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

[Kiwi Pete]

well talking fields and rests - ive thrown my non breeding ewelambs back onto the paddock the ewes came off - not ideal as theyll take it lower than id like BUT converlesy it will also have the longest rest - and as grass got away last time from me im seeing what the impact will be - but knowing what time overgrazing in this changeover period is seemingly difficult.

It is. I completely over rested/deferred a paddock here as I really didn't know if I'd get my plan "right"

Poor old paddock, it was the one I grew some peas in a few years ago and it looks very acidic and tasteless. I'm going to put about 6 tonnes of lime on it and covercrop it in the spring.
But what's in there will fill them up and give me time to get the plan sorted out going forward

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Had a treadin with no prong on the bottom, so I made a couple of pogos with a couple of 8-foot rods I rediscovered.
Holds the wire up nicer than my bit of conduit-over-a-broken-pitchfork one.
Thought I'd taken a photo of them moving but mustn't have pressed the button hard enough.
Tomorrow.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Well what a difference a year makes!
This time last year I had grass coming out of my ears, and good growing conditions to keep it that way.
This year I've sold 50 ewes, have little grass, and the forecast is for continued N wind and low temps which will burn off what grass I have.
Here's hoping for an improvement by the time the ewes have skipped around the rotation. (Lambing about to start)

 

[Henarar]

Well what a difference a year makes!
This time last year I had grass coming out of my ears, and good growing conditions to keep it that way.
This year I've sold 50 ewes, have little grass, and the forecast is for continued N wind and low temps which will burn off what grass I have.
Here's hoping for an improvement by the time the ewes have skipped around the rotation. (Lambing about to start)

We have nearly finished lambing and turned most of them out, they go out to the same little field every year and some years you can hardly see the lambs but its a bit different this year, I think there was more grass in January
Not taken any good pics of the grass but here is Flufffhead and Flufff just after we turned them out.
I didn't want to be a sheep farmer but have three now, I blame the tup

 

[Poorbuthappy]

What about this as a overseeding mix to add diversity to a predominantly ryegrass award.
Any better suggestions?
Or are people just doing their own mix?

 

[onesiedale]

Been thinking about this lately. How do we best/easily/quickly get our 'conventional' swards packed with the diversity that we would like. I guess that plain overseeding will have a limited success due to the challenge of grasses already there. The herbal additions will be smothered out surely?
For us we are mainly aiming to drill into ground that has overwintered heifers.
Or do we just hope that overseeding will eventually allow something to come through?
I fear that seed sales people will do well out of these herbal leys .
Who do people use/recommend for seed supplies?

 

[Henarar]

Been thinking about this lately. How do we best/easily/quickly get our 'conventional' swards packed with the diversity that we would like. I guess that plain overseeding will have a limited success due to the challenge of grasses already there. The herbal additions will be smothered out surely?
For us we are mainly aiming to drill into ground that has overwintered heifers.
Or do we just hope that overseeding will eventually allow something to come through?
I fear that seed sales people will do well out of these herbal leys .
Who do people use/recommend for seed supplies?

What is already there

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Been thinking about this lately. How do we best/easily/quickly get our 'conventional' swards packed with the diversity that we would like. I guess that plain overseeding will have a limited success due to the challenge of grasses already there. The herbal additions will be smothered out surely?
For us we are mainly aiming to drill into ground that has overwintered heifers.
Or do we just hope that overseeding will eventually allow something to come through?
I fear that seed sales people will do well out of these herbal leys .
Who do people use/recommend for seed supplies?

I was intending to go in after hard prolonged grazing with sheep again, as I did last year. The ley I did last year I was quite pleased with, though of course its early days to see persistence beyond 1 season.

 

[onesiedale]

I was intending to go in after hard prolonged grazing with sheep again, as I did last year. The ley I did last year I was quite pleased with, though of course its early days to see persistence beyond 1 season.

I think that's where sheep do a better job than cattle of knocking back growth to allow something else a chance. No sheep here.

 

[Henarar]

I think that's where sheep do a better job than cattle of knocking back growth to allow something else a chance. No sheep here.

cut for hay/'silage then sow seed ?

 

[onesiedale]

What is already there

A dense ley of pasture that was probably sown as Red Circle back in the '80s and has subsequently been grazed and grazed and grazed as set stocking until last year when we cell grazed the heifers over it. Absolutely no clover in there, previous tenant would have been using plenty of thistlex and dockstar along with a very small dressing of N.
Oh, plenty of buttercups ?

 

[onesiedale]

cut for hay/'silage then sow seed ?

May have a go this year. To be honest, it was a great feeling keeping the heifers out on it all last year right up to December. A move every day, no fert used and no wormers on the heifers ?
However, diversity in the sward would take it to the next level I think.

 

[Treg]

Well what a difference a year makes!
This time last year I had grass coming out of my ears, and good growing conditions to keep it that way.
This year I've sold 50 ewes, have little grass, and the forecast is for continued N wind and low temps which will burn off what grass I have.
Here's hoping for an improvement by the time the ewes have skipped around the rotation. (Lambing about to start)

I think there's alot of us in the same boat, my sheltered fields seem ok , but higher up ones that are open to the wind aren't doing anything.

 

[awkward]

What we find when we get wind scorched is it's better to give these places a light grazing just to stimulate activity, once we wouldn't be poaching the ground

 

[Blaithin]

What about this as a overseeding mix to add diversity to a predominantly ryegrass award.
Any better suggestions?
Or are people just doing their own mix?

I'd swap out the alsike with white clover if possible. But I have a horse and prefer the N production of white clover.

 

[Treg]

Been thinking about this lately. How do we best/easily/quickly get our 'conventional' swards packed with the diversity that we would like. I guess that plain overseeding will have a limited success due to the challenge of grasses already there. The herbal additions will be smothered out surely?
For us we are mainly aiming to drill into ground that has overwintered heifers.
Or do we just hope that overseeding will eventually allow something to come through?
I fear that seed sales people will do well out of these herbal leys .
Who do people use/recommend for seed supplies?

As KP has always said " build it and they will come"
I have fields that I've never sown Trefoil/ yarrow / alsike clover but it does seem to be spreading over the farm .
@Poorbuthappy posted a while ago a video from ???? Can't remember his name, the bloke that makes Yarg cheese? He spreads a handful of seeds everytime he fetches the cows & keeps Tubs of seed in each field to spread, a good as way as any to make a start I would have thought.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

As KP has always said " build it and they will come"
I have fields that I've never sown Trefoil/ yarrow / alsike clover but it does seem to be spreading over the farm .
@Poorbuthappy posted a while ago a video from ???? Can't remember his name, the bloke that makes Yarg cheese? He spreads a handful of seeds everytime he fetches the cows & keeps Tubs of seed in each field to spread, a good as way as any to make a start I would have thought.

Ben Mead.
Think the video was a Carbon Cowboys one.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

I think there's alot of us in the same boat, my sheltered fields seem ok , but higher up ones that are open to the wind aren't doing anything.

I didn't express it as such, but my post was as much a plea for suggestions as to best approach in a holistic context, as a moan.

 

[Treg]

Ben Mead.
Think the video was a Carbon Cowboys one.

That's his name

 

[Treg]

I didn't express it as such, but my post was as much a plea for suggestions as to best approach in a holistic context, as a moan.

Any silage / hay left?
Have you done a grazing plan?
I'm sticking to my grazing plan but buffer feeding them , hope that makes sense.