Pasture for life

tinsheet

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Somerset
Pasture for life, any members here? Pro's-Con's!
What do they actually do(what benifits) bar give you an inspection take your money and certifiy you?
Genuinely interested thanks.
 

Cowgirl

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Ayrshire
Yes we are members but not yet certified- working on that at the moment. Pasture for Life is an organisation for farmers who produce 100% grass / forage fed meat and dairy (no grain at all). Many of their producers are also organic but don’t have to be. Advantage to me is being a member of their Google group with lots of educational topics discussed. Certified producers can sell meat directly via the website and sell stock to other producers. We believe that for people like us it is the only way to go with a niche product hopefully considered environmentally friendly.
 

Agrivator

Member
Yes we are members but not yet certified- working on that at the moment. Pasture for Life is an organisation for farmers who produce 100% grass / forage fed meat and dairy (no grain at all). Many of their producers are also organic but don’t have to be. Advantage to me is being a member of their Google group with lots of educational topics discussed. Certified producers can sell meat directly via the website and sell stock to other producers. We believe that for people like us it is the only way to go with a niche product hopefully considered environmentally friendly.

It sounds like cruelty to cows. Why on earth would anyone decide not to feed a small amount of grain or protein supplement to cattle in times of need. It can have an enormous benefit in terms of efficiency of roughage use, it can improve health and wellbeing, and cattle love that bit extra addition to their diet.

And can the same animals be bedded on straw grown by wicked arable farmers? And if they can, are they allowed to eat any grain still remaining in it.?


Such stupid draconian systems shouldn't be allowed.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
It sounds like cruelty to cows. Why on earth would anyone decide not to feed a small amount of grain or protein supplement to cattle in times of need. It can have an enormous benefit in terms of efficiency of roughage use, it can improve health and wellbeing, and cattle love that bit extra addition to their diet.

And can the same animals be bedded on straw grown by wicked arable farmers? And if they can, are they allowed to eat any grain still remaining in it.?


Such stupid draconian systems shouldn't be allowed.

It's not draconian, it's a production and marketing option. Many native breeds take at least 28-30 months to finish of grass. You are allowed to feed fodder beet but no cereals
 
It sounds like cruelty to cows. Why on earth would anyone decide not to feed a small amount of grain or protein supplement to cattle in times of need. It can have an enormous benefit in terms of efficiency of roughage use, it can improve health and wellbeing, and cattle love that bit extra addition to their diet.

And can the same animals be bedded on straw grown by wicked arable farmers? And if they can, are they allowed to eat any grain still remaining in it.?


Such stupid draconian systems shouldn't be allowed.


why on earth would you feed grains to cows that are as fat as butter when they come in for the winter you have a pile of silage?
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Pasture for life, any members here? Pro's-Con's!
What do they actually do(what benifits) bar give you an inspection take your money and certifiy you?
Genuinely interested thanks.


@tinsheet are you on the hill farm network mailing list?

The next PLA event locally is at the end of august i think near countisbury


If you're not on the list, pm me your email and I'll forward you the event details
 

Wooly

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Romney Marsh

A great idea, but hasn't caught on much here in the UK so far.

America has a good following now that the science is beginning to prove that feedlot beef is actually not very healthy for you. Grass fed beef has better amino acids and a different and more healthy fat apparently.

I personally can't see that feeding 20kg of creep feed to lambs to produce a carcass that is 20kg is very environmentally sustainable anyway !
 

MDL POWERUP

Member

A great idea, but hasn't caught on much here in the UK so far.

America has a good following now that the science is beginning to prove that feedlot beef is actually not very healthy for you. Grass fed beef has better amino acids and a different and more healthy fat apparently.

I personally can't see that feeding 20kg of creep feed to lambs to produce a carcass that is 20kg is very environmentally sustainable anyway !
What sheep need 20kg of creep to get to that weight?
 

Wooly

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Romney Marsh
What sheep need 20kg of creep to get to that weight?

Sorry got it wrong ...... 40Kg. Makes it very unsustainable now !!

From the EBLEX website :

The EBLEX-funded sheep key performance indicator (KPI) project has found that lambs on well-managed, re-seeded grazing can match the performance of lambs supplemented with creep feed on permanent pasture. Strategically feeding creep to some management groups can compensate for grass quality rather than feeding to all lambs.
Lambs introduced to creep in the first two to three weeks after turnout can be expected to eat 40-50 kg per head if offered ad lib when grazing is kept at around 4-4.5 cm in height. On restricted grazing, lambs with limited creep feeding will gain on average an extra 1kg liveweight for every 5-6 kg of creep feed compared to unsupplemented lambs
 

Cowgirl

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Ayrshire
It sounds like cruelty to cows. Why on earth would anyone decide not to feed a small amount of grain or protein supplement to cattle in times of need. It can have an enormous benefit in terms of efficiency of roughage use, it can improve health and wellbeing, and cattle love that bit extra addition to their diet.

And can the same animals be bedded on straw grown by wicked arable farmers? And if they can, are they allowed to eat any grain still remaining in it.?


Such stupid draconian systems shouldn't be allowed.
Haha I’m sure my cows would love some extra feed but if you could see how fat they are, you would not think it’s draconian! And yes you are allowed to bed them on straw.
 

MDL POWERUP

Member
Sorry got it wrong ...... 40Kg. Makes it very unsustainable now !!

From the EBLEX website :

The EBLEX-funded sheep key performance indicator (KPI) project has found that lambs on well-managed, re-seeded grazing can match the performance of lambs supplemented with creep feed on permanent pasture. Strategically feeding creep to some management groups can compensate for grass quality rather than feeding to all lambs.
Lambs introduced to creep in the first two to three weeks after turnout can be expected to eat 40-50 kg per head if offered ad lib when grazing is kept at around 4-4.5 cm in height. On restricted grazing, lambs with limited creep feeding will gain on average an extra 1kg liveweight for every 5-6 kg of creep feed compared to unsupplemented lambs
I wouldn't creep feed it it took that much! My experience is more around the 10kg mark but maybe I'm doing it wrong...
 

Agrivator

Member
It's not draconian, it's a production and marketing option. Many native breeds take at least 28-30 months to finish of grass. You are allowed to feed fodder beet but no cereals

But the tactical feeding of supplementary feeds at certain times could save a significant amount of time in the time taken to finish. It can have a big effect on the amount of conserved grass needed and can help compensate for variations in roughage quality and availability. It can allow cattle to be marketed at an earlier date if market prices and demand dictate.

Supplementary feeding to meet the above objectives is completely different to mainly grain diets, and I can't see why anyone would want to deny themselves its use. A sound motto in farming is always to allow yourself as much flexibility as possible. And don't forget that cereals are grasses.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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