Regenerative Agriculture

Dead Rabbits

Member
Location
'Merica
While I 100% agree with everything said on this video. When it has a Facebook banner over the top and some pansy with a yank accent narrating it I all of a sudden find my less willing to listen.

Crazy isn't it. Think it comes from years of animal rights propaganda machine

To be fair if it was an Irish accent nobody could understand him.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Nice to have the cattle boxed up in decent cover where they can work for me.
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Bulls doing a good job too
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What's the rule - "eat a third, waste a third, trample a third"?
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Cheers, the bull paddock had a crop of fodderbeet 3 winters ago now, and then a cut of wholecrop triticale, then 2 cuts taken off last year.
So it is time to regenerate and give it a spell, I sprinkled some seed on it before it's last grazing, as it was quite open.
Hopefully this will help with compaction and really get the biology whirring (I'll slap some seaweed on the top half as well, topsoil is thinner up there) and it will likely get a few weeks rest.

The other paddocks has a Californian/spreading thistle in it so I will aim to crush it out - will get the mob in tomorrow for a weigh and then put them back in.
Aim is to really nail it, to annoy the older grass species; whereas most of the Ryegrass and Timothy is yet to head, and will let them disperse their seed (y) hopefully correct the balance without a tractor :cool:
Be interested to see how the Angus are growing, hoping for close to 2.5kg DLWG :) they are exceptionally happy cattle
 
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Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
I do like the phrase "mining the soil" - most farmers are so stuck in their mindset that they see what we're doing here as exactly that.
"Oh it'll be all the fertiliser and lime from back when youse were susbsidised" and other mind blowers :joyful:
There is simply no viable substitute for good grass and soil management, they have tried for best part of a century to better it, and nothing reliably and sustainability beats farming to maximise free inputs.

Right, confession time: my Angus steers didn't hit 2.5kg, only just 2kg over the past 6 weeks :)
Must be working them a bit harder...
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
I do like the phrase "mining the soil" - most farmers are so stuck in their mindset that they see what we're doing here as exactly that.
"Oh it'll be all the fertiliser and lime from back when youse were susbsidised" and other mind blowers :joyful:
There is simply no viable substitute for good grass and soil management, they have tried for best part of a century to better it, and nothing reliably and sustainability beats farming to maximise free inputs.

Right, confession time: my Angus steers didn't hit 2.5kg, only just 2kg over the past 6 weeks :)
Must be working them a bit harder...
Shame on you Pete :p:D

At college I was taught 1.5kg dlwg was a good target for an intensive finishing system :oops:
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Shame on you Pete :p:D

At college I was taught 1.5kg dlwg was a good target for an intensive finishing system :oops:
I dont know how long ago you went to college but they told us the same only 10 years ago.
This thread is getting long i really need to sit down and watch these videos and read these articles or ill never do it :oops::oops::whistle::whistle:
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
I dont know how long ago you went to college but they told us the same only 10 years ago.
This thread is getting long i really need to sit down and watch these videos and read these articles or ill never do it :oops::oops::whistle::whistle:
Go for it - It's worth it (y)

@Kiwi Pete and @Farmer Roy : I'm seriously thinking of doing the Open University Environmental Science degree before heading down to NZ:

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/q52#course-details

I think it could fit in well with us starting to adopt regenerative principles here as well as possibly helping me to get some consultancy work with my EA background once in NZ to keep me busy in quieter months :whistle:

Does that sound sensible?
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Go for it - It's worth it (y)

@Kiwi Pete and @Farmer Roy : I'm seriously thinking of doing the Open University Environmental Science degree before heading down to NZ:

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/q52#course-details

I think it could fit in well with us starting to adopt regenerative principles here as well as possibly helping me to get some consultancy work with my EA background once in NZ to keep me busy in quieter months :whistle:

Does that sound sensible?
I will. Every time i get an alert for this thread im (timewasting :facepalm::oops: damn 4g signal ;):rolleyes:) doing something like moving electruc fencing (like now) so dont wamt to waste even more time watching videos :whistle: or settling a sleeping baby at 3am and dont want to be awake for the rest of the night watching them. Which i have been known to do :oops:
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Go for it - It's worth it (y)

@Kiwi Pete and @Farmer Roy : I'm seriously thinking of doing the Open University Environmental Science degree before heading down to NZ:

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/q52#course-details

I think it could fit in well with us starting to adopt regenerative principles here as well as possibly helping me to get some consultancy work with my EA background once in NZ to keep me busy in quieter months :whistle:

Does that sound sensible?

One thing I think would be invaluable, one of the Holistic Management courses a la Alan Savory.

There are a few different organisations running them here ( eg RCS, Inside Outside Management )
I don't even know if they have a foothold in the UK or not, but they gaining in popularity here, the US & southfn Africa.
Talking to people who have been involved, it seems a major benefit to these courses is they teach you HOW to think & give you the tools to make the best of your system, rather than WHAT to think like the Ag colleges do
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,294
  • 1
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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