Forums
New posts
Forum list
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New resources
Latest activity
Trending Threads
Resources
Latest reviews
Search resources
FarmTV
Farm Compare
Search
Tokens/Searches
Calendar
Upcoming Events
Members
Registered members
Current visitors
New Resources
New posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Forum list
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Contact us
Close Menu
Forums
Regenerative Agriculture and Direct Drilling
Holistic Farming
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="hendrebc" data-source="post: 6972605" data-attributes="member: 70166"><p>Ive been fiddling and tinkering out farm more towards this sort of system for the past 2 years doing what I can with what I have but don't properly have the infastructure (mainly water) to do it properly yet but I've spent a lot of time thinking the same thing. We are breeding ewes and suckler cows and I can only see it as a good thing in either dry years or wet years. In dry years it will leave more cover on the ground to stop it drying out and it wet years the extra cover will stop them sinking quite so much. Win win I'd say. </p><p>It shouldn't happen often I wouldn't think as our climate is fairly reliable up to now and if you are stocked appropriately and try and farm to follow nature and the seasons you should be ok. </p><p>But it's bound to happen eventually and you will find yourself with too much stock and not enough grass to feed them sustainably. If you find yourself overstocked with breeding stock it's not so easy to destock like someone with only trade stock can. Actually offloading cattle isn't easy at all anymore as they would still need a tb test before you could do anything with them. </p><p>The only way I can see around this is supplement feed somehow. As much as I hate the idea I think creep feeding lambs would work well if you found yourself needing to destock or slow a round down. You could probably get rid of some finished lambs faster like that too. You can chuck some silage or hay out for the cows until some calves are old enough to wean and sell the ones you'd cull. </p><p>I think I would have had to do both if we hadn't had some rain this week after some management mistakes early spring. This is a very unusual year though spring is almost always too wet not too dry!</p><p>I hate housing bit you can still destock into a shed if you have one. And I do and don't see me ever completely stopping using them while I have cattle here. No reason not to use it if you do even if it doesn't fit the regenerative image you see most places. The UK is quite different to most places as almost every farm with cattle (and most sheep farms) have a shed. I doubt I'd build one though it would cost far too much. And it does mean you need to keep a stock of conserved feed to feed them which isn't ideal when it could be on the fields feeding the soil. Can always buy in feed though. </p><p>Maybe keeping breeding ewes and cows isn't a good idea. It doesn't give you that flexibility that say breeding ewes and store cattle could and it's something I've thought about a lot. You could offload the cattle if things got tight or buy more if you needed to. But tb is the big spanner in that works. What's the point of having cattle to sell in a tough time if you can't sell them when they fail the tb test <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite44" alt=":banghead:" title="Bang Head :banghead:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":banghead:" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite44" alt=":banghead:" title="Bang Head :banghead:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":banghead:" /> I'll stick with the cows for now at least I think because the ewes aren't going anywhere.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hendrebc, post: 6972605, member: 70166"] Ive been fiddling and tinkering out farm more towards this sort of system for the past 2 years doing what I can with what I have but don't properly have the infastructure (mainly water) to do it properly yet but I've spent a lot of time thinking the same thing. We are breeding ewes and suckler cows and I can only see it as a good thing in either dry years or wet years. In dry years it will leave more cover on the ground to stop it drying out and it wet years the extra cover will stop them sinking quite so much. Win win I'd say. It shouldn't happen often I wouldn't think as our climate is fairly reliable up to now and if you are stocked appropriately and try and farm to follow nature and the seasons you should be ok. But it's bound to happen eventually and you will find yourself with too much stock and not enough grass to feed them sustainably. If you find yourself overstocked with breeding stock it's not so easy to destock like someone with only trade stock can. Actually offloading cattle isn't easy at all anymore as they would still need a tb test before you could do anything with them. The only way I can see around this is supplement feed somehow. As much as I hate the idea I think creep feeding lambs would work well if you found yourself needing to destock or slow a round down. You could probably get rid of some finished lambs faster like that too. You can chuck some silage or hay out for the cows until some calves are old enough to wean and sell the ones you'd cull. I think I would have had to do both if we hadn't had some rain this week after some management mistakes early spring. This is a very unusual year though spring is almost always too wet not too dry! I hate housing bit you can still destock into a shed if you have one. And I do and don't see me ever completely stopping using them while I have cattle here. No reason not to use it if you do even if it doesn't fit the regenerative image you see most places. The UK is quite different to most places as almost every farm with cattle (and most sheep farms) have a shed. I doubt I'd build one though it would cost far too much. And it does mean you need to keep a stock of conserved feed to feed them which isn't ideal when it could be on the fields feeding the soil. Can always buy in feed though. Maybe keeping breeding ewes and cows isn't a good idea. It doesn't give you that flexibility that say breeding ewes and store cattle could and it's something I've thought about a lot. You could offload the cattle if things got tight or buy more if you needed to. But tb is the big spanner in that works. What's the point of having cattle to sell in a tough time if you can't sell them when they fail the tb test :banghead::banghead: I'll stick with the cows for now at least I think because the ewes aren't going anywhere. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Regenerative Agriculture and Direct Drilling
Holistic Farming
"Improving Our Lot" - Planned Holistic Grazing, for starters..
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top