Is grass topping worth it?

[Bossfarmer]

a lot of grass growth this year, certain fields are getting away from livestock, ive heard some bad things about grass topping i.e compaction/fuel use etc is it actually worth me buying/hiring a topper?

 

[davidroberts30]

mow and bale it

 

[Bossfarmer]

a lot of grass growth this year, certain fields are getting away from livestock, ive heard some bad things about grass topping i.e compaction/fuel use etc is it actually worth me buying/hiring a topper?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Put your cows behind a wire, the best topping machine invented yet.
Fert falls out their arse, they don't go blunt and slow down your plants, and it will help lengthen out your grazing season if the weather stays dry.
It's got away now, but you can get it all back.

Or, cut it and bale it to feed it out in 10 weeks... probably takes just as much time as rolling up a fence each day and moving the cows onto a fresh acre, if you averaged it out?

I know you've been looking hard at the rotational grazing/ electric fencing thing, this is a good time to see what it can do for you, on your farm, IMO

 

[Bossfarmer]

mow and bale it

ull end up baling cow dung?

 

[Bossfarmer]

Put your cows behind a wire, the best topping machine invented yet.
Fert falls out their arse, they don't go blunt and slow down your plants, and it will help lengthen out your grazing season if the weather stays dry.
It's got away now, but you can get it all back.

Or, cut it and bale it to feed it out in 10 weeks... probably takes just as much time as rolling up a fence each day and moving the cows onto a fresh acre, if you averaged it out?

I know you've been looking hard at the rotational grazing/ electric fencing thing, this is a good time to see what it can do for you, on your farm, IMO

dont have enough stock/infrastructure to just do that suddenly, surely topping would help?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

dont have enough stock/infrastructure to just do that suddenly, surely topping would help?

It'll make the grass short again, but that's unlikely to raise your profit levels?

Topping is like the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, really.

 

[som farmer]

cut it with a mower, this weather it quickly turns to hay, and the cattle will pick it over, and the new growth will be all fresh again. flail topper turns it into mush, and they don't eat it. the value is in making the most of your grass, once topped new growth comes through, the old growth, stems, seed heads etc will stay there and cattle will just graze round

 

[Still Farming]

The New Zealand sheep expert Murray Rohloff touring UK giving talks swears by the system.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Topping makes it look nice.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

The New Zealand sheep expert Murray Rohloff touring UK giving talks swears by the system.

As well as high-density rotational grazing.

- How many beef cows does he run?

 

[Still Farming]

As well as high-density rotational grazing.

- How many beef cows does he run?

No idea just sheep guessing.

 

[BobbySusie]

A lot of people are against topping, But it has a place. I am after high quality grass in my rotation, putting cattle in a paddock that has headed out is no use.
Of course you should mow and bale the grass. But sometime you have to graze grass that is too strong, your paddock is then left in a mess, a quick run of the topper makes sure your next rotation is into quality grass.

I use the topper as a management tool, I have been caught short twice this year where grass growth was not up to scratch and had to graze paddocks that should of been baled. This year has been a strange one.

I would not top a paddock because it was too strong, only to clean up and a bit of weed control.

any one figure out how to top under electric fence wires?

 

[Longlowdog]

I top frequently for sheep. Every time I move a group out of a field I reset it to a uniform height with a Krone mower cutting to about 2 1/2 inches. I can't stand to see sunlight wasted on unpalatable seed heads and stems. This years growth has been exceptional and and I'm grazing fewer and fewer acres every week. I believe if I had rank grass that it would become senile and cease to be productive. My fields look greener than those of neighbours (who fertilise) and are dense, thick swards as the energy is used in tillering rather than seed production. I also consider topping to be adding to my fields humus store and in its own little way carbon capturing.
Not much of a boast i know but the moles love my fields which leads me to believe that after buying a mole free farm my soil must now be harbouring far more worms and other beneficial bugs and beasties.
I combat known compaction issues (standing water) by using a Ritchie aerator in the spring and again before the onset of winter if the weather is favourable and I have the time.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

A good grassland farmer would have tightened up his stocking and taken a cut off the spare . Topping is an admission of failure

 

[Bury the Trash]

 

[deleted user 837354]

I agree it has a use, but it's really a tool for when you are tidying up. I cans see why a lot of serious grazing type people would try to avoid doing or would prefer to mow ahead of cattle.

The wild bunch of course would mob stock it and move on, I guess in the wild a proportion of grass tillers would be left to go feral and head, maybe that would give better persistence or something? I suspect research has been done.

 

[Bossfarmer]

A good grassland farmer would have tightened up his stocking and taken a cut off the spare . Topping is an admission of failure

this is what i keep hearing but is it true? is it not just good management rather than just leaving it? a lot of farmers seem to do it

 

[Chae1]

Grass grows grass.

 

[Henarar]

any one figure out how to top under electric fence wires?

with a topper