Techno grazing ..

[hillman]

Anyone experience of doing techno grazing for sheep esp weaned lambs ?
I know it's popular in NZ for grazing and finishing young bulls

I see your AHDB has done some trials on it

 

[GTB]

WTF is techno grazing? Is it a bit like techno music?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=PSYxT9GM0fQ&hl=en-GB

 

[Great In Grass]

@Romney_Rob maybe able to shed some light on it: http://www.nuffieldscholar.org/our-scholars/robert-hodgkins/blog/2012/11/techno-grazing/

 

[Great In Grass]

I hope you don't mind but I've pasted the relevant bits from the article here:
Techno grazing
Farm visit of very high density stocking rates

Posted by Robert Hodgkins on November 12, 2012

Appears in Livestock


Monday Afternoon was then spent to a farm in Glen Engels to see a farmer running a merino flock on what is called a techno- grazing system in the UK it would be called high intensity cell grazing. It is a very clever system in simple terms you run very high numbers of sheep in very small areas of ground for a very short period of time So Robert had taken his paddocks and with electric fencing split them into very small areas of around 0.6 to 1ha and would then run 100-200 sheep on that area for around 4-5 days before moving them on to the next paddock, (stock numbers would vary depending on season)

Benefits are the ability to overstock considerably because the animals are confined to a very small area rather than selectively graze the field, they quite literally consume everything leaving the field completely eaten down, since introduction of the process average stocking rates on the farm have gone from 4-5 sheep per Ha to around 9-11 per ha.

This system also has the ability of very quickly wiping out less productive species of grass as well as making weed control a lot simpler (weeds are very simple to find and treatment is usually just a case of selective spraying with glyphosate) other benefits almost nil drenching – on a 5 day rotation with 45-90 days before you are back on the paddock the live cycle of most worms is broken meaning animals don’t get re-infected, as well as labour time being seriously reduced in terms of checking sheep. The fertility of the ground having so much concentrated manure on it is said to improve.

The electric fence system he had set up was very clever, all the electric wires on the property (usually 3 wires) had in built “springs” meaning you could step on the wires push them to the floor and the springs at the straining post would stretch to allow the wire to “give” Now on Robs quad bike he had developed this idea further and had mounted two round poles almost like a set of very oversized skis under the quad meaning he could drive up to an electric fence the wire would get pushed down by the tips of the “skis” and pushed all the way underneath the quad where it would then spring back into place – hence no gates on any of the techno grazing system. It was a very clever system and very strange to be sat on a quad driving into an electric fence!!

The Water troughs are another interesting point with the kiwitech company already designing small troughs that can be moved by hand as the sheep move from one field to the next, they have built water pipe connectors that can be pulled apart by hand with no tools and seal which was interesting to note. Another point I took away was on all there troughs the ball valve mechanism was underwater as the pipe came up from underneath the trough, not the more traditional side entrance. It did get me thinking that maybe this design of trough would be more resistant to frost and is something I will have a closer look at when I get back to England.

A more detailed breakdown of the system is available at the below address.

http://www.kiwitech.co.nz/TechnoGra...tury grazing at Guyra, Prograzier 01-2006.pdf

With a more detailed explanation of the kit required available here: http://www.kiwitech.co.nz/Hardware/Downloads/CatalogueNZApr2012.pdf

Could it work in England? I do know some people off some people already doing it Dr John Vipond had set up a trail in Cornwall http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/13/08/2012/134471/All-grass-wintering-system-brings-feed-savings.htm It certainly does have a place, you would have to have very well-draining soils to cope with that pressure of stock over such a small area and I would be amazed if you would not have to take the ground out of any environmental schemes it is in. Other factors to consider would be if a walker’s dog got among them it would cause an incredible amount of damage. Still as a way of “cleaning” paddocks it would take some beating and could be a way of small producers upping there stock numbers by making their own ground a lot more intensive.

 

[exmoor dave]

Exmoor tom and me went to a excellent day about it last autumn.

Extremely interesting!

 

[exmoor dave]

http://www.precisiongrazing.com


Near to you Great in grass........ well same county......... probably a relation

 

[Great In Grass]

http://www.precisiongrazing.com


Near to you Great in grass........ well same county......... probably a relation

Didn't know of them, interesting.

Not related I don't think we don't normally tup anything north of Bodmin.

 

[exmoor dave]

Didn't know of them, interesting.

Not related I don't think we don't normally tup anything north of Bodmin.

I understand....... bit too close to devon



Seems a good chap at precision grazing, certainly gave us a good demo

 

[Agrispeed]

Seems a good chap at precision grazing, certainly gave us a good demo

Had a Kiwitech trough off him, and it is a serious bit of kit

 

[Romney_Rob]

@Romney_Rob maybe able to shed some light on it: http://www.nuffieldscholar.org/our-scholars/robert-hodgkins/blog/2012/11/techno-grazing/

How dare you plagiarise me and upset my copyright I demand 100 kg of small leaf white clover to compensate for the emotional stress, ...... or I will settle for a cup next time I order some seed

 

[hillman]

How dare you plagiarise me and upset my copyright I demand 100 kg of small leaf white clover to compensate for the emotional stress, ...... or I will settle for a cup next time I order some seed

Once payment had proceeded, any more info ?

Are you doing it yourself?

 

[Great In Grass]

How dare you plagiarise me and upset my copyright I demand 100 kg of small leaf white clover to compensate for the emotional stress, ...... or I will settle for a cup next time I order some seed

I could stretch to a mug, I'm glad your cheap may have one or two other bits 'n pieces too.

 

[neilo]

So what's the difference between 'technograzing' and 'rotational' grazing? In the article stolen from Rob above, it mentions grazing in 4-5 day blocks, then moving on. Isn't that just rotational grazing?

 

[scholland]

So what's the difference between 'technograzing' and 'rotational' grazing? In the article stolen from Rob above, it mentions grazing in 4-5 day blocks, then moving on. Isn't that just rotational grazing?

My thoughts to, not even very intense rotational grazing. I presumed techno would have been daily shifts with very high stocking density.

 

[neilo]

My thoughts to, not even very intense rotational grazing. I presumed techno would have been daily shifts with very high stocking density.

I had a feeling it was daily shifts too, or is that 'cell grazing'?

 

[Great In Grass]

A bit more reading that might explain things more.

http://www.talkinggrass.co.uk/2016/11/08/techno-grazing-uk-style/

 

[scholland]

A bit more reading that might explain things more.

http://www.talkinggrass.co.uk/2016/11/08/techno-grazing-uk-style/

That's more what i was expecting

 

[Great In Grass]

That's more what i was expecting

Sorry Sir I'll try to do better next time feel like google here

 

[CopperBeech]

Yes.

 

[CopperBeech]

One guy running cattle on 2 hr moves.