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.