Reclaiming Land

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
Interesting thread also in a similar position just bought 50 acres that hasn't been farmed for 20 years not much brush but plenty of rush and old brown dead grass. Any suggestions? Was going to mow and bale and burn then spray off. But I think there would be about 10 bales to the acre [emoji85]. Or other option was to throw the tack sheep in there free of charge for a few weeks. Plan is to to put FYM and lime and plough and two year ley after most bulk of old grass and rush is gone. Sorry for hijacking the thread. Suggestions will be great cheers
If you have sheep available free now then I’d get them in there not costing you anything and could only do some good and could well save you a bill.
 
Nothing wrong with bedding with it,Just the thought off throwing it back out through the spreader on clean fields.
Cut it before the seeds are viable then. Or force some cattle to chew them down when they are young and growing, did some this year on a bit where drains had been fixed, didn't do the bullocks any harm for a couple of days and made a big difference.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
I 100% agree with your last two sentences, I just can't get over your negativity and pessimism. I'm going to go back to lurking as posting clearly hasn't been good for my blood pressure.
Its neither negative nor pessemistic.
Its reality.
Dyson himself admits that his £500m investment is losing money, so where is his ROI coming from?
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
Who’s being negative here?!?!?!

I wasn’t questioning the point of improving it, I was questioning the method, which I believe is the underlying point of this thread.

If you are unwilling to consider every option then then I would suggest you are in the wrong job, working in a factory on a production line may be better suited.
You said was it worth the effort for 3.5 acres.?
I have reclaimed plenty of rough land using livestock and machines, but in this case he cant get in to fence it, so machines it has to be.
Forcing animals to eat crap requires a very good fence, as i am sure you know
 

egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
big larch trees were felled beside the farm years ago... One of them...View attachment 756578 was rotten in the centre so got cut up for firewood, was really struggling with one bit which looked as though it should have just fallen apart... Changed the.direction I was chopping in...View attachment 756586 I couldn't bring myself to burn it(y)

He left it a bit late with that'un! I like to see them nipped off smaller (but then, i have sawmilling interests)
Larch is very easy to 'clean' in plantation situations. You just knock the branches off, and they usually snap right tight against the trunk.
Likely yours was a live branch.

I wish it were taught in agri-colleges - not just cleaning young trees, but the whole idea of treating them as a crop, and having an interest.
The difference in value -and yield- with correct management is often huge.
Not just double, but in, say, oak, 5 fold.

Ironically, in pro forestry, its going the other way now, with labour costs and market forces pushing softwood growers -often- at growing garbage.
 

Doc

Member
Livestock Farmer
A hot wire is easy to intstall around such an area, just strim or glyphosate the wire run. Don’t use sheep, far to fussy and light. Get some stirks or ponies in and plenty of them. You can even charge a bit for their services, especially the latter.
They will eat and tread it to grassy goodnes pretty rapidly. If you seed their poo, you can influence the regrowth too. It’s all about biology not chemistry or mechanics.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
A hot wire is easy to intstall around such an area, just strim or glyphosate the wire run. Don’t use sheep, far to fussy and light. Get some stirks or ponies in and plenty of them. You can even charge a bit for their services, especially the latter.
They will eat and tread it to grassy goodnes pretty rapidly. If you seed their poo, you can influence the regrowth too. It’s all about biology not chemistry or mechanics.
If you read the OP, it is blackthorn , brier and bushes
strimmers dont go well in that
 

CornishTone

Member
BASIS
Location
Cornwall
You said was it worth the effort for 3.5 acres.?
I have reclaimed plenty of rough land using livestock and machines, but in this case he cant get in to fence it, so machines it has to be.
Forcing animals to eat crap requires a very good fence, as i am sure you know

No, I questioned whether it would repay the diesel, steel and time unless it was being sold for a horse paddock, and then merely suggested an alternative, as have others.

Look @glasshouse, I’m not going to fall out with you over 3.5 acres of scrub in some obscure corner of the UK. I simply offered a different opinion. The OP asked for opinions, he got them.

I’m out!
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
No, I questioned whether it would repay the diesel, steel and time unless it was being sold for a horse paddock, and then merely suggested an alternative, as have others.

Look @glasshouse, I’m not going to fall out with you over 3.5 acres of scrub in some obscure corner of the UK. I simply offered a different opinion. The OP asked for opinions, he got them.

I’m out!
Sorry
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Ahh, that old chestnut!
aemoji.tapatalk_cdn.com_emoji6.png


Doesn’t that just prove my point though? Why spend more money than is absolutely necessary? Secure the fences, ensure water, then get something in there that’s actually going to pay; sheep, horses, goats, anything but a tractor, mulcher and driver @ £x/hr.

Would be useful to see a few pics of the offending field mind?
It's interesting to note that MANY farmers with nice flat grass fields can struggle to make any appreciable return off it ,and now I see why that may be - and it isn't the supermarkets!



How many years PROFIT will it cost from 3.5 acres to pay for a machine to do the work of a couple of ex-dairy cattle and a half drum of water, or a couple of weaner pigs?
 

JoeFo

Member
The ground hasn’t been farmed in over 20 years and is very rocky. There are wild trees, blackthorn and a lot of for bushes. I tried a hedge cutter on the field beside it to remove the firs however they keep returning. There have been sheep in the field also. I think it is worth the investment as the land isn’t eligible for the BPS at the moment given the condition it is in.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Get a grant
The biggest problem is gaining access to the perimeter to fence. As it is overgrown with briars, trees etc it’s not possible to fence. My concerns is that if I were to leave sheep out in it they would get caught in briars etc
If it's hedges around the outside then ley them ane put a fence up you may be able to get a grant for this
Then you can put some animals in
 

Hesstondriver

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Huntingdon
im going to throw some of my crude fag packet maths at this .none of us here have enough information from the OP to make decision or form valid opinions (myself included)

ive done a bit of land reclamation but probably not to the degree that the OP is talking about.

if you got a 3CX + driver in for a few days and had a good round up of the bushes trees and scrub (plus a big fire) you could assume a bill of somewhere near £1000 ?

Fencing (assume a square field) - 3.5 ac = 500m of fencing @ £5 meter = £2500 ?

so to take a from a field that is 'unusable' to 'unproductive' £3500 (1000/ac)

assume there will be some natural grass regrowth

if you put 6x £500 store cattle in it in the spring and sold them in the autumn for £750 = £1500

a 2.5 year ROI is not too bad . if you amatise the cost of fencing over say 10 years the return is much better

Please feel to rip the numbers apart
 

Crofter64

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Quebec, Canada
http://silvopasture.ning.com/forum/topics/silvopasturing-webinars-and-videos
Brett Chedzoy in NY state is a silvopasture expert. He talks about thinning dense brush in order to free up the better trees and to pasture animals in the open glades. He says its quite difficult to control the regrowthof junk in a large acreage ( not 3.5 acres) and he explains his method. Basically cut mechanically and immediately spread lots of grass seed and get animals in to trample it in and feed hay in the winter. Anyhow, its a good resource.
 

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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