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Regenerative Agriculture and Direct Drilling
Holistic Farming
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
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<blockquote data-quote="Farmer Roy" data-source="post: 5046976" data-attributes="member: 71668"><p>still something I want to do</p><p></p><p>haven't really had any moisture or anything grow much to be able to do anything</p><p></p><p>Scotty ( you may remember him from a cattle market video report. He had a horse & was going home for a cold beer <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> ) is currently looking for some cheap low risk dry cows to put on my sorghum stubble. I will run a hotwire & set up a temporary tank / trough & cart water. I will supplement them with chickpea gradings which will provide a bit more protein & energy. I will experiment with moving water & gradings locations to see if I can influence mob movement / grazing, rather than strip grazing & moving fences.</p><p>We will sell them while still in good condition & before they run out of feed</p><p></p><p>The " plan " this year was to plant dual purpose winter wheat, so I could then graze cattle on that for a few months, say May / Jun / July, before locking up for grain.</p><p>Another part of the "plan" was to run vetch, oats & clover in behind the dryland cotton as a cover crop & utilise cattle on it to trample, eat, pee & sh!t all over it as well. Say from July - Sept</p><p>Unfortunately, I have pretty much missed planting the winter wheat due to lack of moisture & the cover crop plan looks to be going the same way</p><p></p><p>I am all flat floodplain cropping country. No fences. No water points. So temporary single hotwire & portable water. Ideally Id like to get hold of an old milk tanker of say 20 - 30000 litres & put a dolly under the front that could be towed around by a tractor. I have about 20 ha of slightly higher ground around my silos as well as approx. 60 ha on an " island " ( small hill on the floodplain ) on the block I lease.</p><p></p><p>Type of cattle would depend on individual situation, potential feed availability, cattle prices & availability etc etc. Eg, in the above winter wheat / cover crop scenario, I might buy weaner steers because Id be able to do a proper job on them & fatten them with little risk</p><p>In the current sorghum stubble / uncertainty with weather scenario, the dry cow option is the lowest risk. There is always a market for cows, you can cut their heads off at any time & if the season does turn around, they are suddenly worth more money again. Realistically, all I have to do is keep them in good condition, whereas trying to do a fattening job on young cattle, or raising a cow & calf, at the moment, seems just too risky. Cows don't really need to meet any strict specs to get their heads cut off, compared to steers.</p><p></p><p>As ive mentioned frequently on this site, we have two distinct cropping seasons - winter & summer</p><p>Traditionally, we work on a long fallow system, to store soil moisture. eg wheat planted in june, harvested in dec. That land fallowed through ( to build up soil moisture ) to October when sorghum planted. Sorghum harvested April. Land fallowed through till following June ( 14 months ) when a winter crop planted. Conventional full cultivation or full on zero till, same concept applies. However, this is a bit inflexible & means you miss out on some cropping opportunities, especially in wetter years. So, with the uptake of zero till planting equipment, " opportunity " or " double " cropping became popular. Basically, forgetting about fixed rotations & fallows - if there is moisture ( rough rule of thumb, 1 metre for summer crops & 50 - 75 cm for winter crops ) then plant a crop & use the moisture. The other option is to shorten the fallow period, ie, 6 month fallow, winter crop following winter crop, or summer crop following summer crop.</p><p>One of the biggest issues with long fallow is the period of time with no living plants or active biology in the soil, even under zero till ( although at least in zero till there is still ground cover, OM & roots etc in the soil ). It has long been recognised, called " long fallow disease ", basically a reduction in VAM ( which interestingly, we have know about for YEARS but still seem to ignore fungi commercially. Apart from trying to kill it of course ) which can have visible effects on some crops that are highly VAM dependent. The moisture conservation in the soil however is CRUCIAL in dry years like we are experiencing now though. It is very obvious in summer crop yields ( cotton / sorghum ) harvested this year, the "quality" of that fallow period.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, if you are still with me, my "transition" plan is to go back to that long fallow model, but ideally establishing any sort of cover crop following harvest, keeping it for say 6 months to do its biology thing & increase ground cover, prior to terminating it by various means ( chemical, mechanical or animal impact ) to then begin the fallow period to build up moisture. ( Im interested in some of the USA & South American work of using thick covers to act as mulch to prevent weed growth, but am not sure if we can reliably grow that much bulk ). If livestock ( preferably cattle ) fit into that scenario & I can use them as tools to my advantage, as well as producing kgs of beef, then I will. Stock will just be bought & sold as needed at the time, rather than trying to run a constant herd. The biggest problem with trying to implement the " Gabe Brown " method of integrating livestock & cropping is our unpredictable & extreme rainfall conditions, the complete lack of a "snow melt" or a reliable "frost kill" of covers</p><p></p><p>My initial focus is to reduce & eliminate any synthetic fertilisers while building up soil biology & activity.</p><p>I would like to reduce my reliance on glyphosate as I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable about being so dependent on one product ( which is becoming increasingly less effective ) but also its potential negative effects on biology, however at this point, in a dryland cropping system, that is probably one step too far yet.</p><p>Largely, my 2 goals are decrease / eliminate external inputs ( $$$ ) and to improve soil / enviro health</p><p></p><p>err, is that enough for now ?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I never said it was easy <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Farmer Roy, post: 5046976, member: 71668"] still something I want to do haven't really had any moisture or anything grow much to be able to do anything Scotty ( you may remember him from a cattle market video report. He had a horse & was going home for a cold beer :) ) is currently looking for some cheap low risk dry cows to put on my sorghum stubble. I will run a hotwire & set up a temporary tank / trough & cart water. I will supplement them with chickpea gradings which will provide a bit more protein & energy. I will experiment with moving water & gradings locations to see if I can influence mob movement / grazing, rather than strip grazing & moving fences. We will sell them while still in good condition & before they run out of feed The " plan " this year was to plant dual purpose winter wheat, so I could then graze cattle on that for a few months, say May / Jun / July, before locking up for grain. Another part of the "plan" was to run vetch, oats & clover in behind the dryland cotton as a cover crop & utilise cattle on it to trample, eat, pee & sh!t all over it as well. Say from July - Sept Unfortunately, I have pretty much missed planting the winter wheat due to lack of moisture & the cover crop plan looks to be going the same way I am all flat floodplain cropping country. No fences. No water points. So temporary single hotwire & portable water. Ideally Id like to get hold of an old milk tanker of say 20 - 30000 litres & put a dolly under the front that could be towed around by a tractor. I have about 20 ha of slightly higher ground around my silos as well as approx. 60 ha on an " island " ( small hill on the floodplain ) on the block I lease. Type of cattle would depend on individual situation, potential feed availability, cattle prices & availability etc etc. Eg, in the above winter wheat / cover crop scenario, I might buy weaner steers because Id be able to do a proper job on them & fatten them with little risk In the current sorghum stubble / uncertainty with weather scenario, the dry cow option is the lowest risk. There is always a market for cows, you can cut their heads off at any time & if the season does turn around, they are suddenly worth more money again. Realistically, all I have to do is keep them in good condition, whereas trying to do a fattening job on young cattle, or raising a cow & calf, at the moment, seems just too risky. Cows don't really need to meet any strict specs to get their heads cut off, compared to steers. As ive mentioned frequently on this site, we have two distinct cropping seasons - winter & summer Traditionally, we work on a long fallow system, to store soil moisture. eg wheat planted in june, harvested in dec. That land fallowed through ( to build up soil moisture ) to October when sorghum planted. Sorghum harvested April. Land fallowed through till following June ( 14 months ) when a winter crop planted. Conventional full cultivation or full on zero till, same concept applies. However, this is a bit inflexible & means you miss out on some cropping opportunities, especially in wetter years. So, with the uptake of zero till planting equipment, " opportunity " or " double " cropping became popular. Basically, forgetting about fixed rotations & fallows - if there is moisture ( rough rule of thumb, 1 metre for summer crops & 50 - 75 cm for winter crops ) then plant a crop & use the moisture. The other option is to shorten the fallow period, ie, 6 month fallow, winter crop following winter crop, or summer crop following summer crop. One of the biggest issues with long fallow is the period of time with no living plants or active biology in the soil, even under zero till ( although at least in zero till there is still ground cover, OM & roots etc in the soil ). It has long been recognised, called " long fallow disease ", basically a reduction in VAM ( which interestingly, we have know about for YEARS but still seem to ignore fungi commercially. Apart from trying to kill it of course ) which can have visible effects on some crops that are highly VAM dependent. The moisture conservation in the soil however is CRUCIAL in dry years like we are experiencing now though. It is very obvious in summer crop yields ( cotton / sorghum ) harvested this year, the "quality" of that fallow period. Anyway, if you are still with me, my "transition" plan is to go back to that long fallow model, but ideally establishing any sort of cover crop following harvest, keeping it for say 6 months to do its biology thing & increase ground cover, prior to terminating it by various means ( chemical, mechanical or animal impact ) to then begin the fallow period to build up moisture. ( Im interested in some of the USA & South American work of using thick covers to act as mulch to prevent weed growth, but am not sure if we can reliably grow that much bulk ). If livestock ( preferably cattle ) fit into that scenario & I can use them as tools to my advantage, as well as producing kgs of beef, then I will. Stock will just be bought & sold as needed at the time, rather than trying to run a constant herd. The biggest problem with trying to implement the " Gabe Brown " method of integrating livestock & cropping is our unpredictable & extreme rainfall conditions, the complete lack of a "snow melt" or a reliable "frost kill" of covers My initial focus is to reduce & eliminate any synthetic fertilisers while building up soil biology & activity. I would like to reduce my reliance on glyphosate as I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable about being so dependent on one product ( which is becoming increasingly less effective ) but also its potential negative effects on biology, however at this point, in a dryland cropping system, that is probably one step too far yet. Largely, my 2 goals are decrease / eliminate external inputs ( $$$ ) and to improve soil / enviro health err, is that enough for now ? I never said it was easy :-) [/QUOTE]
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