- Location
- Isle of Skye
Omitted this photo earlier showing these jokers that ran straight past the gate this morning , all part of the fun and gave the dog something to do at least.
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
Omitted this photo earlier showing these jokers that ran straight past the gate this morning , all part of the fun and gave the dog something to do at least.
Not wishing to contradict @Sharpy, but I see no mention of pipe length. This is important, as is number of bends, joiners etc.
If you're putting your tank right next to the reservoir, it's probably not significant, but a couple of hundred metres away could be.
From your post I'm not certain of pipe bore either. With the square relationship between diameter and cross sectional area, small distances can make a difference.
Off the top of my head I can't say much more than that. To do a proper assessment I'd have to either get my textbooks out, or phone a friend. But analysis is only one way...
The quicker option, which is what I would do here, is to measure it.
@Sharpy has given you a ballpark litres per day, which gives 45l/min by my calculator. Get a 20 litre tub and a stopwatch, and measure it as close as you can to where your tank would be. If it's roughly right, crack on. If it's way off, back to the drawing board.
Another way is to assess via analogy. I know our water consumption is prob 20-30m3/day. The borehole is 3/4" BSP fittings. The tank is probably 5m3. Whenever I go in there, there's usually something trickling into the tank. Our water supply works, so your 3500l buffer tank would probably be fine if you're using 10m3/day.
If the inflow really is 45l/min, 24/7, you've nothing to worry about. If it's not, the maximum bovine drinking rate may need to be considered. This sounds like the sort of thing for which there's usually a good rule of thumb...
(Thanks for giving me an opportunity to do some engineering-type thinking. PM me if you'd like me to go further. There's some tacit assumptions in the above which i dont have time to expand on now. Have a bicycle to fix.)
- Location
- Ardrossan Ayrshire
@Kiwi Pete original post stated 20ft of 3/4 bore pipe.
exmoor dave
Member
- Location
- exmoor, uk
Can't believe we're both on exmoor...... different world up on the Brendons compared to the Coast
Tad dry in the NE rain shadow...
- Location
- West Somerset
That's the best of it mind! A wet farm has it advantages sometimes.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Yeah, ideally you want something that turns a shower but still lets it breathe. I just put a row of tyres down the middle and pulled a silage sheet over top so it's got that air space
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
That's largely how I arrived at weaner-beef-calf sized animals, sort of halfway between the weight of finishing cattle and sheep, and the best of both worlds. You can still crank 80kgM² density without them bursting out and don't need to put Trump's wall around themOuch! In a way my land protects me from that. It's not possible to work over with machinery. Though some years back I attempted a reseed experiment. To illustrate the land, it took three separate patches to make up 1 acre I could work the ATV on. I bought a boom sprayer, chain harrow, roller for the ATV, as well as a hand seeder, seed, lime & fert.
All I accomplished was to replace existing native grass with rushes and moss where previously there was little of that. For me, any change now must come from animal impact.
This morning I went to the local beach with my girlfriend and son, had a great time. I needed to step back from the past fortnights frantic work which has achieved little. I likely will still rotate, of a sort. They're free ranging at the moment due to dubious fencing internally. If I can fix that during the week I'll have three places to use without trucking them anywhere. The other parcel is a bit sensitive in relation to fencing, as it has environmental designations but that brings it to four. I've already started doing a little remapping of paddocks for the next attempt, they will be walled, include gates, and permanent water points for each paddock. To subdivide further becomes complicated as all parcels bound the seashore which isn't fenced.
A good neighbour helped me on Saturday, while rotating isn't for him we had an honest discussion. He's the kind of guy who will tell you what he thinks, but not to do you down or convince you his way is better. I would prefer to do HPG with cattle, so the next big job is aiming for qualification for a herd number, build a pen, crush and small isolation shed. His view of farming here was he didn't know how he'd be able to go on with life if someone arrived and told him he couldn't work sheep any longer. My view was, where have you been all my life
Changing stock type suits my context, I believe. Less labour with the right cattle than sheep, therefore that generates more free time. People say there is more profit with sheep than cattle, maybe so, but farmers rarely cost in their time/labour. It's an insidious hidden cost. HPG worked correctly will take care of a lot of my costs, no fert, little to no chems, shorten the Winter. Changing stock type then adds to that with reduced labour. We did have cattle years ago, so I'm familiar with some aspects like calm handling, and will need to brush up on the important health and breeding as Dad always took care of that.
So it did. Sorry, I was skim reading and only saw the 20mm 3/4" bit early on.
Gut feel: about 65 cubes a day I reckon.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I'm really surprised that a piddling little ¾ actually flows that much TBH! Never seems like it with a long length, even with 30m of head.So it did. Sorry, I was skim reading and only saw the 20mm 3/4" bit early on.
Gut feel: about 65 cubes a day I reckon.
At least it's a weight off my mind that it'll keep up
Whitewalker
Member
Cheers Roy look forward to that tomorrow ?
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I love it when I get sent photos like this mid-afternoon.
Sarah's been doing a fantastic job moving them on time while we're flat out trucking cattle around, this time of year is "gypsy day" when the dairy farms dry off, and the herds and staff move.
ShooTa
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire - In the vale of Clwyd!
this talk of cattle is getting my itch tingling - its a way off in terms of finances -and one of the reasons im looking at pastured broilers is to fund cattle - again something small to live in the woodland overwinter (were 2/3 woods here) and something that can be intially kicked off if im buggering up/ theres no fodder - so im looking at the male milk calfs , but like you john im very low on my knowledge about the regs/laws and then having the req infrastructure to sort/contain them - the opposite of all the gear no idea...
talking topping
im about to jump on my topper - ive decided to try and knock some seedheads off in 2 paddocks - to see what the improvement/chaos ensues - one the sheep have just left and one that the grass just hasnt grown on due to the dry weather.
all this talk of keeping grass in its growth stage rather than seeding is hard work when you have more types than just PRG and theres 900 different seeding dates not to mention legumes... i think thats where the current rotation stuff thats being pushed is still getting it wrong, as its failing to address the whole and only focusing on the now.
talking topping
im about to jump on my topper - ive decided to try and knock some seedheads off in 2 paddocks - to see what the improvement/chaos ensues - one the sheep have just left and one that the grass just hasnt grown on due to the dry weather.
all this talk of keeping grass in its growth stage rather than seeding is hard work when you have more types than just PRG and theres 900 different seeding dates not to mention legumes... i think thats where the current rotation stuff thats being pushed is still getting it wrong, as its failing to address the whole and only focusing on the now.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
Sorting pairs for branding. Our homemade calf sorting gates make this job easy. 100 pairs under 10 minutes sorted, swing the gates down and the calves are caught in the branding pen ready to rope and drag. We appreciate all our branding help this year! Everything went extremely well and we're thankful for great neighbors and friends for all their help.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
baaa
Member
A few days ago, I found a week old lamb in the field with injuries around its face and neck. I thought a fox had tried to take it away but it was too heavy. Yesterday I found a dead new born lamb with a hole its neck and blood on the skin. It can't be a fox as it would have taken it away. I am trying to work out which animal would do this. Does anyone know?
- Location
- Isle of Skye
Could be absolutely anything tbh.
The first thing that springs to my mind is a few years ago we had hoggs getting injured, all with neck wounds and some with small wounds under the body, one had it's tail completely bitten off. most survived but a couple smaller ones we found dead- but not eaten. I suspected mink - They kill for fun, usually try to get to the neck and tackle things way above their own size.
The list of predators we have here is quite a long one, the best thing we found that lessened predation of lambs was when we started moving them more regularly. if one lamb gets killed or taken, you can be sure whatever took it - no matter if it swims, walks or flies - will come straight back to the same place for its next easy meal.
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Sounds like a dog....
baaa
Member
I found another one this morning. It was born during the night and probably didn't suckle before this animal did this. It's not dead I'm going to try to save it. I have had a dog attack before and it attacked the ewes. The field is surrounded by electric fencing for sheep which is probably why I'm not having a fox problem.
Coul still be a fox. Or a badger if it's not carrying them off they are nasty buggers when they start worse than foxes. Wouldn't discount an otter if they are near a river.