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

[Kiwi Pete]

It's only fear though

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Anyone in uk know if this is record breaking rainfall? For February or winter overall?

might make me feel better to know I can brag about surviving the wettest winter

I feel better about surviving an average year, than I thought I would feel, a year ago.. make of that what you will !

It's quite harsh country and the climate is predictable, but the cattle and us are doing very well.

(don't mind the "pasture", this is just what grew after being grazed with sheep last June, will drill some rye into it soon, finishing cattle do as well on weeds and sunshine as anything else)

 

[som farmer]

I feel better about surviving an average year, than I thought I would feel, a year ago.. make of that what you will !

It's quite harsh country and the climate is predictable, but the cattle and us are doing very well. View attachment 1167940View attachment 1167941
(don't mind the "pasture", this is just what grew after being grazed with sheep last June, will drill some rye into it soon, finishing cattle do as well on weeds and sunshine as anything else)

we fell into the trap, like many, cows need prg and w clover, nothing else to graze.

we now know different, variety really is the spice of love. All those 'other weeds' have different tastes, ingredients etc, all help the digestion process, in ways we don't understand.

seeing the cows actually choosing herbs to eat, bypassing 'proper grass', tells its own story.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

we fell into the trap, like many, cows need prg and w clover, nothing else to graze.

we now know different, variety really is the spice of love. All those 'other weeds' have different tastes, ingredients etc, all help the digestion process, in ways we don't understand.

seeing the cows actually choosing herbs to eat, bypassing 'proper grass', tells its own story.

Yes it is simply fascinating to observe them for a day, grass is what they lie down in after a day of weed-wiping.

Teacher told me I'd never get paid to stare out a window towards the hills - that was incorrect and misleading information

I bet schools don't have indepedent fact-checkers... they should

 

[Fenwick]

went to paris last week to receive an award for innovation in agricologie from thé minister of agriculture (1st place)

there was a check involved (my main source of motivation). but thé récognition is nice.

especially as cows have been having such a Bad rep. in thé media recently its nearly always veg)/fruit/cereal producers who win.

perhaps politics and thé media will Côme around to what we're doing. but i'll admit I don't have much faith just yet.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Awesome stuff ! Good to see that recognition, and a big cheque doesn't hurt

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Oh yeah. That's what I meant to share with you guys.

Was speaking with the purchaser of our old farm last Friday, was interested to see how they're going (and I needed to invoice him for some sundry items), in conversation he mentioned that he'd had lots of soil testing done and "it was actually surprisingly good, things were really close.
We put a bit of lime on, pH wasn't real low though, about 6.5 - 6.6, minerals were all good, phosphorous was probably the main thing really. Even that wasn't bad..
We use Superior as ya know, and even they said they don't usually see soil tests come back like that. They did put something in though, can't remember in the minute"

I suggested maybe a bit of moly to help boost the clover.. "yeah, that's what it was, moly! Gee you know your stuff"

Lol.

When we got there the pH was 5.3-5.5, the minerals weren't too bad and the P was off the bottom of the scale.

He's very happy though, in a bit of a panic to get everything done so the fencer can get to work, going back into 6 fields.
Has the "old stuff" to the eastern end of the main block tipped over and planted with oats moata and permanent pasture
Yard scraped up and rock waiting to be spread around when the piles of posts are gone, and all the wetter areas that grew feed all summer long have been drained to make sure that doesn't happen in future.

First thing I noticed was how ugly the place looked with flat pastures and wheelings, second thing was how good the gardens got after being weeded with a 12 tonne Caterpillar

 

[Kiwi Pete]

See they still haven't shifted that dogbox my mate dropped off 7 years ago. Neighbour has good density for his dairy cows, so it was no waste of time being there

 

[Crofter64]

Oh yeah. That's what I meant to share with you guys.

Was speaking with the purchaser of our old farm last Friday, was interested to see how they're going (and I needed to invoice him for some sundry items), in conversation he mentioned that he'd had lots of soil testing done and "it was actually surprisingly good, things were really close.
We put a bit of lime on, pH wasn't real low though, about 6.5 - 6.6, minerals were all good, phosphorous was probably the main thing really. Even that wasn't bad..
We use Superior as ya know, and even they said they don't usually see soil tests come back like that. They did put something in though, can't remember in the minute"

I suggested maybe a bit of moly to help boost the clover.. "yeah, that's what it was, moly! Gee you know your stuff"

Lol.

When we got there the pH was 5.3-5.5, the minerals weren't too bad and the P was off the bottom of the scale.

He's very happy though, in a bit of a panic to get everything done so the fencer can get to work, going back into 6 fields.
Has the "old stuff" to the eastern end of the main block tipped over and planted with oats moata and permanent pasture
Yard scraped up and rock waiting to be spread around when the piles of posts are gone, and all the wetter areas that grew feed all summer long have been drained to make sure that doesn't happen in future.

First thing I noticed was how ugly the place looked with flat pastures and wheelings, second thing was how good the gardens got after being weeded with a 12 tonne Caterpillar

Sad how readily we ignore benefits and blessings - how many years do you think it will take the new owners to compact and impoverish the soil? I think I remember that you said they were keeping horses. In that case it shouldn’t take any time at all.Not that I have anything against horses, quite the opposite, rather withthe way they are kept.

 

[crashbox]

went to paris last week to receive an award for innovation in agricologie from thé minister of agriculture (1st place)

View attachment 1167948


there was a check involved (my main source of motivation). but thé récognition is nice.

especially as cows have been having such a Bad rep. in thé media recently its nearly always veg)/fruit/cereal producers who win.

perhaps politics and thé media will Côme around to what we're doing. but i'll admit I don't have much faith just yet.

Sacré bleu! Great news, and very well deserved!

 

[som farmer]

Yes it is simply fascinating to observe them for a day, grass is what they lie down in after a day of weed-wiping.

Teacher told me I'd never get paid to stare out a window towards the hills - that was incorrect and misleading information

I bet schools don't have indepedent fact-checkers... they should

many farmers just do not have the time, to watch their stock, sad, but true.

l do, if it isn't raining, snowing, freezing cold, or icy. Getting fussy in my old age !

but its amazing what you can observe, what cows do, how they eat, how groups stay together.

and to be fair, its always been something l enjoy, used to spend ages to catch the bullers.

but it does p1ss some off, especially when you see 'things' others haven't

but that is the great drawback of modern farming, no time.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

many farmers just do not have the time, to watch their stock, sad, but true.

l do, if it isn't raining, snowing, freezing cold, or icy. Getting fussy in my old age !

but its amazing what you can observe, what cows do, how they eat, how groups stay together.

and to be fair, its always been something l enjoy, used to spend ages to catch the bullers.

but it does p1ss some off, especially when you see 'things' others haven't

but that is the great drawback of modern farming, no time.

They have lots of time, just spend it doing other things.
(Most of them only have one business to run).

Same as a lot consumers out there, in a lot of ways; it can seem "better" to spend that half hour at work and buy dinner on the way home, but who's to say it's better?

It's just how it occurs, and how life occurs is very malleable by a change of perspective or circumstance .

It seems worse in a lot of ways... but if nobody cares, anything goes.

A point was nearly made on another thread that how much time you spend [ we were discussing time input per hectare ] only matters if you work off-farm and that justifies doing stuff the hard/slow/complicated way, somehow?

I can't buy into that, maybe if I didn't have family or friends or any other interests other than farming it could be so, but even then it's doubtful.
Sounds like a logical fallacy to me, or maybe a combination of a few of them heaped up into a "truth" ?

No wonder so many farmers jump onto the "no food" bandwagon, they don't manage to have time for a garden or butchering a lamb, because the sh!t-forking seems more urgent?
So if the supermarket shelves are empty, they're right there panicking with the rest of them - no farmers no food no future

Of course they could have a go, but alongside the first truth there's probably other ones... can't bring myself to do it, haven't got the time, job for an expert, haven't got green thumbs.

I just find it interesting what stops people, not so much what makes them tick, because clearly someone else wound their spring for them.
You only need to follow the astonishment when Roy or myself suggest farming a couple of thousand hectares can be part time. Oh it's "alright for him he isn't a stock farmer, now that's a fulltime job"

Especially if you do most of the work for a couple of hundred animals that seems equivalent to cutting the lawn with scissors before you mow it

 

[Henarar]

They have lots of time, just spend it doing other things.
(Most of them only have one business to run).

Same as a lot consumers out there, in a lot of ways; it can seem "better" to spend that half hour at work and buy dinner on the way home, but who's to say it's better?

It's just how it occurs, and how life occurs is very malleable by a change of perspective or circumstance .

It seems worse in a lot of ways... but if nobody cares, anything goes.

A point was nearly made on another thread that how much time you spend [ we were discussing time input per hectare ] only matters if you work off-farm and that justifies doing stuff the hard/slow/complicated way, somehow?

I can't buy into that, maybe if I didn't have family or friends or any other interests other than farming it could be so, but even then it's doubtful.
Sounds like a logical fallacy to me, or maybe a combination of a few of them heaped up into a "truth" ?

No wonder so many farmers jump onto the "no food" bandwagon, they don't manage to have time for a garden or butchering a lamb, because the sh!t-forking seems more urgent?
So if the supermarket shelves are empty, they're right there panicking with the rest of them - no farmers no food no future

Of course they could have a go, but alongside the first truth there's probably other ones... can't bring myself to do it, haven't got the time, job for an expert, haven't got green thumbs.

I just find it interesting what stops people, not so much what makes them tick, because clearly someone else wound their spring for them.
You only need to follow the astonishment when Roy or myself suggest farming a couple of thousand hectares can be part time. Oh it's "alright for him he isn't a stock farmer, now that's a fulltime job"

Especially if you do most of the work for a couple of hundred animals that seems equivalent to cutting the lawn with scissors before you mow it

What if I suggested that farming 1 hectare can be more than a full time job, would there be much astonishment from you or Roy ?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What if I suggested that farming 1 hectare can be more than a full time job, would there be much astonishment from you or Roy ?

Oh, I well believe it. I know how much time I can spend in a garage, mechanistic processes are the common denominator

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Likewise when I was managing a team of 3, because they were uncoachable it took a lot more input from me than when I only had to steer/guide 24 loggers. In common was that they all knew how to do their jobs, what was different was their expectation of what their "boss fella's" role actually was.

Self-organising behaviour is really quite "awesome", not a word I like to overuse but it really is.
Like shoals of fish and big murmurations of birds, cattle doing cattle things, sheep doing sheep things.... they aren't mechanistic and they definitely do not subscribe to the logical fallacies humans do.

Possibly, and I'm not saying this as a truth but as a possibility to consider, "civilisation" has reduced us to this level where self-organisation isn't to be trusted, authority is what we trust.
So why then are humans happy to bump up against each other, frequently, when birds and fish work together without input or interference?

What's the real point of "civilised" behaviour when the outcomes are worse than "primitive" behaviours, as I've gone along the regenerative journey it seems that the people we booted about and stole land from actually had things pretty well sorted out.

 

[Henarar]

Oh, I well believe it. I know how much time I can spend in a garage, mechanistic processes are the common denominator

I notice I didn't get a from Roy, can't think why

 

[Kiwi Pete]

No need for laughter, if it's more than a fulltime job then it's a serious matter.

Why aren't other people rushing to assist, what is it about "that" that's unattractive?

I like to approach things from "nothing wrong" as much as possible, even when people are telling me all that's wrong with where they're at.
We are all well versed with "something wrong", and we have evidence!!

If it's that unworkable then people will either complain more or do something about it, what helps me is that I get that .

"It's all me" is quite an unusual stand to take as a human being, but sh!t, it's a help.

There's nothing wrong, no blame to attribute, just me being at the effect of something that I'll figure out.

The distinction "being cause in the matter" sounds like gobbledygook as we are pretty well trained in seeing the world we live in from the view that we can't change much about the world we live in. Because...

When people are talking about what their livestock can't do, I want to say "well quit them and get decent ones that can!" but I don't waste my time. That's a matter of discovery and up to them.

What's clear is that people tend to get very very attached to their things that stop them growing; I am not saying that I'm not a part of that group - I'm saying I see things that stop me, as somewhere to go to work.
A priority, even.
Why am I stuck on this thing? Why don't I have anywhere to go from here?


Other people see things that stop them as "is" "because" "I'm just this way and always was and will be" - and that's made up

 

[Henarar]

Why would there be anything wrong? one hectare with more than enough work for one person where is the wrong ?

 

[Jonny B88]

Yes it is simply fascinating to observe them for a day, grass is what they lie down in after a day of weed-wiping.

Teacher told me I'd never get paid to stare out a window towards the hills - that was incorrect and misleading information

I bet schools don't have indepedent fact-checkers... they should

how many of us were told that!!

it made me think of this from psalm 121 mind

I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come mine aid.
2 My safety cometh from the Lord, who heav'n and earth hath made.

 

[Jonny B88]

went to paris last week to receive an award for innovation in agricologie from thé minister of agriculture (1st place)

View attachment 1167948


there was a check involved (my main source of motivation). but thé récognition is nice.

especially as cows have been having such a Bad rep. in thé media recently its nearly always veg)/fruit/cereal producers who win.

perhaps politics and thé media will Côme around to what we're doing. but i'll admit I don't have much faith just yet.

Great job!!! You will have to get a new pen to keep up with the autographs!!!