Winter Sheep Grazing £/Hd/Week Price on Mixed Species Cover Crops - South East England??

[Robert]

As title, thanks!

 

[R J]

70p per head per week ,
Location Herefordshire

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Needs to be answered by someone in that area realy , its so area related

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Is it fenced?
Does it have water?
How early can it be grazed?
How late can it be grazed?
What are the main plant species?
Any grass run back?
Who does the lookering?
Is it light or heavy land?
How large an area?

Just a few questions to answer before giving a price!!

 

[Robert]

Is it fenced?
Does it have water?
How early can it be grazed?
How late can it be grazed?
What are the main plant species?
Any grass run back?
Who does the lookering?
Is it light or heavy land?
How large an area?

Just a few questions to answer before giving a price!!

No
Yes
1st November
31st January
Oats / Vetch (no roots)
No
Grazier
Medium / Light
e.g. 4 x 20 ha fields per season

Thank you!!

 

[sheepdogtrail]

A few more questions.

What type of water. Open ditch, stream or piped?

Is there a mains somewhere that could power a 20W fence energizer?

Would the unfenced area be safe if the sheep got out?

Is the headland ok to drive over?

 

[Robert]

A few more questions.

What type of water. Open ditch, stream or piped?

Is there a mains somewhere that could power a 20W fence energizer?

Would the unfenced area be safe if the sheep got out?

Is the headland ok to drive over?

Piped
No
Generally
Yes - sensibly

 

[Derrick Hughes]

In reality very little as there is a lot of work involed including fencing for quite a short time

 

[sheepdogtrail]

Piped
No
Generally
Yes - sensibly

Great!

How far apart are the 4 20ha fields apart from one another?

At what point on the plant would you want someone to stop grazing? Or does it matter? Do you want any spring growth from the Oats and Vetch?

 

[Mc115reed]

If you’re literally just giving them a map of fields and saying eat that and be off by end of January… 20-30pence per head per week … but realistically they’re doing you a favour

 

[pellow]

Ranges from 20p to 65p in Cornwall, lots of variables obviously

 

[delilah]

How many footpaths ?
How many Chavs with dogs in a mile radius ?

 

[Rich_ard]

No fences. Free!

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

No
Yes
1st November
31st January
Oats / Vetch (no roots)
No
Grazier
Medium / Light
e.g. 4 x 20 ha fields per season

Thank you!!

Robert

To be realistic this has little value.
Firstly the feed value is relatively low so it would not be suitable for finishing lambs and end of January is too early.
Are these winter oats or spring oats? Spring oats are vulnerable to frost and we have lost all of them even last winter.

You say there is no fencing, but are there any natural boundaries?
Depends where you are, you need a local person who might be interested at a low price, say 25p per week for ewes.

 

[kfpben]

Last winter I paid 10p/hd/lamb/week, 20p/hd/ewe/week for a similar arrangement to this. More of a courtesy payment than anything and I have it until early March.
They fly through that kind of cover crop. In a good freeze it all dies off rapidly.

 

[Wooly]

Needs to be answered by someone in that area realy , its so area related

In reality very little as there is a lot of work involed including fencing for quite a short time

Fudge me, you've changed your tune.

What happened to your default answer of £1 / head / week ????





The reality is Frank is probably correct; it's worth very little, unless you are a neighbour in need, or like hard work for little reward.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Fudge me, you've changed your tune.

What happened to your default answer of £1 / head / week ????





The reality is Frank is probably correct; it's worth very little, unless you are a neighbour in need, or like hard work for little reward.

Its not stubble turnips
And i read the answers to Franks 20 questions

 

[T Hectares]

Last winter I paid 10p/hd/lamb/week, 20p/hd/ewe/week for a similar arrangement to this. More of a courtesy payment than anything and I have it until early March.
They fly through that kind of cover crop. In a good freeze it all dies off rapidly.

From my Arable perspective I never charged much for them, I let the Shepherd give me what he thought was right for grazing my 80 ha of CC’s which was about £200 normally, we had been paid to grow them for CS so didn’t want to take the p*ss
They were normally Oats and Phacelia and some years they were knackered by Jan

I don’t graze them now as grazing is a compromise to controlling Blackgrass so I now glypho them and drill them, this started last year and I’m glad I did as it meant I could drill all the SB in Feb in the only decent window we had rather than waiting for the sheep to go, glad we didn’t this year either given the weather we had !!

The barley grossed £2000/ha and the CC is another £129/ha income from CS so a bit of grazing income is peanuts in comparison, it’s more about finding a good relationship with a grazier than the money if I wanted them grazed off