So the pictures below taken last week, are from a Grazing Platform in South Cumbria , the tracks and fence network have made a real difference to grass quality and yield – on what are challenging soils !!!
New Grain Treatment to consider in 2020
This Week
The Dry spell continues – as grass growth falls 39% on 2 weeks ago – Rain would be great – check out the graph on the page above.- the need to assess forage stocks now is now to ensure you have a plan of attack.
Checked out some excellent additions to grazing systems this week – new tracks and newly established Grazing set up for Robots all in the Ribble Valley
Reseeding has come to a halt as the dry conditions continue – be patient wait for rain on the Horizon before drilling is my advice at present.
Crypto Occur Calf Treatment for Calves , the success with this product seems to pick up week on week , more and more people are using this and seeing some improved results
This Week update
Growth rate on grass responds to rain 12 days ago – see the graph on the link above
1st Cut Silage early cuts have gone well- Remember if you need additive please let me know – I am carrying stock all the time at present
Also in aftermaths we have been rejuvenating a number of Fields to boost production for future cuts with new Grasses at 8-10 kg/Acre of rejuvenation grass seed – these are mainly Tetraploid type Grass mixtures which have the ability to compete with the existing sward
Also looking at soon direct drilling some mixed species leys in to old grassland (and spraying off existing grass ),Species are Hybrid / Cocksfoot/ Timothy and PRG grasses plus clover this should give a longer grazing period for grazing sheep.
Crypto Occur is still doing well as a Treatment for Cypto in calves feed from day 3 to day 10 with milk powder or whole milk.
Rain at last – should have a positive effect grass growth
Growth rates this week dropped by 18% , so this rain will help a lot
Grazing Platforms are being well grazed down by cattle, with residues on some farms to nearly less than 1500 kg/DM/ha, this will help keep quality later in the season. Increasing interest in paddock grazing for Sheep and Beef – in my view this is a real winner , as the main investment is in Electric fencing and water supply – but this soon cover its cost in terms of reduction of bought in feeds
This week- Plan for Silage ( we already have some cut ) , I have a stock of silage additive if you need some.
This weeks idea Multi Species Mixture
We know that multi Species leys are beneficial to both the soils in terms of boosting soil microbial activity and structure, to Livestock the mineral up take by the crop helps with health and immunity , from work I did in the borders of Scotland along with Field labs , we sampled herbal leys and compared them to just single species grass mix’s and recorded the Mineral levels in both crops – the herbal mix was higher in all but 2 of the 14 Major and trace elements we looked at.
Hermitage is a herbal ley available from Watson seeds made of the following components , it offers a wide grazing period through out the year along with a low input strategy once established
Farm feedback
‘I was looking for a grass mixture that would be productive on some of our heavy wet soils for intensive sheep grazing. Previously, I had tried more conventional mixtures but they did not last. I had heard about multispecies swards and the Hermitage mixture seemed to tick several boxes. I asked Andrew Best of Watson Seeds to tweak the mixture by reducing the timothy inclusion. The result is very pleasing, with a greater sward density and the ability to graze 4-5 ewes per acre.’
Ian Dickson, Scalpsie Farm, Isle of Bute.
- Native upland species included
- Maintains sward density under harsh winter conditions
- Also available without plantain
- Permanent clover blend ensures livestock performance
More info look at the website link below