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

bendigeidfran

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cei newydd
I’m sorry boys but these sheep are beating me, they do not give a f about my fences
What i did with my ewes was to stay there and wach how they go through, mine just made a run up and dived through.
I had the same idea as you i put two lines of fence up, but i did put up four lines on the first fence and posts quite near.
It was a fair it of effort but i didn't want to be out witted by a sheep!
Some would sell the wiked ones, but they are the ones with a bit of go in them, and come lambing time in a storm they will be the ones to look after themself's
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Got some animals over the crick where I didn't worry about the cell-grazing in wintertime.
I did put a bit of covercrop seed on it,, ran the drill out, but then fenced it all off and just gave it a skim with a few cattle and left it. Sheep grazed it last round.
20201122_125059.jpg

You were wondering @hendrebc if the grass is going to seed around here, well, yes it is!
But its not nearly as evident where good (or at least better) grazing has taken place.

A lot of the older species in here, largely due to being mistreated (I cultivated it and cleared the gorse off) but also a lot of plantain and chicory from the same ordeal, I never reseeded it after the annuals went away.
Was kinda keen to see what "rewilding" would take place if I did nothing further.
Eventually the lanes will end over here, as the creek is wadeable or just damp for most of the time, so better grazing will happen. It just isn't yet.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Apparently the UK supermarket buyers made it a hard limit here, so the dogs went.
Has the effect of raising the stress levels of yard employees and the sheep, and making things more costly and less efficient, right up their alley really.

All for maybe 10% of the market, I mean to put that into perspective "antibiotic free" lamb is a similar quantity

People, especially those with clipboards, are know it all fückwit cünts.

If I couldn't have dogs I wouldn't have sheep.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
They cant get out with stock fence , just put it up and walk away no maintenance no breakout problem s when you get on with other things ... go out for the day , or on Sundays.

Dogs can be a lot of trouble..

I know someone not far away who lambed 1000 ewes and on other ground buys in and finishes up to 4k store lambs. Iirc ....No dogs .:oops:
Used to grow and Feed a lot of swedes as well hes favourite electric strip fence post was a wooden stake with a 50kg poly fert bag pulled over it bound around with baler cord.. 🤷‍♂️

There's one of them near me as well. Had a haulier in recently who was telling me the dogless wonder shepherd has to get contractors in every time the sheep need handled. And when is time to load a lorry the haulier takes a dog and charges by the hour...

I've yet to see Judas sheep which will catch a lame ewe or one with a hung lamb either. Not convinced a diving rugby tackle off a quad is the way forward either.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
There's one of them near me as well. Had a haulier in recently who was telling me the dogless wonder shepherd has to get contractors in every time the sheep need handled. And when is time to load a lorry the haulier takes a dog and charges by the hour...

I've yet to see Judas sheep which will catch a lame ewe or one with a hung lamb either. Not convinced a diving rugby tackle off a quad is the way forward either.
You haven't seen ours, then. My main problem is keeping them fit for work, but they have no trouble selecting any ewe that stands out and holding her for me.

Funny how they "know stuff", popular opinion suggests sheep are as clever as a popsicle stick but sheep know sheep.
I used them when the other tups arrived because Pete (their owner) wanted to round up any I wasn't happy with.

Send the rams out; they brought 6 lame ones and a skinny one and held them in the corner of an 8 acre paddock for us to load on the trailer, and even had time to root one of his rams on the way by 😂 which I suspect was the dud ram of his bunch, we didn't feck about with harnesses and crayons but I never saw that one working

They work like a pack of dogs, quite incredible really. Pete won't let me live it down
 

bendigeidfran

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cei newydd
You haven't seen ours, then. My main problem is keeping them fit for work, but they have no trouble selecting any ewe that stands out and holding her for me.

Funny how they "know stuff", popular opinion suggests sheep are as clever as a popsicle stick but sheep know sheep.
I used them when the other tups arrived because Pete (their owner) wanted to round up any I wasn't happy with.

Send the rams out; they brought 6 lame ones and a skinny one and held them in the corner of an 8 acre paddock for us to load on the trailer, and even had time to root one of his rams on the way by 😂 which I suspect was the dud ram of his bunch, we didn't feck about with harnesses and crayons but I never saw that one working

They work like a pack of dogs, quite incredible really. Pete won't let me live it down
Saw a pet pig on the telly doing something similar
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Judicious use of a strimmer ? :unsure:

Strimmer and a complete extra set of posts in the netting so the gaps are half the width, we do the same with the poultry netting and it's much better.
That got it up to nearly 5kv when I put it up a few weeks ago.

Sprayed a line of Glypo at the same time, now that's done it's job, the net is up to 7kv

Interesting observation, the earthworms are really turning over the glypo strip
 
Strimmer and a complete extra set of posts in the netting so the gaps are half the width, we do the same with the poultry netting and it's much better.
That got it up to nearly 5kv when I put it up a few weeks ago.

Sprayed a line of Glypo at the same time, now that's done it's job, the net is up to 7kv

Interesting observation, the earthworms are really turning over the glypo strip
Are the extra posts stopping sag in to the grass?
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Ah right. I had in my mind that your place was a sheep only plant.

Yes, some of these auditors can be a bit anally retentive! I am there to see that the law is complied with but I like to think that I use a bit of common sense along with it. Trouble is, common sense is sometimes not that popular with those further up the food chain...
And yet they (M&S and others) seem unable to effectively audit the HUMAN welfare in their clothing supply chain :mad:
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Are you tempted to cut any for back up/ emergency stocks Pete?
Not really.

A mate of mine on FB has said "it's money in the bank" and all that crap, but it isn't money in the bank. It's money out of the bank!
I'd really rather just get more animals, and put money in the bank that way.... maybe have a cruisy winter on the back of it.

We deal with the "we're short of feed" in different ways to most,, but if you had asked me the same question 3 years ago, well I was probably sharpening the mower this time 3 years ago.

And it wasn't "money in the bank" then either 😂
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
That doesn't count it's only people
As I was just discussing with a nice chap on FB 😉 people like simple targets and rules.
They love to think in linear fashion, like this whole concept of 'regenerative agriculture' - why not just let Covid and starvation and disease wipe out most humans?
There's a lot of "the problem with agriculture" gone in very short order, but people don't want that option.
They'd rather just feel good about themselves and live a life that pays taxes and gives them plenty to moan about.
Chuck some sustainable beef and most of the veg in the skip and moan about how much it costs next time they go to Tesco
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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