Is there any future in suckler cows ?

[Northeastfarmer]

So you wont use rotational grazing cus of a few wet weeks in the autumn all the dairy farmers in the countrt cant be wrong

plenty of dairy farmers don’t turn their cows out at all...doesn’t mean I’m going to start doing that either

 

[Llmmm]

plenty of dairy farmers don’t turn their cows out at all...doesn’t mean I’m going to start doing that either

But those that do graze all use rotational grazing can they all be wrong as well as our top sheep and beef farmers

 

[Northeastfarmer]

But those that do graze all use rotational grazing can they all be wrong as well as our top sheep and beef farmers

Well I’ll be in the bottom performers then

 

[unlacedgecko]

In the autumn it gets wet...like everyone else farm

Move them more often. It’s time on ground which makes mess.

If you use electric wire for your paddocks you don’t need any gates, just lift a wire wherever you want.

 

[Llmmm]

Move them more often. It’s time on ground which makes mess.

If you use electric wire for your paddocks you don’t need any gates, just lift a wire wherever you want.

Or just put them in the bloody shed if its bad i see the best grazers are flexible what the point in destroying you whole farm in the autumn if the weather is really wet just to get a few weeks extra at grass

 

[Bill the Bass]

We shifted a batch of cattle more often last year, I hasten to say rotational grazing but it’s a start. I found the cattle quickly became biddable and were much easier to looker because they just all move as a group. That group of cows took to the bull better and the grassland on that part of the farm looked better all year. This summer we will split it up smaller again with electric fences, our perimeter fences are hot wired by mains so it’s easy enough to latch on to them.

Water isn’t really an issue because most troughs are in fence lines feeding two fields anyway so a bit of tweaking will sort it.

One thing is for sure, carrying on as we are or were will not see us in the beef industry for many more years?. Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

[Weasel]

So you wont use rotational grazing cus of a few wet weeks in the autumn all the dairy farmers in the countrt cant be wrong

If them dairy boys ground is so dry they should go arable. Them few wet weeks in autumn as you say totally fuk field's with cattle champing

 

[Weasel]

Well I’ll be in the bottom performers then

Ignore him he's full of wind and pish

 

[M-J-G]

Grassland management, rotational grazing.

Why did everyone stop doing it first time round?

Its not a new concept.

Many didn't stop, I've never known a life where cattle and sheep aren't rotationally grazed.

 

[Llmmm]

Ignore him he's full of wind and pish

He said it not me

 

[Llmmm]

If them dairy boys ground is so dry they should go arable. Them few wet weeks in autumn as you say totally fuk field's with cattle champing

Why would a dairy farmet want to change his enterprise because of a few wet weeks in autumn or spring in certain years

 

[Chae1]

Many didn't stop, I've never known a life where cattle and sheep aren't rotationally grazed.

I'm 40 now been involved in agriculture all my life. Only really heard about rotational grazing past 3 years.

Spoke to old dairy farmers who remember when it was in vogue years ago. Will need to ask them why they didn't continue.

 

[Agrivator]

Set stocking can compete with rotational grazing in terms of efficiency, if the same management effort is put into each system.

And in a well-run set-stocking system, you can have a few days off, so long as the neighbour or the postman can contact you in an emergency.

In most years, a suckler cow can eat more grass than she needs, so a creep feed for the calves means that the cows and calves can survive periods of hard grazing under a rigid set-stocking system.

Why make life complicated?

 

[Henarar]

is opening a gate complicated ?

 

[M-J-G]

Rotational grazing is a useful tool, as I've said before I've never known different apart from a few fields that are on their own.
I am also very pro extended grazing and outwintering cattle where conditions allow.

However it's best to be careful not to get too caught up in trying to squeeze every blade of grass for cattle if there are sheep that will use it more efficiently.

A neighbour kept his cows out after weaning this autumn (which was the wettest in 50 years) on a fairly heavy farm and made a mess of his fields, now his cows are housed and he's feeding hay to his sheep, somewhat of a loose loose all round.

 

[Samcowman]

I agree with your point, but what happens when your chosen system that suits you and your farm isn't profitable? Which will the situation many farmers will find themselves in.

Then you need to reassess the whole you are working in, it needs to be profitable financially, environmentally and personally. No good harvesting one of those for the benefit of the other because the stool will fall over because there’s only so long you can balance on 2 legs.
If it isn’t profitable and a goal is to be profitable (how can it not be, the odd year of negative due to outside influences but not repeated years). Then things need to change and people would need to get out there and find someone that is doing it profitably and take lessons from them because sure as dammit there will be someone out there doing it profitably.

 

[BobTheSmallholder]

Look at inputs vs produce in the 80s, 15 to 20 fat cattle would buy you a 100hp 4wd tractor, not applicable to a rancher I know but it's an example of how gaps gave widened.

Well if you took 15-20 fat cattle today, had them butchered and sold all the meat direct you could net £15-20k which would buy you a perfectly good smaller tractor or a good condition used 100hp tractor.

Of course if you use rotational grazing and winter stockpiles you wouldn't need a 100hp tractor in the first place and that cash would go in your pocket...

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Trouble with splitting all your fields into small fields is they all need a water trough, which means a clarty mess around each water trough
Then you need a gateway into each field which means another clarty mess in each field
Half the field turns to clarts

Dead right, my "solution" was to rip that all out and start over, permanent infrastructure is a considerable handicap in many respects

 

[M-J-G]

Well if you took 15-20 fat cattle today, had them butchered and sold all the meat direct you could net £15-20k which would buy you a perfectly good smaller tractor or a good condition used 100hp tractor.

Of course if you use rotational grazing and winter stockpiles you wouldn't need a 100hp tractor in the first place and that cash would go in your pocket...

Where bluebirds sing and there's a whiskey spring

 

[tepapa]

Trouble with splitting all your fields into small fields is they all need a water trough, which means a clarty mess around each water trough
Then you need a gateway into each field which means another clarty mess in each field
Half the field turns to clarts

AHH, but you should only be using the gateway to move them between paddocks not as a motorway between fields. So clarty mess should only be by the water tanks.