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

[Samcowman]

Yeah, we have a couple of instigators in the mob that I only need to walk up on, to get them rowdy and ready for a stoush. It's like a jar full of wasps

Still not sure you aren’t talking about this place ?

Haha, no chance of that. Turns out they wanted someone who knows how to look after grazing livestock, and maybe actually owned one or two already. Who knew?

(Anyway, I only ever seem to post on here to grumble nowadays. Sorry about that. Must remain positive!)

ETA and @Sharpy and @RushesToo, don't be sad at my post, it's just normal succession rubbish. I'm really fortunate in many ways to have the opportunity to farm, but not the necessity to. It'll all come good. Including the continuous grazing (which is something to be sad about).

Being a radiator and not a drain is easier said than done. I keep trying though.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

If he's too busy, I'll do the legwork at this end. Might even take the opportunity to import some other kiwi stuff that's good but expensive/unobtainable here (says he wearing his favourite pair of trousers, made and purchased in NZ a decade ago, and still going strong).

I sense a joint venture coming on....

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I've got 45 landlords for 200 acres. ,?

You win. 45 FRENCH landlords, WTF

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Still not sure you aren’t talking about this place ?

Being a radiator and not a drain is easier said than done. I keep trying though.

Funny you should say that, in a roundabout way "here" is exactly what turned on that light-bulb of possibility

As Henarar says the odd instigator stirs up forum traffic, and having my cattle "amped up" means more hoof traffic in the paddock

though if TFF was my ranch I'd be getting some tests done and booking in a few culls

 

[awkward]

Go quarter rate fert if you like. Or stay with the half.

There is no reason to rush into zero fert. The biggest failure in the regen movement are failure to meet peoples expectations.

People hear great stories, low/no inputs, healthy soil, blah blah blah. Then they want it overnight. Next year. Within 3 years. These things can take 5 years, 10 years, 30 years, to start to really show great improvement.

I think of fertilizer as an addiction for the soil. It's grown a dependancy on it, an addiction to it. You remove the fertilizer it has withdrawals, it gets sick, it takes time for it to recover and become healthy. If you start to wean it off the fertilizer then you can gradually acclimate it to its new status and you can acclimate yourself to the results. A drunk performs better when drunk than when sober, it takes them time to get back to a point where they perform better sober.

Just because you seed a soil, doesn't mean that seed will grow automatically. It waits until the conditions are right. Just because you remove fertilizer from a rotation doesn't mean your soil will rebound automatically. It needs circumstances to help get it to a self sufficient place. The circumstances could just be time or it could be managed grazing of some sort or it could be something else.

In the switch towards regenerative the economics can rarely be ignored. Farmers need the land to continue producing for them to at least some degree. Our experiences give us the comfort that those economics will be met. Our experiences with production are largely based on using fertilizer. Just as the soil cannot be expected to perform the same when removing fertilizer all at once, our comfort in our economics cannot be expected to be there when removing it all at once.

Do what makes you comfortable. Don't create expectations that cannot fit your requirements as then you'll only end up disappointed and potentially economically short and then become disenfranchised with the entire idea. What works on someone else's land and in their situation is probably never going to work in yours.

GOLD !!

 

[CornishTone]

GOLD !!

Think I might frame it![emoji57]

 

[Crofter64]

What's left behind are the 4 P's: phosphate, potash, parasites and problems

Brilliant!

 

[onesiedale]

Think I might frame it![emoji57]

I bookmarked it with a

 

[Crofter64]

View attachment 866748
They got the idea really fast. Didn't even need coaxing for their next shift.
Maybe having to walk under the wire for a drink helped them get comfy with the new regime, but gosh it speeds things up and simplifies things.

Now they can have 2 cells overnight without having to roll anything back, and I don't even need to wait for them to cross into the new cell if I'm in a hurry.

Next evolution will be to automate the process a little, with timers

How tight/loose does the twine have to be so you can lift it that high? Do you have a spring in your line?

 

[Fenwick]

You win. 45 FRENCH landlords, WTF

Truth is it's actually fine.
In France when you rent Land it's better than owning it. It's cheap, you do whatever you want, You can't be kicked out, and if ever it is sold you get first offer, and at a reasonable price.

I get on fine with all my landlords many of them but their beef from me.

I own a couple if fields in England too on the Somerset/Dorset border. Which is bring mob grazed by thé tenants. I have confidence in them and have Never gotten involved with what they do or why.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

How tight/loose does the twine have to be so you can lift it that high? Do you have a spring in your line?

Not very loose. It depends how close to a stake you want to prop it up really.
Looking at my fences on a calmer day they aren't very tight, maybe they sag ten inches between stakes at 25 metre spacings?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Good to see the kids are out making the most of "lockdown" today. It was a great day here for a change.

I can see them, but the blonde one is easier to spot than his big bro.

 

[Treg]

Good to see the kids are out making the most of "lockdown" today. It was a great day here for a change.

View attachment 867312
I can see them, but the blonde one is easier to spot than his big bro.

One above is & the other above lo in blonde, if not then their hiding behind the trees on the far right

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Hard to spot .

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

View attachment 867330
Hard to spot .

OMG, you're raising herbivores!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

OMG, you're raising herbivores!

Lockdown is proving to be quite a lot of fun for them so far.
Having the time of their lives, hopefully it's not just me that's feeling unusually liberated by more "time in the day"

 

[Farmer Roy]

https://www.facebook.com/463513093798780/posts/1543200789163333

 

[JohnGalway]

Just had a bit of a s**t time, so I videoed it

Waiting in ID's of all the critters

 

[exmoor dave]

Techno fencing and micro do dar troughs..... so yesterday....

..... H stakes, baler cord and nearly new wire scabbed off the landlord is where it's all at! ?
The wavey pattern is all about building strength in the line ?


It's also a defining moment of my life..... the moment I realised I've gone past the point of no return of turning in to my dad ?

Even used dad's special tensioning knot ?

 

[JohnGalway]

Techno fencing and micro do dar troughs..... so yesterday....

View attachment 867493
..... H stakes, baler cord and nearly new wire scabbed off the landlord is where it's all at! ?
The wavey pattern is all about building strength in the line ?


It's also a defining moment of my life..... the moment I realised I've gone past the point of no return of turning in to my dad ?

Even used dad's special tensioning knot ?

View attachment 867494

Old git status : achieved ?