I feel like that at least once a year for a fleeting momentQuite neat to just relax, and know it's pretty much 'all under control' on the ranch
I feel like that at least once a year for a fleeting momentQuite neat to just relax, and know it's pretty much 'all under control' on the ranch
My lifes ambition ,good to know its possibleLittle cattle and little men seem to have adjusted to the techno OK.View attachment 953659 Quite neat to just relax, and know it's pretty much 'all under control' on the ranch
just read an article from our vets, re fibre at turnout, fresh grass, high in sugar, and protien, low dm, and quite a few DA's, displaces abomasum, and recommend feeding high energy, and fibrous foods, hay straw etc, and yet, on the all things dairy thread, when l said about how quickly grass goes straight through, and querying how much of the food value, was actually used, by the cow, in the time it stayed in, and what would be the nutritional gain, by 'slowing' down that passage time, immediately got put down, by the spring grazers. Two very contrasting views, the spr chaps, wanted warm weather, for high protien grass, the higher the better, with no buffer, for max milk from grass. I calculate a DA would cost roughly 1 ton hay, so feeding some long fibre, slowing down internal passage, should be more beneficial, to both cow and pocket, unless l am missing something. One of the things that was very obvious to us, last summer, feeding hay as a top up, for grass shortage, was the constituent value of the milk, as the higher it is, the higher the price paid .
So if fibre is that important, what sources of fibre are available, as already said, hedge browsing is a useful supply, but not necessarily available all the time, or quantity, hay/straw obvious, what about weeds, or which weeds, do herbs, as in chickory, plantains etc, provide any ? Then we can look at where the plate metre, and regen policies actually completely agree, over wintered grass, or stock pile, both contain 'dead' grass leaf's from last autumn, which should help fibre, esp as a bit in every bite. Silviculture, never had any experience, nor will, as if we planted some now, l wouldn't see the benefit, but political interference, could cause problems there, planting trees, is politically a must do, but can see the new 'woods' being 'protected' by the 'greens'.
We have, and would again, feed 'standing hay' to dry cows, it's the ideal feed, just got to get enough grass, to do it ! but my uncle used to feed all summer, not 'quite' standing hay, to his guernsey/jersey herd, all summer, it was the only way to ensure grass was available, all summer, that herd, money wise, equalled our friesian herd, on milk sales, but changed to hols, which wouldn't graze that grass, so buffer feed, which eventually became a 'ration'! So breed, type of animal, can also affect things.
I watched greg judys presentations at groundswell on YouTube and I can’t remember which one it was but he mentioned how important he found it to have stockpile grass in spring to compliment the spring flush as he called it. Manure pats were his big indicator. Interesting stuff.just read an article from our vets, re fibre at turnout, fresh grass, high in sugar, and protien, low dm, and quite a few DA's, displaces abomasum, and recommend feeding high energy, and fibrous foods, hay straw etc, and yet, on the all things dairy thread, when l said about how quickly grass goes straight through, and querying how much of the food value, was actually used, by the cow, in the time it stayed in, and what would be the nutritional gain, by 'slowing' down that passage time, immediately got put down, by the spring grazers. Two very contrasting views, the spr chaps, wanted warm weather, for high protien grass, the higher the better, with no buffer, for max milk from grass. I calculate a DA would cost roughly 1 ton hay, so feeding some long fibre, slowing down internal passage, should be more beneficial, to both cow and pocket, unless l am missing something. One of the things that was very obvious to us, last summer, feeding hay as a top up, for grass shortage, was the constituent value of the milk, as the higher it is, the higher the price paid .
So if fibre is that important, what sources of fibre are available, as already said, hedge browsing is a useful supply, but not necessarily available all the time, or quantity, hay/straw obvious, what about weeds, or which weeds, do herbs, as in chickory, plantains etc, provide any ? Then we can look at where the plate metre, and regen policies actually completely agree, over wintered grass, or stock pile, both contain 'dead' grass leaf's from last autumn, which should help fibre, esp as a bit in every bite. Silviculture, never had any experience, nor will, as if we planted some now, l wouldn't see the benefit, but political interference, could cause problems there, planting trees, is politically a must do, but can see the new 'woods' being 'protected' by the 'greens'.
We have, and would again, feed 'standing hay' to dry cows, it's the ideal feed, just got to get enough grass, to do it ! but my uncle used to feed all summer, not 'quite' standing hay, to his guernsey/jersey herd, all summer, it was the only way to ensure grass was available, all summer, that herd, money wise, equalled our friesian herd, on milk sales, but changed to hols, which wouldn't graze that grass, so buffer feed, which eventually became a 'ration'! So breed, type of animal, can also affect things.
It probably was part time for him, he needed off farm income to meet CapExpone of the surest signs of correct ration, consistency of sh1t, work hard to keep it just right all winter, then just let it flow away (literally) at turnout. From a health angle, that amount of fluidity can't be good, imagine yourself with it, yuk.
So it stands to reason that max goodness cannot be extracted, and we all wish for that. You can see why some have opted for zero grazing, or housed 24/7 on a ration, zero grazing should give max use, not that we are going down that route ! Went around a fully housed herd of cows, with robots, in holland, he had it worked out, fields were immaculate, regularly trimmed, contractors made the silage, and fed the ration in winter, doing 5 or 6 farms. 3 robots, so 170ish cows, looking well, on slats, scraper attached to a quad, son helped, if needed, at weekends, nearly looked p/time !
It's a rare state of bliss, like Henarar said the main issue on a dairy seemed to be, the more like child's play/ painting by numbers it gets, the sillier the questions and the more we go onto autopilotMy lifes ambition ,good to know its possible
wasn't 100% certain how, but they (dutch farmers) run on very high borrowings, as a tax evasion method, they can legally pass the 'debt' onto he next generation, thus inheritance tax is lowered, something we are unable to do here, but we have ag relief tax, which means no IH tax on farms. But it really did appear part time, it was a very neat set up. All the dairy farms we visited, were incredibly tidy, we didn't need wellies anywhere !It probably was part time for him, he needed off farm income to meet CapExp
We set up our kids as shareholders, meaning that we can pay out a dividend on those "better years" as opposed to buying rust and junk to minimise tax payable by the businesses.wasn't 100% certain how, but they (dutch farmers) run on very high borrowings, as a tax evasion method, they can legally pass the 'debt' onto he next generation, thus inheritance tax is lowered, something we are unable to do here, but we have ag relief tax, which means no IH tax on farms. But it really did appear part time, it was a very neat set up. All the dairy farms we visited, were incredibly tidy, we didn't need wellies anywhere !
Really quite impressive as a comparison.Visual representation of how cover helps conserve moisture (and its main detractor for the naysayers here. How it keeps soil temps cooler and delays seeding/germination)
Snows been gone for weeks. Probably since mid March.
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Yes, the wing on the plow would have shot the grass out there.Really quite impressive as a comparison.
(that's about a decades' worth of snow where we are )
Can you explain how those lumps of material came to be there, I'm only figuring the snowplow would have chucked 'em there?
You didn't have them behind your poor little Same did you?By the way, these are excellent for hiding the aftermath of ploughing out an old track View attachment 953811
I didn't really enjoy it but it was good to show the family how ploughs and discs and things work, and it will make crossing it a heck of a lot safer without crossing big old wheel ruts on bikes. I'll get the roller-drill out and put a bit of permanent mix onto it and then the lane fence can be put up - still waiting on the insultube and then I'll have a bit of a end-assembly marathon and the rest of the arrowposts can go in.
Sure did! She bossed them, too because I didn't need much cut on.*You didn't have them behind your poor little Same did you?
goodnessView attachment 954070
Just needs more chemicals and sh!t.
Vermont is an interesting place.I have been to the Vermont Pasture Network winter conference and Vermont organic farming conference many times. 15 years ago there was so much optimism in grass-farming and dairy. Kids who had gone off to University were coming home with Phds and such and joining the family farm. Then there was a palpable shift- the big corporations got into the grassfed / organic dairy sector and crushed the little guys, again. The NOFA ( northeast organic farming association) reminds me of a Canadian magazine I used to get called Harrowsmith. It was a bit like ACRES written for back -to -the- landers and farmers and has slowly switched to writing for suburban gardeners with a veg. patch and a couple of hens. Lots of photos of beautiful homes in perfect settings. The NOFA conference has a similar feel to it and I no longer wish to go.I've now finished "The ecology of care" and can't resist sharing a few of the final pages here.
Firstly, the argument for granting nature "person" status in law:
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And then this about how she approaches a farmer regarding changing how he farms:
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