spectacle, that being Galway hooker (not that kind - traditional sailing boats) racing, they have a league and there are a number of races mostly on weekends along the coast from Kinvara to Roundstone.
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
It looked pretty windy in your photos. I suppose intact round bales are a pretty good wind break?
JohnGalway
Member
- Location
- Connemara, Ireland
That's the new plan ?
JohnGalway
Member
- Location
- Connemara, Ireland
Yeah, they were making use of them the second day when there were gales
- Location
- Derbyshire
I don't think you are doing anything wrong, it's all a big learning curve. So you have a week in a paddock of around 7 acres. Maybe try daily moves, with a back fence. For that, a simple 3 wire system (today's break and tomorrow's in front and one back fence behind) would work well. Easy moveable water and the back fence are essential.
As you go through the season you'll get a feel for the allocations.
Like @Crofter64 said, make a plan. It'll be there as a guide to help you make decisions through the season.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I think you solved your own riddle pretty well.
'How many meals do you eat in a week?'
My neighbour has 2 massive big steers that live on 8 acres (I grazed his place earlier in the year, but he is just incredibly difficult to deal with) and they just about climb the walls when they see our cattle, because ours are always getting new food.
His are forgotten about.
They certainly aren't hungry, but their grass is pretty fugly; they simply aren't under enough pressure to cause the grass to regenerate so effectively the meal they are looking at today was lovingly prepared in October.... they are really just looking at leftovers.
I often tell people to look at BBC nature documentaries if they want clues about grazing, the first thing you notice is that the grazers are always on the move - if they stayed in one place for a week then the hyenas would be eating their bones by Tuesday, so for "health reasons" they move as a mob, all the time.
Health of the land, health of the herd.
It's a very tough act to follow!!
Anything that stands out is "recycled" which means the lions take care of the late calvers, the early calvers, the lame, the poor-doers etc and this is why those grazers on the plains are the spectacular sight that they are today.
So how can we get a slice of this spectacle on our own farmland?
I think the main thing to do is to stop looking at our grass and look more at our herd behaviour. That's why I advocate people take their pasture plate-meter to the nearest bridge and send it... it's a major distraction.
Our role as a manager is to predate our herd, and I have never seen a cheetah in front of a herd counting the leaves on grass plants, or measuring, or looking at a calendar.
Growing grass is the cow's job, moving cows is our job.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Buffalo spent a whole night out on the roadside without water and none died of thirst or escaped.
They maybe ate half of what was there, I skipped it out last time they were on roadside maintenance as I simply didn't have enough reels to get them down to this piece. So it maybe had 70 days rest.
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Here's what they didn't eat.
Yeah, it's a bit stressful having them out there but....
Yeah, it's a bit stressful having them out there but....
- Location
- Derbyshire
I've seen the verge at your place, and i can say it was scary enough crossing in a car ? never mind being just stood the other side of a hot wire!Tempting to stick ours out on our verge............
Until you see the traffic
It makes KP's long acre look like a walk in the park!
- Location
- Quebec, Canada
It looked pre
Is it worth harvesting?Tempting to stick ours out on our verge............
Until you see the traffic
- Location
- West Yorkshire
Grass starting to get some colour in it now still lots off bare poached hoofprints but thankfully there not holding water so that’s a good sign
Water tank in place ready for piping up from a stream to help with this coming seasons divisions so I don’t need to keep a lane back to the one water point
got a few repairs to do around said water point
Same field I’m going to have a fair job tidying all rubble and silt from the blown culvert the other week thankfully I’m not intending on mowing it
With regards to my poaching/bare ground cover I was wondering if it would be worth spinning on a little herbal lay to introduce some variety rather soon. Maybe at say 1/2 rate just to get some diversity into the ground.
I’m thinking that we are soon going into March so hopefully less chance off snow/frost
What do you guys think ?
Water tank in place ready for piping up from a stream to help with this coming seasons divisions so I don’t need to keep a lane back to the one water point
got a few repairs to do around said water point
Same field I’m going to have a fair job tidying all rubble and silt from the blown culvert the other week thankfully I’m not intending on mowing it
With regards to my poaching/bare ground cover I was wondering if it would be worth spinning on a little herbal lay to introduce some variety rather soon. Maybe at say 1/2 rate just to get some diversity into the ground.
I’m thinking that we are soon going into March so hopefully less chance off snow/frost
What do you guys think ?
- Location
- Derbyshire
Nothing to lose from spinning some seed on patches. The risk/reward ratio is on your side