- Location
- Derbyshire UK
How do I find your Canadian thread?
Is it friendly? Not like that Forage Tracker thread, man alive they are like cat & dog on there!
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
- Thread starter Kiwi Pete
- Start date
Is it friendly? Not like that Forage Tracker thread, man alive they are like cat & dog on there!
awkward
Member
- Location
- kerry ireland
Good for the processor!,I remember my father saying along time ago now that when we had as many crosses in our pig herd as stood in the graveyard our herd was healthy, as soon as we began to produce the factory elite type of pig health dis-improved .too close breeding , poor bone structure couldnt carry the weight of double muscle amongst many intestinal problems
- Location
- somerset
pig farming is a strange one, we are always told, x breeding, pigs/chicken, has produced the 'ideal', and yet, the pure bred large white, is one of the premier sires for finished pigs ! Dairy cattle are well down the xbred route, and pretty obvious they are 'healthier' and more robust cattle.
But the point re uniform sized beef cattle, a abattoir can be more efficient, and cheaper to run, with a 1 sized carcass, for the wholesale buyer, he knows exactly what he will get, and can buy with confidence, the retailer, again knows exactly what's going to arrive, which makes his selling easier, as everything standard, but the poor old market primestock buyer, has a large selection to choose from, and has to 'pick and choose' to buy the right animal, for each processor, so, may only be able to bid, on a lower % of cattle, in the market. But, UK farmers, have always been independent, and probably always will be.
And in a way no bad thing
- Location
- somerset
define bad ? If, if farmers started to produce 'standard' cattle, which would seriously decrease costs, from abattoir, up the chain, thereby, in theory, allow them to pay more, to the farmer, how can that be bad ? The only downside, is they would keep the cost savings, themselves !
Your last bit answers your question
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
I suspect she means this one https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/get-yer-toque-on.307467/
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Moving cows this morning I stopped to look at the dung from the last 24 hours and was amazed just how much insect activity was going on
Whitewalker
Member
To be fair , a standard animal would make life dull .
Because they are a minefield, some Angus are very good some are very poor most are somewhere in between. Heifers are hard to sell store for various reasons
- Location
- somerset
yes, i agree, but profit is profit, and we have to produce what the market wants, not what we think the market wants. As we have xbred the dairy, really like the assortment of colouring. But the milk, is all white.
What the heck do you guys picture when you say standard? Fields of clones?
Animals here are every size shape and colour. Yeah some bring higher prices at auction, but they are all fairly consistent at finish.
If you want a uniform product, look at your management and try and make that more uniform.
If western and eastern and American feedlots can pull the calf crops from across their entire country and make uniform, good grading products, then there’s no reason the UK can’t.
I was worried without pushing grain to my mongrel foster calves, the guy buying them would be disappointed. In no way are they consistent being different breeds, different herds, different sexes, different ages.... but he feeds them until at least two. By that point they’re all big and surprisingly consistent. With a few outliers that can be traced back to breed and which could have either been butchered earlier or held a bit later.
Everyone seems to want to have animals finished at a specific time yet aren’t necessarily feeding them the required feeds to get them done by that time. I have meat chickens that are supposed to be 6-8 lbs at 6 weeks old. They’re almost 7 weeks and I’d be surprised if they’re 4-5 lbs. Why? Because I didn’t confine them with the type of feed that will get early butcher size. I realize my management will take them longer to get to where I want them. Same with cattle.
Doesn’t have much of anything to do with being standard animals if you can recognize your management effects.
Animals here are every size shape and colour. Yeah some bring higher prices at auction, but they are all fairly consistent at finish.
If you want a uniform product, look at your management and try and make that more uniform.
If western and eastern and American feedlots can pull the calf crops from across their entire country and make uniform, good grading products, then there’s no reason the UK can’t.
I was worried without pushing grain to my mongrel foster calves, the guy buying them would be disappointed. In no way are they consistent being different breeds, different herds, different sexes, different ages.... but he feeds them until at least two. By that point they’re all big and surprisingly consistent. With a few outliers that can be traced back to breed and which could have either been butchered earlier or held a bit later.
Everyone seems to want to have animals finished at a specific time yet aren’t necessarily feeding them the required feeds to get them done by that time. I have meat chickens that are supposed to be 6-8 lbs at 6 weeks old. They’re almost 7 weeks and I’d be surprised if they’re 4-5 lbs. Why? Because I didn’t confine them with the type of feed that will get early butcher size. I realize my management will take them longer to get to where I want them. Same with cattle.
Doesn’t have much of anything to do with being standard animals if you can recognize your management effects.
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Anyone following the farming without N thread?
No you are right I meant compared to a stabiliser or another native breed suitable for grazing. From what I have seen Belgian blue would be better for selling but most of those would be finished conventionally.
Whitewalker
Member
Where’s that ? Year to date averaged over silage / grazing we have bought and sowed 20kg/N /acre. It’s weighted more towards the silage than grazing.
Whitewalker
Member
Ours go through the ugly teenage phase but then blossom later with only grass .
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Our feedlot, when it's thawed out
texas pete
Member
- Location
- East Mids
Standing room only at the bar.
Interesting seeing a sort of birds eye view of the different colours of the previous grazing, as it recovers.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
It's a fantastic way to learn how far you can hit it, before you hurt it!
Just to recap, I sorta grazed more conservatively for the first few weeks so that it would recover well enough to regraze it at reasonable density and speed; then as the growth has slowed down, I've slowed them down as well.
Not hard to see where they've been now it's getting wetter and frostier, as some days we can't move them til 10am or so.
Only got to -3.7 last night, so that was a bit easier than -7°
Always looks nice in the afternoon, this bit where I'm sitting has had about 5 weeks I think
This bit was grazed end of May, so it's had about 7½ - 8weeks
Last edited: