- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Super happy.
30mm rain, 1,000,000kg/ha and 6 shifts
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
Super happy.
30mm rain, 1,000,000kg/ha and 6 shifts
First pic is after last nights move with the heifers from the cell I put up yesterday. I don’t like the colour they are leaving behind but needs must with no rain in just about 5 weeks. Good job I had stockpiled some otherwise I would be short. Second 2 was tonight’s shift with a bunch of cows and calves at the start of the third rotation. Loads of clover. They have gone into 1ha will be there for 2 days.
awkward
Member
- Location
- kerry ireland
I notice here this year that clover is very slow getting started, we had very cold wind weather for Feb and March into early April. Now with drought setting in I guess it will be delayed even more.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
Biological seed inoculation with Biocast | Biocast
Biological seed inoculation prior to planting with a product such as Biocast+ is a great way to set plants up for a strong start and healthy life.
www.biocast.com.au
So would that mean that if we are to feed higher covers we need taller cattle?
Couldn't help that one
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Getting serious here. 67mm total since 2and March. On the lightest land the forage were do have is now going backwards. The rain forecast for yesterday ended up around 0.75mm. We might get some rain next week but then the forecasts show nothing for the rest of the month.
It's time to think about destocking
It's time to think about destocking
any hangers on ? barren cows are meant to be selling well, come to that so is store stockGetting serious here. 67mm total since 2and March. On the lightest land the forage were do have is now going backwards. The rain forecast for yesterday ended up around 0.75mm. We might get some rain next week but then the forecasts show nothing for the rest of the month.
It's time to think about destocking
We had 10mm on April the first then nothing untill 1mm a couple of days ago. It’s not just that it’s also the couple of hard frosts we have had the wind and the high (for us) temperatures.Getting serious here. 67mm total since 2and March. On the lightest land the forage were do have is now going backwards. The rain forecast for yesterday ended up around 0.75mm. We might get some rain next week but then the forecasts show nothing for the rest of the month.
It's time to think about destocking
Destocking a bit is a good option. I have some cows I will be pulling out at TB testing during the next couple of weeks and some more R2s will be housed to be finished quicker with plenty of silage and maize in stock.
we basicly haven't had much decent growing weather at all this spring
we had a 1/3 of an inch a couple days ago which will help but its gone from silly hot to cold
don't seem to have had any warm wet south westerly's
Who produces highland cow milk? Can you buy it??
DNA testing shows that there is about 10% Highland genetics in modern Ayrshire dairy cattle - due to crosses made more than 150 years ago. Ayrshire milk was always considered especially suitable for cheese making. Mossgiel farm ( with Burns connections ) ...
thefarmingforum.co.uk
- Location
- Devon
@James SagarWho was looking to convert to cattle I forget? Small scale dairy opportunity maybe?Who produces highland cow milk? Can you buy it??
DNA testing shows that there is about 10% Highland genetics in modern Ayrshire dairy cattle - due to crosses made more than 150 years ago. Ayrshire milk was always considered especially suitable for cheese making. Mossgiel farm ( with Burns connections ) ...
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Bugger.Getting serious here. 67mm total since 2and March. On the lightest land the forage were do have is now going backwards. The rain forecast for yesterday ended up around 0.75mm. We might get some rain next week but then the forecasts show nothing for the rest of the month.
It's time to think about destocking
"If you're going to panic, panic early" said Roy and.... wow.
If only I had heard it sooner.
Sometimes the animal you don't keep makes you more than the animal you do... there is huge cost in a day or two less recovery time, a huge cost.
Hopefully you have a few that you can do without?
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Funny stuff, rainfall.
Not as mad here as elsewhere on the globe, but our monthly rainfall totals in inches for the YTD:
Jan 13.46
Feb 1.04
March 2.01
April 0.63
May 0.24
June 1.21
(Bearing in mind that our 'average' is 3.5-5 inches per month) this latest pattern of dry-dry-wet,wet-dry is really quite challenging for conventional farmers to cope with.
Hence why I'm trying to be as unconventional as possible, to try and survive/thrive on the shortcomings of their methods, have feed when they don't, destock and restock...
Not as mad here as elsewhere on the globe, but our monthly rainfall totals in inches for the YTD:
Jan 13.46
Feb 1.04
March 2.01
April 0.63
May 0.24
June 1.21
(Bearing in mind that our 'average' is 3.5-5 inches per month) this latest pattern of dry-dry-wet,wet-dry is really quite challenging for conventional farmers to cope with.
Hence why I'm trying to be as unconventional as possible, to try and survive/thrive on the shortcomings of their methods, have feed when they don't, destock and restock...
JohnGalway
Member
- Location
- Connemara, Ireland
Just breed out the ones genetically predisposed to having ticklish belliesSo would that mean that if we are to feed higher covers we need taller cattle?
Couldn't help that one
Whitewalker
Member
Did that with the wife ??Just breed out the ones genetically predisposed to having ticklish bellies
Is that a typo for January or has the weather in New Zealand sh!t it's pants?
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
It just does that, occasionally... I think we had about 88mm right at the start of the month and 208mm right at the end - without going through my diary...fair bit of rain for 4½ days - it all depends what angle it comes from as to whether the Catlins hills steer it out to sea or grate the arses out of the clouds and we get a soak.
A low pressure system offshore just drives it in from the east, pretty much guaranteed 3 days of rain in that case. These save the day sometimes, and generate mud at other times. I don't want mud.
A straight southerly here brings snow, as Antarctica begins, 2500km in that direction.
It can also turn it off just as easily, as per the second and 3rd year of us being here, some fairly dry summers by our standards; if Oz is hot then it seems to suck systems further northward up the Tasman and then it just doesn't rain at all. Oz is heating up so we must respond to that.
Hence the tall-grass grazing with old-school pastures and beef cattle seems like a much better propostion for the future than chewing it all down neat and moaning about what happens next...
I'd rather not go back there....
Fairly safe now to wax it off as moisture isn't limiting, of course, but in the summer I think our best bet is to conserve feed on the land than keep feed dry in a barn and leave the land bare. The grass belongs to the land, and it tends to remind us from time to time it doesn't just belong to our livestock
- Location
- West Yorkshire
Cows went to the hill last Saturday there’s a nice bit of cover on the flats due to the long rest since last October but this dry spring has punished it seriously
This was end of last September if I’d would have been knackered by now if I hadn’t committed to buying in next winters grazing like I have done
I thought on the 29 of April when I took this picture i thought I was on top of my game but ohhhh how wrong was I
This was what it looked like on Tuesday just gone with 37 days rest
The plan initially was to be going back into this in another 10/15 days time but I don’t think that is going to happen
Thankfully plenty of crack in the ground to take up what moisture we are getting. Hopefully get a good drink tomorrow.
This was end of last September if I’d would have been knackered by now if I hadn’t committed to buying in next winters grazing like I have done
I thought on the 29 of April when I took this picture i thought I was on top of my game but ohhhh how wrong was I
This was what it looked like on Tuesday just gone with 37 days rest
The plan initially was to be going back into this in another 10/15 days time but I don’t think that is going to happen
Thankfully plenty of crack in the ground to take up what moisture we are getting. Hopefully get a good drink tomorrow.
What is everyone’s plan then ?Does this system suit a dry year or a wet year. Cattle or sheep. If you run a breeding herd or sheep flock with youngsters at foot how easy is it to destock. For dry stock I can see it being more flexible. No criticism just trying to get my head around it. Would like to go more down this route and I know there is a lot of trial and error. Would say we get long winters and are on a clay subsoil wet farm.
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Firstly it's an attitude, a way of thinking, not a "system", just sayin'.
We are struggling here now. Had we fully adopted Holistic Management 10 or even 7 years ago I strongly believe we'd be better placed right now. As it is we are doing better than some in this area who've been feeding out at pasture for weeks.
Get the soil health right and you'll be better placed to face whatever weather you get.