The site is 60 acres. 20 acres nestles right next to the Fair City of Perth and its large dog population; the remaining 40 sits awkwardly on the other side of the Perth Bypass with no access that doesn’t involve a highly stressful movement through a wood, over a bridge and through another wood. There is a clear and present danger of sheep making their way to the city centre, if things go wrong.
Its poor stuff. A lot of moss. Really slow growth rates. A lot of creeping thistle. A bit of gorse and a sprinkling of nettles.
175 sheep - mostly hoggs - spent four weeks on the 20 acres taking it down to 1,100 kgDM/Ha ... oops! Now - safely across the bypass - 118 (the rest were sold) have been on 3.6 Ha (9 acres) for 7 days - going on at 2,100 kgDM/Ha and taking this down to 1,650 kgDM/Ha as of today (this means an average of 2.4 kgDM/day consumption which is roughly 4.5% of bodyweight which must be wrong). The untouched remainder has grown by 70 kgDM/Ha/Day over the last week. Compared to a growth rate of 8 kgDM/Ha/Day on the original “grazed bare” 20 acres. I should really check my platemeter but leaf grows leaf; grass grows grass ... the figures might not be completely accurate (though maybe they are) but I think it still tells a story.
Tomorrow I take delivery of the “Rappa pallet of wonder” which includes the ATV Rappa machine. I am wearing a nappy tonight ... I am that excited.
Once delivered we go max-strength cell grazing with hopefully additional stock numbers arriving soon to ensure we can keep on top of the grass.
