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

[Henarar]

Sadly, no; a "very busy morning at work" meant my phone battery was down to 3% by 3pm about 30mm in the gauge meant no off-road trucking today, so I did my bit for the environment by using the office wifi and then taking Dave for a lap of the block (it was too cold to stand in the breeze).

Heck of a nice chap is Dave, I can confirm the rumour that he will eat cake (under pressure).

I sometimes wish we weren't on opposite sides of the globe, be great to meet more TFF members if you're anything like the ones I've met to date.

well the trip is the same length up or down

 

[Woolless]

The Cutting Edge, Ian Mitchell-Innes

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with Ian Mitchell-Innes. Innes is a rancher who has been using holistic management for over 20 years on his ranch in South Africa. In his own words, Ian has “made mistakes and wishes to share with ranchers and farmers how to avoid costly mistakes.” Ian is teaching others to use holistic management and mob grazing to improve the quality of their finished animal, to improve pastures, and to ultimately make cattle ranches more profitable. To say his presentation was inspiring would be a great understatement. I left the workshop and drove immediately to my ranch to make some changes to my rotation. During the clinic, he refused to give any specific numbers; he just spoke about grazing, about cattle, about grass, and about the return we get for our work with animals. He is a walking talking quote machine, and I present for your consideration a list of my favorite quotes from the day:

“Whether you like it or not we are in the energy business”

“I’m no expert. Experts know it all. Truthfully, in the subject I am teaching, I’ll never know it all.”

“A cow has no need to breed, she just wants to live for that day.”

“Most people would rather go broke slowly than change”

“Anything that is stressed breeds. Grass goes to seed, seed means lost value. Keep your grasses in a vegetative state.”

“When you are feeding an animal you are not feeding the animal, you are feeding the bacteria in the rumen. Bacteria feed better on non-lignified material.”

“Animals need parasites as part of their immune system.”

“Expensive food changes governments.”

“You get a better return from trampled grass on the ground then you do from putting it through the animal.”

“Plan for what you want, manage what you have.”

“All formulas fail to manage chaos. You must remain flexible.”

“If there is ever a problem at the farm, look in the mirror.”

“Question every time you have got to spend money.”

“Spend more time with your livestock watching them.”

I encourage anyone interested in grazing and learning how to lower your overhead costs using holistic management to attend one of Ian Mitchell-Innes workshops. There are a lot of paradigms we have to change when it comes to way that we raise our livestock and these guys are at the forefront of innovation in the field of grass farming (pun intended).

Flogged from Facebook

I've finished the Greg Judy book now, really enjoyed it. He speaks very highly of Ian Mitchell-Innes. It would be a great opportunity to see someone of that calibre over here.

I'm on to Alan Savory's book now. Not quite as easy to read but very though provoking.

 

[ShooTa]

a couple of photos from the other day - would be interested in folks opinions.

filed brocken into 4 paddocks - far left was 3 days - then far right 2 days and near left 2 days.. as the rain was making a mcuk of them and as this field is a floodplain the groundwater was beginning to puddle in some spots... eek.
hand photos are from the 2 day paddock near right after i moved them.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I've finished the Greg Judy book now, really enjoyed it. He speaks very highly of Ian Mitchell-Innes. It would be a great opportunity to see someone of that calibre over here.

I'm on to Alan Savory's book now. Not quite as easy to read but very though provoking.

He's bloody good value.
Definitely not someone who rephrases things 'just to be nice', one of his missing quotes is "you may as well take your money to town" which he trots out quite often.
I was lucky enough to spend an extra few hours with him during his last visit as he was staying with friends of ours, his opinion of modern dairy grazing practices was..... interesting to say the least..

Especially in regards to how we overload our livestock with protein and beat our chests about 'animal welfare' etc etc

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Pete I'm trying to find your post about the value of locking carbon at different depths in the soil profile and can't. Was it this thread or 1 of the others?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Pete I'm trying to find your post about the value of locking carbon at different depths in the soil profile and can't. Was it this thread or 1 of the others?

Not sure, I post that much twaddle I can't remember where!
Maybe the "water holding capacity" thread?

It's extremely important, IMO, because if you get a heap of "nutrient" washed too deep for your ryegrass roots, where will it end up?
That's why reseeds are often plagued with deeprooted biennial "weeds", because in effect the reseed is growing hydroponically in the very top horizon, and the rest of the species have access to the whole topsoil/subsoil and it's contents.

But, if you let those species do their job, they pump it upward and let you recover your fertiliser spend to an extent, as well as sequestering C at depth which not only increases your soil depth effectively, but also reduces leaching and compaction

Pretty big wins from weeds doing their thing, a big loss if we spray them away

 

[Kiwi Pete]

a couple of photos from the other day - would be interested in folks opinions.

filed brocken into 4 paddocks - far left was 3 days - then far right 2 days and near left 2 days.. as the rain was making a mcuk of them and as this field is a floodplain the groundwater was beginning to puddle in some spots... eek.
hand photos are from the 2 day paddock near right after i moved them.
View attachment 844467View attachment 844468View attachment 844469View attachment 844470

Looks good to me, plenty of litter to feed your soil during the wet season before you are getting to bare soil.
You'll be surprised how soon your soil "eats" that, hard to have too much litter, I always think I've left enough and it never is

 

[exmoor dave]

Found a great alternative to work this afternoon - shooting the sh!t with @exmoor dave

Great to meet you, mate, thanks for expanding my tiny mind
We hope the rest of your NZ trip exceeds all expectation.

Great to meet you and your family Pete! ?

I had a fantastic afternoon, thank's for explaining out all the stuff I've noticed on our drive around nz so far, in particular why there are loading shutes everywhere and how the stock trucks work.
Great drive round the district to look over hedges and see what everyone else is up to! ??
Most of all thanks for the explanation of how things are agriculturally in nz, like I said yesterday, here in the UK we're sort of lead to believe its all immense grazing detail and electric fences in nz, but where we've been driving through we've not seen it, there's certainly alot of permanent fence lines, but field sizes don't really seem very different to ours in the uk, although there seems to be more division of very steep higher country with fences running down and across slopes, where here we'd probably have one big grazing block.
Certainly plenty of "gates open set stocking" in NZ ?

Wife was alseep when I got back to the hotel ??

On tourist stuff today ??

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Just finished reading "For the love of soil" by Nicole Masters. I thought I'd share a few tiny bits from the very end:

 

[Samcowman]

Now I’ve got through TB testing and working at Holistic Management Handbook, that will be my next one to read. Just have to get through it before Laura does.
@Kiwi Pete the question we are all asking is does @exmoor dave look like his picture on here? ?

 

[Poorbuthappy]

@Kiwi Pete the question we are all asking is does @exmoor dave look like his picture on here? ?

Well he didn't before he got married. I've not seen him since yet....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Great to meet you and your family Pete! ?

I had a fantastic afternoon, thank's for explaining out all the stuff I've noticed on our drive around nz so far, in particular why there are loading shutes everywhere and how the stock trucks work.
Great drive round the district to look over hedges and see what everyone else is up to! ??
Most of all thanks for the explanation of how things are agriculturally in nz, like I said yesterday, here in the UK we're sort of lead to believe its all immense grazing detail and electric fences in nz, but where we've been driving through we've not seen it, there's certainly alot of permanent fence lines, but field sizes don't really seem very different to ours in the uk, although there seems to be more division of very steep higher country with fences running down and across slopes, where here we'd probably have one big grazing block.
Certainly plenty of "gates open set stocking" in NZ ?

Wife was alseep when I got back to the hotel ??

On tourist stuff today ??

It's really nothing like what is described on the net, eh?
Most NZ farmers have drunk from the same koolaide as anywhere else, ie it's fertiliser that grows grass and quality is king.
Springtime makes me weep, all the open gates and shitty sheep - hardly the Mecca of great grazing practices... there's a good third of your pasture production lost for the sake of convenience

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Now I’ve got through TB testing and working at Holistic Management Handbook, that will be my next one to read. Just have to get through it before Laura does.
@Kiwi Pete the question we are all asking is does @exmoor dave look like his picture on here? ?

I was surprised just how fresh he looked, given the past week I would be looking a lot more "Doc" than "Marty"

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I was surprised just how fresh he looked, given the past week I would be looking a lot more "Doc" than "Marty"

Must be the refreshing Owaka air

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Neighbour's place tidied up

We put the cattle on for 4 days and the hoggets for 2 days, cattle home and hoggs still there.

Still raining

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Well, as of today it would appear that I'm a proper "environmental professional".

I aim to try to start up an agriculture group within CIWEM next year now......

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Well, as of today it would appear that I'm a proper "environmental professional".

View attachment 844769

I aim to try to start up an agriculture group within CIWEM next year now......

Great stuff!

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Great stuff!

It just might help me be accepted in some circles when promoting agro-ecology and ecological restoration.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

View attachment 844673
Neighbour's place tidied up

We put the cattle on for 4 days and the hoggets for 2 days, cattle home and hoggs still there.

Still raining

Calves didn't escape my good fence
I think we will sell the herefordx and the limx yearling heifers (don't like them much, the one at the front, and at the back) and buy some South Devon/Sim heifers instead, my mate saw a post on FB and rang me up to see if we were interested.
He reared them on a bucket and says he'd rather they came here than end up in a burger.

I think we may sell most all the bulls TBH, which then frees us up for dairy heifer grazing without the risk of unplanned intromissions, and also frees up funds to get a few nice heifers; 6 2 year olds and 6 yearlings is about enough capital stock for now

 

[texas pete]

It just might help me be accepted in some circles when promoting agro-ecology and ecological restoration.

You may have to grow a beard and wear sandals too...