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

[awkward]

the wind here could strip the grass off the ground at times. pretty exposed to the atlantic

 

[Kiwi Pete]

the wind here could strip the grass off the ground at times. pretty exposed to the atlantic

Quite similar here at times, the hill behind me is the only thing between us and Antarctica.
These new tractors with 4-pillar cabs are pretty often seen without doors
just take them both off and wear a coat

It is pretty necessary just where we are to have some shelter in each paddock, even if it is just natural contour or a bank, but my land definitely needs some trees.
It's too blank.
It looks like "a farm" too much

 

[Farmer Roy]

 

[Poorbuthappy]

It's a tricky one, our climate does require a fair bit of wind (luckily we get it) to keep the soil working
A neighbour of ours on the old farm was the agroforestry association chairman and absolutely wrecked his farm with too much shelter, and the settlers with their fires wrecked it by burning the original shelter

So it does require a bit of planning and foresight just to get the right effects with plantings, if you want to create microclimates it is good for growth when it's cold but can hinder things when it's wet..

You're right though, many Americans see my pictures and cannot believe "how open the landscape is" considering the wind we get.

Where we are is called Leeside for good reason though, doesn't look much of a hill behind us but it is a different climate up there cold and windy, and only a few hundred feet up above the estuary behind us.

What's your thinking behind the "soil needs wind" theory Pete?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What's your thinking behind the "soil needs wind" theory Pete?

Really just for drying and seed dispersal reasons our soil is really susceptible to getting a cap, even rain events can seal off the air from the soil profile.
Without good airflow, it can stay like that for a fair while!
Windbreaks are good here because the stop the intensity of the wind bit still let a lot through.
Hedges (unless they have good gaps) tend to get blown over, it's not really flat enough for low hedges to be as effective as larger trees spread out more - unsure if that makes sense?
It's to do with rows, as much as the height

 

[Henarar]

It's a tricky one, our climate does require a fair bit of wind (luckily we get it) to keep the soil working
A neighbour of ours on the old farm was the agroforestry association chairman and absolutely wrecked his farm with too much shelter, and the settlers with their fires wrecked it by burning the original shelter

So it does require a bit of planning and foresight just to get the right effects with plantings, if you want to create microclimates it is good for growth when it's cold but can hinder things when it's wet..

You're right though, many Americans see my pictures and cannot believe "how open the landscape is" considering the wind we get.

Where we are is called Leeside for good reason though, doesn't look much of a hill behind us but it is a different climate up there cold and windy, and only a few hundred feet up above the estuary behind us.

we are halfway up a hill but it don't matter which way you go from the house its uphill that's because its right beside a stream that bends one way then the other, if its windy in our yard its bloody windy, go up the top of the hill 1/2 a mile and its an overcoat colder in the winter

 

[Henarar]

sounds like a plan

 

[Kiwi Pete]

we are halfway up a hill but it don't matter which way you go from the house its uphill that's because its right beside a stream that bends one way then the other, if its windy in our yard its bloody windy, go up the top of the hill 1/2 a mile and its an overcoat colder in the winter

You must be a proper farmer, our bit is half a mile east to west and half a mile from the front to the back!

(Sun comes from the north)

 

[Osca]

What a great place to live - a bit of everything by the look of it - hill, flatter land - and beach?

 

[Henarar]

You must be a proper farmer, our bit is half a mile east to west and half a mile from the front to the back! View attachment 696488 View attachment 696492
(Sun comes from the north)

quite ring fenced then ?
wish we had that about 160 acres counting grass keep, bits up the road, down the road some on top the hill 2 miles away bits of keep all over the place nearly all stupid shaped fields, some we can't cut some we can't graze all don't help with stuff like planning grazing makes for an interesting life though

 

[Henarar]

looks quite square fields Pete are those dried up streams running through some of the fields ?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

looks quite square fields Pete are those dried up streams running through some of the fields ?

Yes they are wet in the bottom most of the time, the further north the more there is.
Each one is fed by a spring - only one watercourse enters (down the SE corner) but 3 leave.
That's where my gorse lived before I a-salted it, and where these poplars will go.
The paddock furthest north is split by a little crick too, and I will run a contour line of poplar along the bottom to help shade the slope in summer, just to regulate the soil moisture as much as anything.

springs marked in blue.
The water tanks are 53 metres above sea level and about 14 metres where the creeks go out the bottom.
Home here is about 20 - 21 metres, just out of tsunami zone. Town is surrounded by swamp...

Hence the square 5.5 acre paddocks, they can be subdivided off as lifestyle blocks at any point in future. Only have 3 sections already subdivided - about 9 parcels/titles.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What a great place to live - a bit of everything by the look of it - hill, flatter land - and beach?

It is a magic place to call 'home', that's for sure.
I love spending time in the bush, and also love fishing/diving/hunting - so it feels like a dream, I went pig hunting last weekend and was back home early afternoon with a good pig, 15 minutes up the valley and an hour through the bush to my favourite pig track.

Perfect little hobby farm, and I am likely to be working for the local haulage firm soon and that will be a walk to work, once I put a couple of stiles over fences (probably sacks, knowing me)

It is really handy; only being a quick bike ride to school for the kids, and my wife has part-time work in the village as well

The nearest small town is 20 minutes up the road...

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I parted with some brass today

Some calf rearing gear, as I think our "hobby" of rearing a few takes a bit too much time, for just a few... so the logical thing to do is rear a few more than a few.

I picked up a good portable water trough too, which should help simplify grazing in some paddocks, instead of the animals flocking back to the same place all the time, and transferring fertility the wrong way.
Have two extra feeders now, so we can feed about 50 calves at once, if we get keen.
I'm thinking 38-40 at this point in time.
I also scored a couple of near-new calf shelters, a calf-dehorner, a few smaller water troughs, so we are in business.

By "calf shelter", I mean these:

They are each about 7.5 metres long, so they should be handy for nasty days during lambing, and calves, they just poke in the ground and peg down, with a decent metal stake at each end.
I thought it might be a better solution than a shed, with inherent risk of diseases etc.

Can just move them around, instead

I also got a decent submersible pump, so no more lugging buckets

Still have to persuade my wife that I need another EID wand it's a better one than I use now, that will just bluetooth to my phone/scales/computer, instead of mucking around with cords

A bit extravagant but I do like individual weighing, it helps nip any issues early on instead of finding out something is a bit off, too late... the easier the job, the more I'll do it.

......so I may go back for another load yet, beats paying too much tax, and I am normally a proper scrooge...

 

[awkward]

love the idea of the calf shelter

 

[Kiwi Pete]

love the idea of the calf shelter

They are actually really quite cheap, too.

I think they are around $800 / £400 a pop, I paid that for the pair.
Even for hens, as we don't have predators here... I saw heaps of possibilities.
Only need a crowbar and a sledgehammer to put them up

 

[awkward]

whose making them . be very handy to put calves out early on mobile feeder

 

[Kiwi Pete]

https://www.tmcovers.co.nz/rural/calf-shelters/
This transport cover maker in Nelson, NZ made these ones.
They are just a sheet with pockets that hold the fibreglass poles, and eyelets. The end is a semicircle that laces on - I imagine any decent upholsterer would make them, if there isn't something readily available.

Yes they would be ideal for that, calf sheds and shelter paddocks are always in the worst places in NZ.
I think that's where these more temporary structures come into their own, for getting them outside on pasture early without having sick, wet calves.

 

[Osca]

Will they stand up to the wind?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I'll give them a test!
We have a little house-paddock between us and a neighbour, I will put them up in there for a start as my ewes are due to be shorn this week and might like some cover for the first night or two