Grass Master

Just as the hoggs were getting used to the cell grazing idea and surrendering to the electricity; I had to let them go so I could take a week to do my UK Nuffield tour.  I tried to fence off the residuals of the cells already grazed.

My first visit was to Rhys Williams.  Rhys is a grass farmer that processes the grass through 1400 dairy cows and sells the milk.  He takes a day a week to measure his grass and manage the results of the measurements.  Grass is serious.  Paddocks vary in size but tend to be 24 hour paddocks.  If grass is not grazed back to between 1400 and 1500 kgDM/Ha by milking they will return to the paddock for a couple of hours to ensure it has been.

mmm ... nice rotary

By leaving residuals at 1600 to 2000 it looks like I will be lowering my quality by at least 1 MJ per kg.  The plants need to be taken right down so everything from 3cm is green leaf in regrowth.

Rhys’s utilisation is 85%.  EBLEX’s grasswatch quotes utilisation in UK set stocking systems at 50 - 60%.  He increased the grass yield of a new farm he took on at 1000 feet above sea level from 8 tonnes of DM/Ha to 14 tonnes in one season.  He reckons that you can transform a sward of say 30% ryegrass to one with 70% in a single season.  This means he reseeds only 5 % of his sward - one in 20 years - without compromising quality!!  This is all essentially through obeying the 3 day rule and leaving residuals of 1400 to 1500 kgDM/Ha.

Some of Rhys's heifers

Saw dairy heifers mob grazing.  The going rate for heifer grazing seems to be £1.95/kg live weight gained.  He is getting 1000kg of gain per hectare per season ... do the math!

Don't Panic ...

First weighing 2 weeks after starting the block grazing and the average weight gain is .... minus 0.03kg per day.  The target would be ideally a gain of 300g per day .... and I'm managing to lose 30g.  This time they did have to wait to get weighed and you wonder how much gut fill effected the result.

Yet I worry - maybe they are a bit more stressed contained in a small block surrounded by electric.  Maybe having to eat everything rather than preferentially graze at their leisure means their nutritional intake is well down and poor gains are going to be the payment for a better sward.

The Mules need to grow quickly so I can sell them as big fat gimmers in September.  I’m nervous but not going to surrender just yet.  In the words of Jon Bon Jovi - Keep the Faith!

The Battle of Bypass Bridge ...

Bought 102 mule ewe hoggs on Wednesday to add to the cell grazing.  I hate them already.  They are so wooly they laugh in the face of 3 strands of electric wire.  They are impossible to contain.  After almost crying and swearing loudly ... a lot, they are now contained in a half hectare block with the others surrounded by 5 wires.  I hope they learn to respect electricity and then I can go back to the 3 strand method.

Its another reason why wool shedding sheep are brilliant. 

Make it smaller, and don't take as long ...

Saturday. Sheep move to first proper cell (temporary paddock).  Its 0.67 Ha.  There are 118 head weighing in total 5772 kg.  They enter with grass at 2,600 kgDM/Ha and left today with it standing at 1,800 kgDM/Ha.  Around 3.5% of body weight consumed per day in grass dry matter.

That was a three day grazing.  I can see the merit in grazing more stock on a smaller area for a shorter time.  The grass becomes dirty and a uniform grazing is not achieved (preferential grazing very obvious).  I’d like the sward to be left shorter too. Slightly worryingly they drank no water.

Saw something on the internet that was describing really intensive mob stocking and talking the cattle equivalent of 2,000 ewes per half hectare but these were sometimes moved twice a day!!

Something for the Weekend? ...

It’s a big issue ... you know ... time.  It is the be all or end all for cell grazing.  How much time - spent on just making the cells - is worth any additional production.  The key, of course, is to limit the time spent and optimise the production.

My plan is to 1) use some labour saving kit and 2) make the cells for the next 7 days in a couple of hours at the weekend (somehow time at the weekend seems cheaper).

The first part of the plan arrived in the form of a Pallet of Wonder from Rappa Fencing.  It includes a machine you can put on the ATV and can take down and put up electric fences really quick.

The Pallet of Wonder 

I need a lot of practice with the Rappa machine but am hopeful.  Fencing will still take time and on top of this is measuring the areas, designing each block for ease of access as you move from cell to cell and making sure they have water. 

I’ll be honest - I’m worried it is taking too much time already.  All my doubts are coming to the fore, all the shaking of heads from those that are sceptical seem almost justified. But I need to give it time.  Be patient.  Think it through. Find solutions.  

I also need more stock to make it worthwhile.  A Techno Grazing man I met last week said to make the best use of your grass you have to breath livestock in and breath livestock out ... in other words trade stock as well as breed stock.  Tomorrow I’m going to market ... and no one can stop me.

Danger, Danger - High Voltage ...

Its 9.30 at night.  Day light is all but gone.  The running of the hoggs has just taken place, through woods, over the motorway, through more woods.

I had put up the electric fence in a perfect straight line a few hours before.  It looked beautiful. I didn’t turn it on.  This mistake will not be made again.  The sheep broke it twice and it was 11.30 in the pitch black before I left the field.

Lesson 1: electric fence should actually be electric.

Crime Scene Investigation - Perth ...

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.