Grazing Divisions

Username John

Hello all,

I was just reading the article on Athenry here

There was a bit in there about grazing divisions

Another important point highlighted on the day was the number of grazing divisions required. Anybody who has visited the demonstration farm will have witnessed an excellent layout of approximately 30 paddocks serviced with roadways. This is servicing six separate flocks. So each flock has five grazing divisions.

Does this mean that they cycle the ewes around 5 divisions constantly? That seems very few.

They would need to be in each division for 5 days, to give a 20 day time span between grazings?

Or am I reading it wrong?

arctictree

Not really answering your question but if I have 2x4 acre fields beside each other and will be holding a small number of sheep on them over the winter. Is it better to transfer the sheep between them each month or leave them fully open so the sheep can wander between the two?

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

Hello all,

I was just reading the article on Athenry here

There was a bit in there about grazing divisions


Does this mean that they cycle the ewes around 5 divisions constantly? That seems very few.

They would need to be in each division for 5 days, to give a 20 day time span between grazings?

Or am I reading it wrong?

5 paddocks would be good but the more the better, It's not like dairying in that fencing a paddock for sheep is many times the cost of cows, for about one tenth the income, so it has to be relevant,
During peak growth here (this year) I had to come back to the paddocks in 14 days or it would have been too far gone.
But you're probably right in that 5 would be the min

Artic if it was me I'd sacrifice one paddock and mind the other

Green farmer

Was up in athenry a few times over the last few years at the open days. It's some set up they have there.very well fenced , grass quality very good, all look like 4-5 acre paddocks and regularly reseeded. Even have an aerator machine to help the ground breaths. The quality of the setup is something to aspire to. And that's before we even mention the shed........ I suppose having deeper pockets helps them a bit though...........

Username John

arctictree wrote: »

Not really answering your question but if I have 2x4 acre fields beside each other and will be holding a small number of sheep on them over the winter. Is it better to transfer the sheep between them each month or leave them fully open so the sheep can wander between the two?

If twas me, I'd get em to bare down 4 acres first. You can see how long it lasts, and then if you think you might be caught, you can try to stretch the other 4 acres with hay or something else...
Plus the first 4 acres will be growing again when its closed up, but twould want a few months over the winter to get any kinda cover on it again.

rangler1 wrote: »

5 paddocks would be good but the more the better, It's not like dairying in that fencing a paddock for sheep is many times the cost of cows, for about one tenth the income, so it has to be relevant,
During peak growth here (this year) I had to come back to the paddocks in 14 days or it would have been too far gone.
But you're probably right in that 5 would be the min

Artic if it was me I'd sacrifice one paddock and mind the other

Yeah, I would have thought 8 would be minimum, that gives 3 days grazing, and 21 days turnaround...

14 days ha... thats some growth. Do you grass measure Rancher? I think I remember reading you used to, when they did a write-up on you for the grassland thing you hosted (I didn't know twas you at the time, if I did, I would have been there, with my silly questions)

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

If twas me, I'd get em to bare down 4 acres first. You can see how long it lasts, and then if you think you might be caught, you can try to stretch the other 4 acres with hay or something else...
Plus the first 4 acres will be growing again when its closed up, but twould want a few months over the winter to get any kinda cover on it again.



Yeah, I would have thought 8 would be minimum, that gives 3 days grazing, and 21 days turnaround...

14 days ha... thats some growth. Do you grass measure Rancher? I think I remember reading you used to, when they did a write-up on you for the grassland thing you hosted (I didn't know twas you at the time, if I did, I would have been there, with my silly questions)

We put out less than a bag of CAN/ acre late feb and we do a bit of grass measuring at the start of the year and if we have enough grass ahead of us at the end march, we don't go with anymore nitrogen, but it gets a bit chaotic in May, that's when you have to be going back in a fortnight to control grass and maintain quality.... wouldn't be textbook management by any means at that time....just couldn't be bothered making silage.
Paddocks here are about eight to eleven acres, increasing ewes next year so 180-200 ewes +lambs in each batch will get 5 of those
.

Green farmer

Let us know if your ever hosting a farm open day with stap etc sometime rangler. I can remember reading that article as well. Interesting to see a hay/ silage free setup. I'd imagine you'd get excellent growth rates in early summer as not closing off your best fields for hay, but I'd be getting nervous at winter time, with the extra meal costs. Having said that I've spend a nice few quid on silage this year, which would buy a good few tonne of meal, hassle free .

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Let us know if your ever hosting a farm open day with stap etc sometime rangler. I can remember reading that article as well. Interesting to see a hay/ silage free setup. I'd imagine you'd get excellent growth rates in early summer as not closing off your best fields for hay, but I'd be getting nervous at winter time, with the extra meal costs. Having said that I've spend a nice few quid on silage this year, which would buy a good few tonne of meal, hassle free .

You're all welcome to spend an hour here anytime if I'm around, we don't do anything wonderful here, but I always think you never go to anyone else's farm without learning something, and I live in the centre of the country, so am fairly accessible

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

We put out less than a bag of CAN/ acre late feb and we do a bit of grass measuring at the start of the year and if we have enough grass ahead of us at the end march, we don't go with anymore nitrogen

This may be a bit of a stupid question ,but how do you work that out?

rangler1 wrote: »

You're all welcome to spend an hour here anytime if I'm around, we don't do anything wonderful here, but I always think you never go to anyone else's farm without learning something, and I live in the centre of the country, so am fairly accessible

I might take you up on that offer Rangler (thank you) - but I'd be most interested in calling in the Spring / summer time

I feel the one area I constantly fall down on is grass management - lamb performance starts off well, but then come May / June, it all starts to fall apart...

Green farmer

I feel the one area I constantly fall down on is grass management - lamb performance starts off well, but then come May / June, it all starts to fall apart... [/quote]



I know the feeling :-)

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

This may be a bit of a stupid question ,but how do you work that out?



I might take you up on that offer Rangler (thank you) - but I'd be most interested in calling in the Spring / summer time

I feel the one area I constantly fall down on is grass management - lamb performance starts off well, but then come May / June, it all starts to fall apart...

I use the disc mower (without topping skids) a lot here when I get too much grass, the ewes eat it off much much quicker when it's mowed, so don't get the idea grassland management is perfect here either.
We use a platemeter here to measure and there's a formula to work out how many kgs DM is on the paddock. If you measure the grass and you get 7cms and you're hoping to graze down to 4cm so you're left with 3 cms of edible grass and then there's a formula that you apply....different formula for each month
3 cms multiplied by 258+150=924/dm per hectare, ewes eat approx. 3kgdm/day, so on my sample ha there's enough for 50 ewes for six days.
Bet you're sorry you asked now, also working from memory so formula might be wrong but you get the idea

Green farmer

I fairness, grass management and fencing goes a long way between profitable and non profitable sheep. I ain't got fencing to where I want it yet. I got them contained so cannt break out. Paddocking is the next target. After that grass quality is on the hit list. All takes time though, but once you have a formula that works... Can only get better from there ...


John,
Pick me up on route, the day your visiting rangler !!!