Summer graziers for 300ac grass in East Anglia

[Feldspar]

Considering putting more land into stewardship and one option is the AB8 grass option. This allows the grass to be grazed between 15 August and 31 October. Farm is 15 small fields over 300ac all away from roads with a water supply and a hardcore track through the middle.

Am I likely to find anyone who would want to graze sheep during this period? Is this a useful time for people to have extra grazing? How much could I expect in rent for providing the grass (comparing it against just flailing the grass)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[beltextexel]

You might be lucky to find someone, but you never know. Would you be wanting to do any fencing/sheep lookering etc?

 

[Feldspar]

You might be lucky to find someone, but you never know. Would you be wanting to do any fencing/sheep lookering etc?

Unfortunately we'd be busy with harvest and cultivations at that time of year, so would not want to get involved much at all.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Having just replied to your mower question, this would be very suitable for summer grazing cattle (dairy replacements) as you are in a 4 year TB area. I would have though it possible to find someone to do a minimal lookering job for them.

 

[Al R]

15 small fields of 20acre
You’d get 50-60 fields for 300acre here.
@unlacedgecko bit far for you?

 

[unlacedgecko]

15 small fields of 20acre
You’d get 50-60 fields for 300acre here.
@unlacedgecko bit far for you?

Thanks for the tag.

Yeah it's too far for me. But I'm sure I can assist in finding s grazier if required.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Considering putting more land into stewardship and one option is the AB8 grass option. This allows the grass to be grazed between 15 August and 31 October. Farm is 15 small fields over 300ac all away from roads with a water supply and a hardcore track through the middle.

Am I likely to find anyone who would want to graze sheep during this period? Is this a useful time for people to have extra grazing? How much could I expect in rent for providing the grass (comparing it against just flailing the grass)?

Thanks in advance.

What is the fencing like?

2 lots of haulage for a 11 week graze period? And the grazier is to do all the lookering etc. There's not a lot of stock in your area. What happens to the grass the other 41 weeks of the year? Is it just allowed to grow rank?

Depending on the above answers I'd manage down your expectations of rent to 0. The benefit of a grazier would be saving you the expense of flailing it, and them managing the ground in a way which allows you to claim the additional sub.

 

[Fendt516profi]

Just what I was thinking hes thinking of putting it into stewardship drawing the ? then was going to pay a man to burn diesel to top it all. Then decides he can make more buy letting it for grazing but only on these strict terms. Much better To say 11 weeks free grazing but these are the terms he would be better off. How long would it take to top 300 acre/how long would it take to look stock grazing 300acre assuming it would have to be topped in the same time frame when he's already said there busy

 

[Fendt516profi]

Considering putting more land into stewardship and one option is the AB8 grass option. This allows the grass to be mowed between 15 August and 31 October. Farm is 15 big square smooth 20acre fields over 300ac all away from roads with a water supply and a hardcore track through the middle perfect for loading a wagon on

Am I likely to find anyone who would want to mow during this period? Is this a useful time for people to have extra mowing? How much could I expect in rent for providing the grass (comparing it against just flailing the grass)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[digger64]

Considering putting more land into stewardship and one option is the AB8 grass option. This allows the grass to be grazed between 15 August and 31 October. Farm is 15 small fields over 300ac all away from roads with a water supply and a hardcore track through the middle.

Am I likely to find anyone who would want to graze sheep during this period? Is this a useful time for people to have extra grazing? How much could I expect in rent for providing the grass (comparing it against just flailing the grass)?

Thanks in advance.

If you can't think of anything more imaginative than that to do with 300 acres in one block than that , why are you farming at all FFS ?

 

[Bracklandbarn]

I’ve sent you a DM @Feldspar

 

[Feldspar]

15 small fields of 20acre
You’d get 50-60 fields for 300acre here.
@unlacedgecko bit far for you?

Thought that might raise a few eyebrows! I meant small relative to our average field size at the moment.

 

[Feldspar]

What is the fencing like?

2 lots of haulage for a 11 week graze period? And the grazier is to do all the lookering etc. There's not a lot of stock in your area. What happens to the grass the other 41 weeks of the year? Is it just allowed to grow rank?

Depending on the above answers I'd manage down your expectations of rent to 0. The benefit of a grazier would be saving you the expense of flailing it, and them managing the ground in a way which allows you to claim the additional sub.

No fencing at all.

As you say, it's not a livestock area so there are not lots of people who are free to help.

Rules of the grass management are set out here:

Requirements

• establish a flower-rich margin or plot between 15 March and 31 May or 15 July and 15 October based on the mixture specified in the “What to sow” section
• if plant growth is more than 15cm in height before 31 March, cut it (and remove if dense) to achieve a plant height of between 5cm and 10cm from 1 April. cut (and remove if dense) or graze 90% of the area between 15 August and 31 October to leave a plant height of between 10cm and 20cm - leave 10% of the area uncut or ungrazed

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/flower-rich-margins-and-plots-ab8

Whether grazed or not the land would still get the remnants of BPS, although obviously by the time this grass would be established this would already have reduced.

I have no expectations of rent levels, zero or otherwise, I'll just use the answer to compare against mowing, and then use the best option between these two to compare against other stewardship options (such as fallow), and then in turn compare that against an average cropping margin.

 

[Feldspar]

If you can't think of anything more imaginative than that to do with 300 acres in one block than that , why are you farming at all FFS ?

We already have an extensive stewardship scheme in place over a good deal of our land area which in my view leaves the remaining cropping land in a state fit to make the best margins we can in an uncertain world.

I'd turn it round and say, almost no-one is doing what we're doing, and so I humbly submit that I've been more imaginative on this one that most other people. I try to run a profitable business with diversified activities as a first priority. That inevitably involves farming to an extent. How great an extent depends on my first priority!

 

[Feldspar]

Just what I was thinking hes thinking of putting it into stewardship drawing the ? then was going to pay a man to burn diesel to top it all. Then decides he can make more buy letting it for grazing but only on these strict terms. Much better To say 11 weeks free grazing but these are the terms he would be better off. How long would it take to top 300 acre/how long would it take to look stock grazing 300acre assuming it would have to be topped in the same time frame when he's already said there busy

We would have time enough to top the area once in that period (which is what the rules say you can do). However, would not have capacity to spare someone to look after livestock on a daily basis. Obviously mowing is relatively simple to manage as it's in-house. I guess with a wide enough mower it would take us three days during that period which would be fine. Tractor will be needed for other jobs so marginal cost of using this not huge. It's really the need to buy a new / second hand mower.

 

[Al R]

We would have time enough to top the area once in that period (which is what the rules say you can do). However, would not have capacity to spare someone to look after livestock on a daily basis. Obviously mowing is relatively simple to manage as it's in-house. I guess with a wide enough mower it would take us three days during that period which would be fine. Tractor will be needed for other jobs so marginal cost of using this not huge. It's really the need to buy a new / second hand mower.

Any AD plants near you that could direct cut it or mow it/silage it?

 

[Fendt516profi]

No fencing at all.

As you say, it's not a livestock area so there are not lots of people who are free to help.

Rules of the grass management are set out here:

Requirements

• establish a flower-rich margin or plot between 15 March and 31 May or 15 July and 15 October based on the mixture specified in the “What to sow” section
• if plant growth is more than 15cm in height before 31 March, cut it (and remove if dense) to achieve a plant height of between 5cm and 10cm from 1 April. cut (and remove if dense) or graze 90% of the area between 15 August and 31 October to leave a plant height of between 10cm and 20cm - leave 10% of the area uncut

• 
  Surely looks like you could sell it as a standing crop of grass after 15th of August. If you put plenty of fert on it should be dense ?

 

[unlacedgecko]

No fencing at all.

As you say, it's not a livestock area so there are not lots of people who are free to help.

Rules of the grass management are set out here:

Requirements

• establish a flower-rich margin or plot between 15 March and 31 May or 15 July and 15 October based on the mixture specified in the “What to sow” section
• if plant growth is more than 15cm in height before 31 March, cut it (and remove if dense) to achieve a plant height of between 5cm and 10cm from 1 April. cut (and remove if dense) or graze 90% of the area between 15 August and 31 October to leave a plant height of between 10cm and 20cm - leave 10% of the area uncut or ungrazed

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/flower-rich-margins-and-plots-ab8

Whether grazed or not the land would still get the remnants of BPS, although obviously by the time this grass would be established this would already have reduced.

I have no expectations of rent levels, zero or otherwise, I'll just use the answer to compare against mowing, and then use the best option between these two to compare against other stewardship options (such as fallow), and then in turn compare that against an average cropping margin.

Where exactly are you? PM if required.

 

[onthehoof]

Is this a new mid tier agreement??

 

[Feldspar]

• 
  Surely looks like you could sell it as a standing crop of grass after 15th of August. If you put plenty of fert on it should be dense ?

Funnily enough you're right that it doesn't prohibit fertiliser applications, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like it because I guess the fertiliser will make the florisitic element of the mix struggle. The grass choice seemed all about keeping the grasses from being too competitive.

The problem, as @Frank-the-Wool said, is that because you have to leave the grass until mid August that it is often, according to my limited understanding at least, considerably past its best. It's often gone to seed by then.

This is a picture of what it looks like when we topped existing AB8 at the very beginning of September:

This second field would be one of the most fertile and so this growth is thicker than most other areas of this option: