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

[Kiwi Pete]

Another unfair advantage...

Road chippings typically sell for £200 per 20 ton load fresh from the road here. Can be twice that from a stock holder.

This actually used to be under a water tank! I think I had about 4.5 tonnes on my little trailer by the time I called it "loaded" and went back for the rest after.

Then activated the hoist - tilted the trailer up with the loader, and it fell off

"there"

and that's where the tank goes. perfick

I was going to use a bit of string and a board to assist the "1 circle, must be perfectly level, and perfectly flat, and perfectly round" but I like a challenge - so I just took a rake up and puddled away at it

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Do you get "reject chip", we have abit of that for spreading on people's driveways etc
This stuff I think has maybe had fine aggregate on top or maybe mixed in, perfect really for bedding a tank down on.

One tank has always sat on a slight list to starboard and it's annoyed me greatly!
Good excuse to shift it up there, rather than spend a couple of grand on a new tank and still have a wonky tank (that I see from everywhere I look)
2 full tanks would last the shed full of cattle for a week without rain before it needed help from the mains, in theory it should keep a ranch full of cattle for a day over summer, which will help to keep the flow up.
My mate services all the retic systems in the area and he'll supply the double checkvalve (fell out of his pocket somewhere) and there'll be an airgap also with the tank valve setup

(I know the concern about cow minerals going into the town supply hence the clarifications)

I might roll out the pipe on Sunday and leave it lying straight for a while; going to shoot some targets tomorrow afternoon then tb testing/blood testing the cattle Monday afternoon so the heifers can go boating after.
Need to pick up the EID replacement tags from town before the tb test so I will go shopping for tapping saddles and joiners and all the other plumbing bits

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Do you get "reject chip", we have abit of that for spreading on people's driveways etc
This stuff I think has maybe had fine aggregate on top or maybe mixed in, perfect really for bedding a tank down on.

One tank has always sat on a slight list to starboard and it's annoyed me greatly!
Good excuse to shift it up there, rather than spend a couple of grand on a new tank and still have a wonky tank (that I see from everywhere I look)
2 full tanks would last the shed full of cattle for a week without rain before it needed help from the mains, in theory it should keep a ranch full of cattle for a day over summer, which will help to keep the flow up.
My mate services all the retic systems in the area and he'll supply the double checkvalve (fell out of his pocket somewhere) and there'll be an airgap also with the tank valve setup

(I know the concern about cow minerals going into the town supply hence the clarifications)

I might roll out the pipe on Sunday and leave it lying straight for a while; going to shoot some targets tomorrow afternoon then tb testing/blood testing the cattle Monday afternoon so the heifers can go boating after.
Need to pick up the EID replacement tags from town before the tb test so I will go shopping for tapping saddles and joiners and all the other plumbing bits

Reject chip? Never heard of it here...

 

[Samcowman]

Reject chip? Never heard of it here...

That’ll be the stuff pikeys turn up with with the excuse the had it ‘left over’ put it down then turn around and tell you it wasn’t free whilst scoping out your quad bike.

 

[ShooTa]

we get road planings.. thats pretty close.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Reject chip? Never heard of it here...

Just the chip that's a tad too small; if they put big and small chip together then the seal would lift or they'd need to do two layers to get a flat surface, so they just screen the smaller stuff out and sell it

(They don't roll the chip after laying the tar, just let the traffic do it then brush away anything that doesn't stick)

 

[martian]

Another unfair advantage...

Road chippings typically sell for £200 per 20 ton load fresh from the road here. Can be twice that from a stock holder.

That's the problem with living in the posh bit of the county...quite a lot cheaper up here!

(They don't roll the chip after laying the tar, just let the traffic do it then brush away anything that doesn't stick)

They give this stiff away too, it's no good for track making but perfect for what Pets's up to

 

[Kiwi Pete]

That's the problem with living in the posh bit of the county...quite a lot cheaper up here!

They give this stiff away too, it's no good for track making but perfect for what Pets's up to

Our Dept of Conservation use heaps of it for topping up walking tracks, they often helicopter it in and just spread the piles out with a team of rake drivers.

No good for vehicle tracks because it keeps moving and then you have 'a whoop section' on every slope

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Our Dept of Conservation use heaps of it for topping up walking tracks, they often helicopter it in and just spread the piles out with a team of rake drivers.

No good for vehicle tracks because it keeps moving and then you have 'a whoop section' on every slope

Surely Jacky will ground the helicopters to meet her climate ambitions and it'll all be done with wheelbarrows in future

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Bloody aircraft

 

[crashbox]

Now here's a question.
Anyone know for good value batt latch or similar?
I find I can get best compromise between utilisation and "hoof impact" by letting the dairy cows have a fresh patch every day... But time constraints mean I'm currently doing one piece per day (i.e. two grazing sessions)...
CB

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Now here's a question.
Anyone know for good value batt latch or similar?
I find I can get best compromise between utilisation and "hoof impact" by letting the dairy cows have a fresh patch every day... But time constraints mean I'm currently doing one piece per day (i.e. two grazing sessions)...
CB

I think they are reasonably pricey wherever you get them from. (Or, I've not seen a price anywhere that makes me want to jump)
They're about NZ$495 +GST here if that gives you something to go off and the remote trigger kit is about $1300 or so (so you can let the cows come in for milking when you wake up in the morning, or shift them earlier than the preset time).

 

[crashbox]

I think they are reasonably pricey wherever you get them from. (Or, I've not seen a price anywhere that makes me want to jump)
They're about NZ$495 +GST here if that gives you something to go off and the remote trigger kit is about $1300 or so (so you can let the cows come in for milking when you wake up in the morning, or shift them earlier than the preset time).

Blimey think I'll stick to moving the reel...
Here's the best value I've found, similar to what you said KP...

Batt Latch Gate Release • Kiwikit

KiwiKit are the UK's premium supplier of high quality Farming Equipment, Agricultural Clothing & Footwear, Fencing, and Veterinary Supplies. Great prices, excellent service and support.

www.kiwikit.co.uk

 

[crashbox]

@som farmer I just had a look through Elliot's "30 years of the Clifton park farming system" and he recommends a seed mix up to 47 pounds per acre (c. 20kgs)!
I stick to 14kg... With herbal leys, cocksfoot etc. reckon there are so many smaller seeds there should be more for your money than say Italian Ryegrass.
I watched an AHDB webinar on herbal leys, and one speaker said they had done trial plots with 14kgs and 20kgs per acre and found no benefit in diversity of species sown with higher seed rate.
But I'm most interested in dry matter production, both above ground and below it, not sure if that's the same.

 

[crashbox]

Any thoughts on required stocking density to get soil heath benefits?
100,000 pounds per acre (I.e. 65 fair cattle per acre)?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Any thoughts on required stocking density to get soil heath benefits?
100,000 pounds per acre (I.e. 65 fair cattle per acre)?

I would say double that

but I would, wouldn't I? What do you want to achieve with your acre and 65 cows "for soil health" might depend what the "weak link" or resource concern is

In a dairy grazing system we found it was useful to "milk them into a small paddock" and then shift them into another one when they all got there, and then another with the fence that made the first paddock, so by lunchtime nap time they'd had a nice walk and 3 short shifts, rather than "this is your break, girls"

 

[GC74]

Been reading 'Dirt to soil' by Gabe Brown. He was talking about the importance of plants 'communicating' with mycorrhizal fungi to get the nutrients they require. Some modern varieties are unable to do this and hence are completely reliant on artificial inputs.

Does he have anything to back that up?

Seems a stretch that modern varieties can’t speak plant lingo or that MF can’t speak to them. Typical plant breeding is fairly straight forward. GMO I suppose could technically remove a gene that allows communication but they’re pretty specific in the ones they play with...

Much more likely in my mind that plants have been bred to produce so much more they are no longer able to consistently source their requirements from the environment and rely on inputs.

Gabe quotes a dr Wendy Taheri she works for the USDA-ARS. She has some good papers available on line. One of them is on Mycorrhizal fungi

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Landscaping mode activated

This is kinda what I meant by "safe to fail experiments" or "probes": tested a 200 day speed against 133 day speed; and I like the result.
Left everything the same, but 2 shifts instead of 3 shifts . 7 weeks growth in front of 'em.

This is the 50x20 cell size that will be the "standard" of our techno system, I need to test that that shape is square enough that it works on a slope with a mix of animals in it, if I wasn't happy then I'd redesign the systems it but it looks to be fine

35 China-bound heifers + 1 stud AA bull
5 cows in late lactation, 14 calves
3 incalf yearling heifers
3 more bulls
3 steers
5 yearling steers
One barren cow

Don't know what the LWT of the mob would be, over 20 tonne but not 25

How's that for science @crashbox ?

 

[som farmer]

got to admit your cattle look well, must be doing something right ! Don't know what your store cattle prices are like, over here, you would have to sit down, to get over the shock.
My question about why grass seed rates have increased 250% since 1970 produced some good 'stir up' on the grass seed thread, most thinking me to be incredibly tight. It produced one suprising answer though, EU rules allow for lower germination rates, couple that with 0.7% 'rubbish', dead husk, stem etc, a bag of seed could be as low as 66.5 % viable, so important to check origin.
It was definitely a mistake to get my old college textbooks out of the cupboard, the way we do things now.... a lot could be relearnt, to our advantage. One thing i will alter with grass seed, we only use medium to large leaf w clover, on the principle cows don't/can't eat the smaller leaf varieties, we will include some, to try and 'thicken' ground cover, and they will put extra N back in, as well.
Found some info about using clover swards, and drilling w wheat in them, that must have been in my 'memory bank' when i said about drilling wheat into a clover stand. I think further browsing is called for, i may regain some useful thoughts, it is, however, scary to see how farming has altered.

 

[GC74]

Surely Jacky will ground the helicopters to meet her climate ambitions and it'll all be done with wheelbarrows in future

The funny thing with Cindy and co is you probably right but you have it the wrong way round.....helicopters and flying are “good” it will be keeping the wheelbarrow will be the problem