Large scale regenerative agriculture

[Poorbuthappy]

@Kiwi Pete mused a while ago that perhaps we'd all be better off sharing our pasture in big groups, perhaps a whole uk county, then having one huge mob of stock and only hosting them for a day a year. There's much to ponder in that model.

Its interesting. And I have tried pushing the sheep into bigger groups with more frequent moves. The cattle works no problem, but the bigger the group of sheep, the more likely they seem to be to break through electric fences en mass. ?

 

[Guleesh]

@Kiwi Pete mused a while ago that perhaps we'd all be better off sharing our pasture in big groups, perhaps a whole uk county, then having one huge mob of stock and only hosting them for a day a year. There's much to ponder in that model.

Eh, I know I posted a few things on the holistic grazings forum.. but I for one am not ready to give up my land, livestock and efforts for the good of the people quite yet... sounds a lot like full blown communism to me- and we all know how that turns out.
Nice to muse for about 5 seconds before the first problems become apparent.
I see the benefits of reverting to a system that is more in sync with nature but if there is no place for an individual to reap the rewards of his or her labour then it just wont happen. I understand the word holistic to mean for your land to be managed in way that considers the whole and benefits the whole, The need for the farmer to be rewarded for their effort is part of that whole.
That's just my view.
I think there are reindeer herds on the Mongolian Steppe that probably are the closest thing to what is suggested.

 

[onesiedale]

Just maintaining the profit levels alone may be a challenge under conventional models.

We managed to achieve it ?

 

[Guleesh]

Its interesting. And I have tried pushing the sheep into bigger groups with more frequent moves. The cattle works no problem, but the bigger the group of sheep, the more likely they seem to be to break through electric fences en mass. ?

How many sheep did you run in one mob?
We ran 230ish ewes with lambs last summer. I read somewhere that the optimum mob for sheep was 60 but that performance didn't really drop off until over 200.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

How many sheep did you run in one mob?
We ran 230ish ewes with lambs last summer. I read somewhere that the optimum mob for sheep was 60 but that performance didn't really drop off until over 200.

Yes, 200 + ewes plus lambs.
Would like to go bigger, but as I say, seem to struggle keeping them under control.
I suspect it's a few ring leaders causing the trouble, and the bigger group are just acting with more herd mentality and following.

 

[Guleesh]

Yes, 200 + ewes plus lambs.
Would like to go bigger, but as I say, seem to struggle keeping them under control.
I suspect it's a few ring leaders causing the trouble, and the bigger group are just acting with more herd mentality and following.

We had zero breakouts last summer when lambs were on them, having said that we had already removed a couple of very headstrong ewes and put them elsewhere. most of our fields are small enough to not need much splitting with electric but the existing ryloc fencing is hanging in ruins. I think breaking the ewes to the electric fence seems to give them more respect to fences in general.
One of the ewes I had to remove can clear a metal field gate from a standing start,when she was in with the rest she would jump out first without touching any fence, her pal would follow but then when the others try and follow they destroy the fence and then everyones out.

What do you do with them at lambing time? struggling to come up with a good solution here.

just thinking... this is really in the wrong thread. ah nevermind.

 

[Jungle Bill]

I saw thousands of sheep from many owners brought together in the Cevennes National Park in France to be grazed over the summer on a fairly planned rotational system by contract herders as it has been done for hundreds of years. It seemed to work well for sheep, owners and the land.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

@Kiwi Pete mused a while ago that perhaps we'd all be better off sharing our pasture in big groups, perhaps a whole uk county, then having one huge mob of stock and only hosting them for a day a year. There's much to ponder in that model.

People are far too precious to adopt it voluntarily, until they see it working better than playing at farms; providing better profits, less time investment, better environmental outcomes.

Plus, there's too much vested interest in doing stuff the hard way.. even something like taking feed to animals, it's accepted practice and keeps the costs of keeping livestock up in the stratosphere, and limits business resilience.
I'm a herd-quitter.