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

[Kiwi Pete]

Went for a road-trip and got a couple of bales of nice silage for the sheep and cattle. Took 3 hours and 6 unhooks to tow bloody campervans out of ditches

whatever happened to lockdown?

At least the snow is deep enough and powdery enough I could sneak about and not leave tracks, just packed the snow down and rode on top of it.

The novelty has worn off though, hopefully by tomorrow it's thawing. Going to be a shitshow turning the hoggets out, because there's maybe 50 lambs running around in there now

 

[Samcowman]

View attachment 910551Went for a road-trip and got a couple of bales of nice silage for the sheep and cattle. Took 3 hours and 6 unhooks to tow bloody campervans out of ditches

whatever happened to lockdown?

At least the snow is deep enough and powdery enough I could sneak about and not leave tracks, just packed the snow down and rode on top of it.

The novelty has worn off though, hopefully by tomorrow it's thawing. Going to be a shitshow turning the hoggets out, because there's maybe 50 lambs running around in there now

Bloody Jafas coming south are they?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Bloody Jafas coming south are they?

Not sure where they came from.. snow seems to bring out all the vehicles though.
Everyone appears to "like a challenge" when it snows, but I did make $100 to give to Uncle Lindsay which subsidised my business trip

feckin cold in the tractor because the heater isn't working (aircooled) after I got out in a whiteout to skin the bale I fed tonight. Had to put my hands down the front of my shorts and just sit there for 10 before I could grab the wheel .

Need to take my flax juice.

Proper cold and nasty it is, and of course I don't have the right gear for cold weather because: we don't get it 9 years out of ten the one in ten SUCKS

 

[exmoor dave]

I think the short answer is, "digestibility", Dave. You know, the speed at which it travels from the rumen to the sphincter, what most people strive for is highly digestible forage - which the animals cope better with in the springtime.
By the end of summer, when they are trying to put on fat, they need that lignin and mature feed because it has the complex fatty acid structures (remember our chat on here about "happy lines"?) but leafy grass is more sugar and water than oxygen/hydrogen.
In simple terms it is a protein overload, like burning kindling to stay warm, they need far higher intakes because the rumen is using more energy to function.
In some cases the P+K has an effect as well, as when we're scraping the ground, but mainly it's a lack of oxygen (brown feed) that causes a less aerobic gut environment - compaction, if you like

Thanks pete, great explanation,
I've got a couple ton of oats in the yard so I think I'll start trickling the lambs some through a 3/1 feeder

 

[exmoor dave]

View attachment 910551Went for a road-trip and got a couple of bales of nice silage for the sheep and cattle. Took 3 hours and 6 unhooks to tow bloody campervans out of ditches

whatever happened to lockdown?

At least the snow is deep enough and powdery enough I could sneak about and not leave tracks, just packed the snow down and rode on top of it.

The novelty has worn off though, hopefully by tomorrow it's thawing. Going to be a shitshow turning the hoggets out, because there's maybe 50 lambs running around in there now

Around you, where abouts is everyone else with lambing? Just starting, not started or all done?

 

[Crofter64]

I was planning to spread ours this weekendView attachment 910542
Not happening!

Do you always wait for spring to get a dump of snow? Most places it happens in winter

 

[Crofter64]

I think the short answer is, "digestibility", Dave. You know, the speed at which it travels from the rumen to the sphincter, what most people strive for is highly digestible forage - which the animals cope better with in the springtime.
By the end of summer, when they are trying to put on fat, they need that lignin and mature feed because it has the complex fatty acid structures (remember our chat on here about "happy lines"?) but leafy grass is more sugar and water than oxygen/hydrogen.
In simple terms it is a protein overload, like burning kindling to stay warm, they need far higher intakes because the rumen is using more energy to function.
In some cases the P+K has an effect as well, as when we're scraping the ground, but mainly it's a lack of oxygen (brown feed) that causes a less aerobic gut environment - compaction, if you like

I think the excess digestability has been my problem: second bloated calf today. Usually my grass is mature at this time of year, even if it looks lush, but this year ,with an unusually dry summer and then an explosive growth after a couple of weeks of warm rain, the grass is too young and causing problems .I’m going to slow the rotation right down and overlay it with unrolled hay.

 

[Rob Garrett]

Are you happy that you decided to graze it?
They looked to have grazed it off well.
Are you starting your last round now?

Thank you for leaving it, i just thought it would be interesting to see as kp says "what iff"

First pic is 7 days growth, still a bit of warmth & moisture so looks like another round in 30 days + silage fed out. Could be that letting grass grow long it has stored maximum energy in it roots so grows back faster.

Interesting to be playing around with the high stock density, not been brave enough until now as not had the grass. Loving the concentration of poo and how everything gets grazed or trampled (thistles, docks etc). Their current block has less dead/seed heads, noticeable in the poo department.

 

[Karliboy]

Been feeding a bale a day since weekend as it’s dry (it’s the second cut stuff from last week so if they crap thin it’s better off outside than inside later in the winter)
I’ve only used 600kg of feet this year compared to the normal 1800kg so the money saved can go to a few bales

Got the daughter to work sorting a pen out

For these 2 little/big lads only 3 week old

Settled in well

The idea is to nip there balls and winter as cheap as possible then run with the mob next year then sell.

Daughter is still insistent that life in the workshop is better than the cow shed at the moment.

feel to be having a good week this week.

 

[som farmer]

our dairy has been grazing 'ideal' stage grass, young and tender, despite hay being available, milk ureas are high 40's, just gone onto some 'older' grass, 3rd feed, had to push them through the gate, and were not all eating the hay, in the yard, whereas before, not waiting to go in, but keen for the hay. Depending on who you listen to, one would encourage grazing it, another would say to late, time will tell.
Having been saying, we have to look after/improve soil structure, for some time, our nutritionist, has started to agree !
Must be moving in the right direction, as we have some molehills appearing ! Certainly working some ground down, over the weekend, behind forage rape, plenty of seagulls, on the spring, tined worked soil, few, on the d/d, lets see how we progress

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Thanks pete, great explanation,
I've got a couple ton of oats in the yard so I think I'll start trickling the lambs some through a 3/1 feeder

They are very much like us (after the stomachs) ie most of the fluid is removed from their "digested product" in the last few inches of the large intestine (so it doesn't block up).
Therefore if it's "whistling through them" then it's possible for dehydration to occur, and their feces stay wet.

As travel slows, the poo is progressively drier (more time in the bowel/large intestine for liquid component to be absorbed).

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Do you always wait for spring to get a dump of snow? Most places it happens in winter

We can get a dump of snow in the middle of summer - Land of Milk & Honey this is.

It really is influenced strongly by our big continental island neighbour's climate, when Roy is in a heatwave then it tends to spill warm air into the Tasman which raises pressure and we get more warm dry NW airflow (similar to the UK gulf stream) which gives us a climate befitting our latitude.

But, we're just as close to Antarctica as we are to Gunnedah, so it only takes one of their high pressure systems to "pop" out south and the corresponding low to sit to the east of us, and it resembles a big conveyor-belt of cold fronts off the southern ocean/ ice, meaning we can drop 30° in a matter of hours.

This is where the "4 seasons in one day" saying comes from, although we don't get winter conditions as frequently as 40-50 years ago.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

First pic is 7 days growth, still a bit of warmth & moisture so looks like another round in 30 days + silage fed out. Could be that letting grass grow long it has stored maximum energy in it roots so grows back faster.

Interesting to be playing around with the high stock density, not been brave enough until now as not had the grass. Loving the concentration of poo and how everything gets grazed or trampled (thistles, docks etc). Their current block has less dead/seed heads, noticeable in the poo department.
View attachment 910671View attachment 910673View attachment 910675View attachment 910676

Great ! Good clean fun, eh?
Be warned, high density grazing is just like a fresh pack of Pringles

 

[clod hopper]

Not sure where they came from.. snow seems to bring out all the vehicles though.
Everyone appears to "like a challenge" when it snows, but I did make $100 to give to Uncle Lindsay which subsidised my business trip

feckin cold in the tractor because the heater isn't working (aircooled) after I got out in a whiteout to skin the bale I fed tonight. Had to put my hands down the front of my shorts and just sit there for 10 before I could grab the wheel .

Need to take my flax juice.

Proper cold and nasty it is, and of course I don't have the right gear for cold weather because: we don't get it 9 years out of ten the one in ten SUCKS

Man I feel for you!
My boss like's to remind me every year that he got 10cms snow here about 10yrs ago . . . flakes 10cms apart! Yes he's a Jaffa!

 

[Tyedyetom]

^^ only about 7 pairs of twins and a dozen singles when we put them inside. Was hoping to get them out today before it shat itself properly but the paddocks are nearly white, so it won't be happening. Wind is too strong to risk it and it's only getting colderView attachment 910255

Looks like you need a knitted willy warmer!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Man I feel for you!
My boss like's to remind me every year that he got 10cms snow here about 10yrs ago . . . flakes 10cms apart! Yes he's a Jaffa!

It did thaw super-fast. Had about 7 inches settled by the time I went to bed, and now it's only the drifts that remain. Temperature is on the climb, and the hoggs are back out grazing.
Lost 2 lambs and had to drench 5 or 6 hoggs with my special revive drench: brown sugar, turmeric, and milk. They came right so quickly that they beat the last lambs to the paddock

 

[DanM]

It did thaw super-fast. Had about 7 inches settled by the time I went to bed, and now it's only the drifts that remain. Temperature is on the climb, and the hoggs are back out grazing.
Lost 2 lambs and had to drench 5 or 6 hoggs with my special revive drench: brown sugar, turmeric, and milk. They came right so quickly that they beat the last lambs to the paddock

care to share the recipe?!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

care to share the recipe?!

Easy, I just took a good gutsful of milk out of a 2 litre plastic bottle of milk, put about ½ cup of raw sugar and maybe a teaspoon of turmeric powder in, and shook it til I thought it was shook enough.

Gave any wobbly or panting ones about 3 squirts (60ml through the dosing gun) and then went around them again and gave them another 40 or 60 ml in a while, helped them up on their pins and let them head out to follow the mob.

 

[Sheila Cooke]

Does it really pay to 'graze grass tall' and trample in grass?
This farming family began managing holistically in 2017, just in time to get through several dry summers in a row. In 2020, they did action research to discover the impact of four different grazing treatments on their land.

Click here to see the results. [Be sure to play the slide show!]

 

[Sheila Cooke]

Moving a flerd long distance
Hear how it's done at the Northern Real Farming Conference, 5th of October, 1:30 - 3:00 PM
Find out more.

Enjoy the video!