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

[GreenerGrass]

@Crofter64 Shes a 3yr old lleyn pedigree.
@GreenerGrass tbh i havnt a clue - im not hot on my grass ID -im getting better

No worries, do you see them eating the fine leaved stuff with brown tops and small seed heads? Mine just don't touch it. Looking online seems ok forage crop, but my sheep disagree!! Good app is plant net it's free, and you just take photos and it gives you matches, so far so good with it. It's apple and android, give it a try!

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Cow virtual fence trials encouraging: Pamu

A company trialling virtual fencing for cows in Otago using electronic collars says tests show encouraging results. Pamu Farms, which is the brand...

www.odt.co.nz

NZ trial of the E-Shepherd electric collars seems to be going well

 

[Bury the Trash]

Just finished up my first batch of compost tea. Don’t have a sprayer for it for the grass so just using it on the garden for now. Let’s see if it makes a difference! (It’d be hard not to, I really haven’t fertilized anything )

View attachment 825602

View attachment 825603

Yeah nice, jes needs 3 sugars and plenty of milk

 

[Treg]

Have been reading a article on cow efficiency with the results shown below

Clearly shows a continental x beef Shorthorn being lighter is more efficient which proved the articles point, smaller cows are more efficient ... but in the same magazine there is another article with a farm running pedigree Beef shorthorns

These cows are clearly heavier than the lighter efficient cows but hang on by my reckoning their 15% more efficient.

 

[Samcowman]

Look at the age of the calves. The first are at 200 days which is standard for weaning efficiency. The second is 270 days. So on a direct comparison only 37.5%

 

[Treg]

Look at the age of the calves. The first are at 200 days which is standard for weaning efficiency. The second is 270 days. So on a direct comparison only 37.5%

Thank you @Samcowman thought I mite have been missing something!

 

[Samcowman]

Thank you @Samcowman thought I mite have been missing something!

No worries.

 

[Treg]

No worries.

Actually thinking about it 200 days is very early for weaning so that gives advantage to smaller cows . Really the calves need weighing through to finishing to know which cow is the most efficient.
I know some of the integrated beef scheme buyers are refusing to buy calves from smaller cows as they struggle to finish them in spec .
What I'm trying to say is if a small cow rears a calf to 42% of her weight in 200 days but then the calfs weigh gain slows because it's getting close to it's mature weight is it any more efficient than a larger cow who's calf maybe 3% less at 200 days but at 400 days?? Are they equal? Has the larger cows calf over taken the smaller cows calf % wise by then? Which one finishes quicker? Which one is in spec?

 

[Samcowman]

Actually thinking about it 200 days is very early for weaning so that gives advantage to smaller cows . Really the calves need weighing through to finishing to know which cow is the most efficient.
I know some of the integrated beef scheme buyers are refusing to buy calves from smaller cows as they struggle to finish them in spec .
What I'm trying to say is if a small cow rears a calf to 42% of her weight in 200 days but then the calfs weigh gain slows because it's getting close to it's mature weight is it any more efficient than a larger cow who's calf maybe 3% less at 200 days but at 400 days?? Are they equal? Has the larger cows calf over taken the smaller cows calf % wise by then? Which one finishes quicker? Which one is in spec?

Not saying you wean the calf at 200 days it’s just a number of days that’s used as an average so all calves are compared at the same age. I presume it’s also by that age that the calf is taking more of its nutrition from forage than milk. Our calves get weaned all at once in the autumn depending on housing date so they could be 9 months through to 7 months.
There needs to be a balance between meeting spec for finishing and efficiency and it’s probably around 650-700 mature weight over here.
Body condition score also needs to be taken into account when doing this.
Cow weaning efficiency is a tool for comparing cows. There are other tools available to the farmer which I would use before weaning efficiency in culling decisions but it would be something to keep an eye on nevertheless particularly when choosing the bulls to sure your replacements.

 

[Treg]

Not saying you wean the calf at 200 days it’s just a number of days that’s used as an average so all calves are compared at the same age. I presume it’s also by that age that the calf is taking more of its nutrition from forage than milk. Our calves get weaned all at once in the autumn depending on housing date so they could be 9 months through to 7 months.
There needs to be a balance between meeting spec for finishing and efficiency and it’s probably around 650-700 mature weight over here.
Body condition score also needs to be taken into account when doing this.
Cow weaning efficiency is a tool for comparing cows. There are other tools available to the farmer which I would use before weaning efficiency in culling decisions but it would be something to keep an eye on nevertheless particularly when choosing the bulls to sure your replacements.

Yes it's all about balance in everything we do - type of cow , how we graze , how we manage our lives , it all comes down to balance in the end

 

[Farmer Roy]

Just something I observed earlier in the year when we were sorting some sheep. Near a shed we had set up mobile race system. Some of the pen was set on a crop of winter barley. Sheep caused a lot of impact grazing over a few hours. Barley tillered like mad and looks very well now. Granted it did have Nitrogen applied as well but got me thinking, if there was some practical way of grazing barley or wheat off at the correct growth stage quickly what sort of yields could be achieved without N

Common practice here in the higher rainfall / southern Cropping reagions to grow dual purpose graze / grain crops. Long season winter wheats main example. Sow early, graze, then lock it up & harvest grain.
There is also increasing interest & work towards dual purpose grazing / grain canola as well

 

[Hard Graft]

By the way, I love this group!

We exhibited at Groundswell last week, and the very first person who came into our stand at 8 AM marched right in and said, "You liked me on The Farming Forum. Can you tell me why?" Which of course opened up a fantastic conversation. Thank you to The Farming Forum for making these much-needed human connections possible!

Here is a link to Allan Savory's first talk at Groundswell last week. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/_lv1ptAQHso

just catching up on this thread and it was nice to meet you

 

[onesiedale]

So, been for a long walk this evening and took a few pictures of where the R2 s have been grazing on this lump of limestone that we have sat above our cow's platform. Where I've photo'd would have been grazed 2nd - 7th July, so that's roughly a 40ish day rest.
Before;

After;

 

[onesiedale]

Another before;

After;

And lastly, before;

and after;

I'm thinking now I'll be allowed to have a budget to put some real electric wire up instead of reels and reels and reels of feckin' polywire

 

[Henarar]

Another before;
View attachment 826898
After;
View attachment 826899
And lastly, before;
View attachment 826900
and after;
View attachment 826901

I'm thinking now I'll be allowed to have a budget to put some real electric wire up instead of reels and reels and reels of feckin' polywire

what will you use ?

 

[onesiedale]

what will you use ?

The hill is a 120 acre block currently ring fenced. It varies in height from 700 - 1200 feet. Whilst there is some 'extreme' grassland there, I reckon about ¾ of it could be paddocked to give some really useful grazing.
The plan is to erect maybe 5 or 6 runs of single strand steel wire to divide the hill into manageable sections in which I could easily subdivide with temporary fences to get the stocking densities and impact up where it needs to be.
Strategic strainer posts will be put in (where we can pick spots with soil depth) then will use a mix of warratah and steel tipped fibre glass posts.
Electric will come from a solar box.
Water will be a big ask as there is only one tank up with there (with very low pressure) . Looking at some way of pumping up from our dairy. This summer I've used a portable trough which I must admit has been good, but on the limit of it's capabilities due to flow/pressure
Any thoughts/ideas on water supply would be welcome

 

[ShooTa]

can i suggest some race track style fences - i do like em - ie a simngle length that runs down the center of a paddock that you rotate around it - allows you to travers up and down one side whilkst the animals are on the other...

water wise - could you use a series of IBCs that are linked up the land - then some form of pump that lifts water up to the topmost tank (a battery+solar bildge pump or ramp pump) it wouldnt have to lift alot as you have 40 odd days to move the water up and then each tank would do 1-X days per mob

 

[Samcowman]

Any chance of putting a header tank in on the highest point to then fill the trough from there?
Also setting up semi permanent laneways has worked well for me this year as the cross fences only need to be short.
Bloody good change on the grass there. Putting us to shame. Any idea of growth rates on it?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

The hill is a 120 acre block currently ring fenced. It varies in height from 700 - 1200 feet. Whilst there is some 'extreme' grassland there, I reckon about ¾ of it could be paddocked to give some really useful grazing.
The plan is to erect maybe 5 or 6 runs of single strand steel wire to divide the hill into manageable sections in which I could easily subdivide with temporary fences to get the stocking densities and impact up where it needs to be.
Strategic strainer posts will be put in (where we can pick spots with soil depth) then will use a mix of warratah and steel tipped fibre glass posts.
Electric will come from a solar box.
Water will be a big ask as there is only one tank up with there (with very low pressure) . Looking at some way of pumping up from our dairy. This summer I've used a portable trough which I must admit has been good, but on the limit of it's capabilities due to flow/pressure
Any thoughts/ideas on water supply would be welcome

How far is it from your dairy?
Probably the most expensive way is the best, it usually is with water; run a line and put a big tank on your hill?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

So, been for a long walk this evening and took a few pictures of where the R2 s have been grazing on this lump of limestone that we have sat above our cow's platform. Where I've photo'd would have been grazed 2nd - 7th July, so that's roughly a 40ish day rest.
Before;
View attachment 826896
After;
View attachment 826897

Bloody good advert for planned grazing
I thought it didn't work in the UK, in fact we've been reliably informed that it doesn't/won't/can't work.......