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

[Kiwi Pete]

cheers - pete - so the laneways were the days allocation and the sub divisions based on feel/intent

Yes, at the top of the hill they were 4-day lanes and by the end they were 2-day blocks, just the shape of that ridge.

 

[Karliboy]

little bit of a update as to where i am at.
now got pressurised water in 4 extra fields so no more siphoning from wells etc (this makes it so much easier being able to use standard hosepipe instead of lumping around blue mdpe pipe

got give some free grass for 29 rounds so thats about 5 weeks worth of winter fodder

finally finished grazing and topping the top field. It looks a tad better now. I am thinking of spreading some 20/10/10 on here just to give it a boost to hopefully get another grazing off and a better trample before winter plus i think N may help break down the waste better?

just started round 3 down home after i think 42 days rest.
i am trying to go super quick on this round leaving more as i want to go again around again in another 28 days as i am going away on hols for a few days so lord knows what i will come back to with pops looking after things as i am sure he wont do as i tell him.

 

[Crofter64]

little bit of a update as to where i am at.
now got pressurised water in 4 extra fields so no more siphoning from wells etc (this makes it so much easier being able to use standard hosepipe instead of lumping around blue mdpe pipe
View attachment 899065
got give some free grass for 29 rounds so thats about 5 weeks worth of winter fodder View attachment 899066View attachment 899067
finally finished grazing and topping the top field. It looks a tad better now. I am thinking of spreading some 20/10/10 on here just to give it a boost to hopefully get another grazing off and a better trample before winter plus i think N may help break down the waste better?
View attachment 899068
just started round 3 down home after i think 42 days rest.
i am trying to go super quick on this round leaving more as i want to go again around again in another 28 days as i am going away on hols for a few days so lord knows what i will come back to with pops looking after things as i am sure he wont do as i tell him.
View attachment 899069View attachment 899070

Looking good there Karl. I’m just wondering why you think adding Nitrogen to ’help break down the waste better’ is necessary. What’s the rush?

 

[Karliboy]

Looking good there Karl. I’m just wondering why you think adding Nitrogen to ’help break down the waste better’ is necessary. What’s the rush?

dont ask me where as i cant remember but i read it some where maybe on another thread on here i think but the little bit of N will help decomposition.
yes there is no rush to decompose it i agree but a little fert will also help get me a decent bite on here again for later in the season where i can hopefully trample some down and also the cattle would hopefully nip the tops of the rushes of again before they get going for the winter ( i may even top the rush again if need be behind the cattle)

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

dont ask me where as i cant remember but i read it some where maybe on another thread on here i think but the little bit of N will help decomposition.
yes there is no rush to decompose it i agree but a little fert will also help get me a decent bite on here again for later in the season where i can hopefully trample some down and also the cattle would hopefully nip the tops of the rushes of again before they get going for the winter ( i may even top the rush again if need be behind the cattle)

You will also delay the soil creating N free of charge by prolonging dependance on bagged. Nature should do all that stuff for you

 

[bendigeidfran]

So, our plans to keep sheep off our home ground until weaning haven't quite worked out, the fields away which we've been grazing on a more standard rotation aren't recovering quite fast enough and I believe grazing short stuff has led to an obvious worm burden. We've dosed the lambs a few times and also a couple of ewes that were struggling.

Still, we can't complain as we've managed to keep them off our home fields until now, last year we had slightly less sheep in and we had to graze here much earlier, the extra time has allowed the legumes to go to seed, the sheep will hopefully eat a lot and spread them around.

We could have weaned lambs this week I suppose but most of them not yet at 90 days old and many not as big as we'd like them to be. So brought the lot home to graze/trample the longer stuff, we'd planned on just ewes coming home so we could really tighten them up for trampling but we'll have to ease them up a bit to ensure lambs are not going hungry and getting set back.

Planning to give approx 0.4ha daily split into two 0.2ha each day, below is what they trampled yesterday evening.
View attachment 899034

They seem to have managed to avoid stepping on a single thistle or dock, so gave them a quick swirl round with the dogs before moving them this morning. They still managed to leave them all!!. When it stops raining I might nip round with the strimmer and knock the tops off them.
View attachment 899035
View attachment 899036
View attachment 899037

The last one is where they are this morning. Very wet today and the forecast is more rain which really helps get the stuff trampled down but I'd like some dry days to get the wool off them.

How many ewes and lambs are in the mob?
We weaned when we sheared the ewes about 80 to 90 days old left a few late lambers with lambs at foot.
Do you lamb mid may?
Late lambs mid may onwards never do quite the same as earlier lambs even though they have more grass.
Mid April seems to be the sweet spot here.

 

[Guleesh]

How many ewes and lambs are in the mob?
We weaned when we sheared the ewes about 80 to 90 days old left a few late lambers with lambs at foot.
Do you lamb mid may?
Late lambs mid may onwards never do quite the same as earlier lambs even though they have more grass.
Mid April seems to be the sweet spot here.

Around 240 ewes most with singles, some empty ewes that won't stay put on the hill and some that lost lambs, and around 220 lambs. The plan is to shear the ewes and move them to a few rough bits away from home to clean them up whilst leaving the lambs home on the areas that didn't grow really long. hopefully we can get them shorn before this weekend and get them weaned next week.

We used to lamb mid April but couldn't do it without feeding, so we moved to May lambing, due on the 1st May. (quite slow lambing this year so most lambs born nearer mid May) whether the feed saving covers the chance of slightly smaller lambs come sale time is questionable, there's probably not much in it, but we'd much rather head down the non feeding route. We saw plenty late springs where April lambing weather was atrocious and lambs never really started growing till mid May when the grass kicked in. Also fits better with rotating stock as it gives time for covers to build so we can bring ewes from the hill and be able to start rotations on smaller areas.

 

[Crofter64]

so far so good, sheep in again today
View attachment 898984View attachment 898985

You just broadcast it and then let the sheep trample it in?
Looks like it worked.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Looking good there Karl. I’m just wondering why you think adding Nitrogen to ’help break down the waste better’ is necessary. What’s the rush?

I've pondered this a while, would more biological N (bugs, bacteria, microbes) result from a small (only a few units) spring dressing of bagged bankrupt-maker, or does it simply create a boom/bust cycle by upsetting natural timings and processes?

(Thanks @Pasty, stole your quote, loved it too much to ever forget it)

 

[jack6480]

You just broadcast it and then let the sheep trample it in?
Looks like it worked.

Drilled sorry and grazing to keep grass down

 

[Tanker driver]

Some mechanical nutritional distribution today.cows out yesterday topped the thistles
A bit of bagged fert some dung on the hill which has been thin on grass all summer ,close the gate for as long as possible and hopefully take us well in to autumn with grass

 

[Blaithin]

Found some happy lines! (They aren’t super obvious in the photo though...)

Not terribly surprised it’s her... she’s a porker. Probably more to do with her being a porker than any grass management I attempt

Be interesting to see how she does once she’s got a calf. Maybe I have a magical breed cross to get me happy lines.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Found some happy lines! (They aren’t super obvious in the photo though...)

Not terribly surprised it’s her... she’s a porker. Probably more to do with her being a porker than any grass management I attempt

Be interesting to see how she does once she’s got a calf. Maybe I have a magical breed cross to get me happy lines.
View attachment 899230

She's in good nick!
I didn't get close to ours in daylight, but I know what they're up to .

 

[Blaithin]

Found some happy lines! (They aren’t super obvious in the photo though...)

Not terribly surprised it’s her... she’s a porker. Probably more to do with her being a porker than any grass management I attempt

Be interesting to see how she does once she’s got a calf. Maybe I have a magical breed cross to get me happy lines.
View attachment 899230

Hah I think the thistle forest behind her is blended in rather well, too

 

[ShooTa]

interesting thing in the PFLA dung beetle deep-dive that DBs dont like spread muck,,,
ive got a major de-worming to do atm - kicking myself as i did fec testing a week ago but as they were heading toward the pens left them .. think ive taken a hit...
must start putting ACV in the water - or getting that fossil shell stuff into the minerals.

 

[Crofter64]

interesting thing in the PFLA dung beetle deep-dive that DBs dont like spread muck,,,
ive got a major de-worming to do atm - kicking myself as i did fec testing a week ago but as they were heading toward the pens left them .. think ive taken a hit...
must start putting ACV in the water - or getting that fossil shell stuff into the minerals.

And move them often , if you can.
Has anyone tried upping th copper in their minerals to help with worms? I usuallyonlym put out cow mineral ( higher in copper) when the cows and sheep are together. I wonder if it helps with worms? I haven’t wormed in many years

 

[ShooTa]

i move them daily - so must have just hit a bad hatch or something.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Found some happy lines! (They aren’t super obvious in the photo though...)

Not terribly surprised it’s her... she’s a porker. Probably more to do with her being a porker than any grass management I attempt

Be interesting to see how she does once she’s got a calf. Maybe I have a magical breed cross to get me happy lines.
View attachment 899230

It's hard to see happy lines when cattle have their winter woollies on, but Buddy certainly isn't going to pieces

the dairy cross steers have a bit less fluff and so it's easier to see on them.
Even the slabby big red friesians look OK but always appear "skinny" compared to the wee butterball beefies.

don't feel bad about having fat stock

 

[Henarar]

It's hard to see happy lines when cattle have their winter woollies on, but Buddy certainly isn't going to pieces View attachment 899360
the dairy cross steers have a bit less fluff and so it's easier to see on them.
Even the slabby big red friesians look OK but always appear "skinny" compared to the wee butterball beefies.View attachment 899362View attachment 899363

don't feel bad about having fat stock

Rather to fat than to thin

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Rather to fat than to thin

That's my theory too, you can always make them work later if they're a bit tubby, harder to balance things if the mob are light or have a big range of condition