Livestock back onto arable land

[The Ruminant]

I've pulled together a really great bunch of speakers for a conference I'm organising to find ways to bring animals back into arable rotations. It's being held at Elveden Village Hall (IP24 3TJ) so pretty central for most of East Anglia.

The plan is for it to be a one-stop shop for anyone considering this as an option - it's open to both arable and livestock farmers as it's a marvellous opportunity to get together, as well as hearing from real experts on a range of subjects including:

• what grant aid is available to help you
• what forage to grow - seeding options
• fencing and infrastructure hurdles (no pun intended)
• livestock marketing options
• joint ventures, herbage agreements and other ways to join forces (ie bring livestock onto your farm without the responsibility / worry / hassle )
• Agronomy including how to get out of forage and back into arable at the end of the ley without a massive weed seed burden
• How the economics stack up

We also have a number of case studies from farmers who are walking the walk - @Romney_Rob, Tim May etc plus other livestock specialists eg pigs

It's a real opportunity to come and have all your questions answered. Places are limited, I'm afraid. Oh, and by the way, you get a bacon buttie on arrival and lunch, coffees etc too. The link to the tickets is here and the date is 4th March. Tickets are £25 plus VAT

Cheers, Tom (aka The ruminant)

 

[JP1]

Thanks Tom. I've messaged the link to two folks who I'm sure would like to come along

I would like to as well

 

[Tim G]

@Feldspar ?

 

[Feldspar]

@Feldspar ?

Looks very interesting. Thanks.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Great idea Tom, good luck. I'd come along if we weren't moving out of the area.

 

[Badshot]

I've only sold the sheep a few years ago and I've started having sheep in on covers. I think there's a lot to learn and gain from sheep.
Certainly there's a large part of this farm hasn't had sheep for well over 30 years.
Just got to work at it for a while so we can work out how they best utilise the covers without compromising the following crops.
Last autumn wasn't the best to start the process.

 

[Barleycorn]

Great idea Tom, plenty of estates down our way just kept for the single farm payment and shooting, hopefully the ELM will sort that out if Boris has the balls for it, but there are a lot of large Tory landowners so perhaps not.

 

[Danllan]

Great idea Tom, good luck. I'd come along if we weren't moving out of the area.

Leaving Herts, where to?

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Bit far for me to go, You going @martian ?Fancy taking Amy along for me?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Great work Tom

Keep us posted how it goes, watching with interest

 

[teslacoils]

Bit of a trek for me. Are the slides etc available after the event? I'd be interested to hear what grants are available.

 

[tr250]

This is something I’d be very keen to attend. Trouble is trying to juggle lambing calving and spring drilling oh and 3 kids including a 6 week old baby it’s not going to happen

 

[unlacedgecko]

Bit of a trek for me. Are the slides etc available after the event? I'd be interested to hear what grants are available.

Id car share if you want to go?

 

[PercyBlakeney]

Id car share if you want to go?

I’ll be heading down from Warwick, although a bit out of the way from Lincolnshire..

 

[teslacoils]

It must be a three hour drive from mine down there, and that's avoiding the traffic, roadworks and likelihood of potato-worshipping peasants taking one pig to market by horse and cart.

Let me check with Mrs teslacoils as there will need to be childcare juggling etc.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Leaving Herts, where to?

NZ is out.

Likely to be Exmoor, Herefordshire/South Shropshire or Dumfries and Galloway now.

This bit of Hertfordshire just isn't my cup of tea any more and we might as well take advantage of relative land prices to get more area as well as better quality of life.

 

[Cowabunga]

Where's the market for these animals? Beef and sheep are of borderline profitability as it is and likely to get much worse over the next few years.

 

[JP1]

NZ is out.

Likely to be Exmoor, Herefordshire/South Shropshire or Dumfries and Galloway now.

This bit of Hertfordshire just isn't my cup of tea any more and we might as well take advantage of relative land prices to get more area as well as better quality of life.

Cows? D&G on the bits that benefit from the gulfstream and no TB to worry about. Nice people too

 

[czechmate]

NZ is out.

Likely to be Exmoor, Herefordshire/South Shropshire or Dumfries and Galloway now.

This bit of Hertfordshire just isn't my cup of tea any more and we might as well take advantage of relative land prices to get more area as well as better quality of life.

Why did NZ become out?
Farms for sale all over the shop here (including my own spare )

 

[JP1]

Why did NZ become out?
Farms for sale all over the shop here (including my own spare )

HCF wanted to go but they wouldn't get his qualifying points high enough sadly. My heart sank for myself as much as HCF and MrsHCF