Out door lambing

[neilo]

I agree with you not really wastage. Quite a bit is always left in the ground anyway which am sure is a benefit to the soil in following crops. I must say ours do seem to feed well on it. Swedes are great but can never get away from drought, flea beetle and weeds up here.

Likewise, I only have 2ac of swedes left, from 13ac drilled! Beet is Mr Reliable here, just got to learn how to make the best of it. Sheep are doing better than they look, but can’t help thinking they should be doing better really.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Likewise, I only have 2ac of swedes left, from 13ac drilled! Beet is Mr Reliable here, just got to learn how to make the best of it. Sheep are doing better than they look, but can’t help thinking they should be doing better really.

Well not even considering the pretty much constant crap wet theyve had since about September , they look well .

Btw who's Dennis?

 

[unlacedgecko]

Well not even considering the pretty much constant crap wet theyve had since about September , they look well .

Btw who's Dennis?

Brinicombe?

 

[neilo]

Well not even considering the pretty much constant crap wet theyve had since about September , they look well .

Btw who's Dennis?

My swedes have done OK since September, it was just getting them established and through the onslaught of slugs and flea beetle that did for them, despite spending on repeated counter measures.

Dennis is the storm that’s coming to visit on Saturday, Sunday & Monday.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Brinicombe?

I dont think Dennis does a lot these days actually


.....his son probably runs the show....

 

[Al R]

In terms of yield of fodder off an acre, it really is unbeatable ime. However, it’s nowhere near as good a ration as swedes or turnips imo, needing blocks no bigger than 2-3 days so that they get enough protein & mins (from the tops) to balance things out. Still learning to get the best from it, despite grazing it for several years.

As the weather is so horrendous currently (and all winter), I’ve been giving them bigger blocks than normal and accepting higher wastage. I was hoping they’d go back and tidy it up when the weather dried up a bit, but rapidly coming round to a ‘holistic’ way of thinking, in that it’s not really waste, just recycling. Just trying to ensure they have full bellies to face each storm currently tbh.

3 day block today, but planning on moving fence again on Friday, ahead of Dennis:
View attachment 858148

Note how deep the quad bike ruts are, just from running down with the RAPPA winder on.

how do you wind it in and back out without them running past? I’ve got my old hand reels just on splitting fields (100-150metres wide) I put the next move in ready so always 2 fences in a field, 4-7 day moves on the turnips here.

 

[cotswoldcs]

I only put our fence up once for fodder beet and then just move it by hand every day. They only get 3-5 rows a day so it's fairly easy to do and I enjoy walking up the line looking at the ewes. I do have two reel posts at the one end so it's easy to swap reels over with ewes all around me. I Can't imagine trying to put a new fence up in field- tried it once and bike was bulldozing and bouncing over beet - never again! Lucky to have fairly big arable fields for the beet and so can have one long fence line. Fodder beet certainly provides a lot of feed.

 

[Bones]

2 years ago I wintered some cull ewes at 1000ft. Once the grass ran out they had silage and ab lib barley/oats through a 3in1.

Approx 30% turned out to be in lamb. They lambed on a low input system Feb/Mar during the snow.

View attachment 858147

looks dry under foot, that's my problem

 

[unlacedgecko]

looks dry under foot, that's my problem

Yeah it was dry, top of a limestone hill.

Drift lamb and move daily.

 

[neilo]

how do you wind it in and back out without them running past? I’ve got my old hand reels just on splitting fields (100-150metres wide) I put the next move in ready so always 2 fences in a field, 4-7 day moves on the turnips here.

The next fence was up already. I put a new fence up, then move that one every 2-3 days, but just take the old one up once a week or so, to start with another straight fence.

I had to do it today as I had a couple of dozen in the beet between the fences, after the wind blew the fencer abou5 and pulled a battery clip off. All back in one lot again now.?