TPF2012 wrote: » What measures and what environmental impacts did Reps bring about? Or was it seen as a good scheme purely from a financial viewpoint.
ganmo wrote: » Were the commanage plans of any use?
Water John wrote: » As Birdnuts says there are sections that worked well. The Bride Valley Scheme too is one that is a success story. Not sure was that part of a pilot or what Scheme it came in under. So there are models, knowledge and experts out there. Some of it is a question of, how radical one wants to go?
Lady Haywire wrote: » The coppicing actually worked quite well here. I was only rejigging the fence around it yesterday & it's thickened up into a great hedge now. I think we did the max we could of that though, definitely be one we'd do again if it's an option in the new one. Only had a few bits in LIPP, would probably have put more into that & not put all meadows in THM if I could go back 5yrs. We normally only topped all at the same time anyway so we were as well to get paid for it :pac: Last meadows being cut here today, normally 22 each year in one field below my house, be interesting to see if same again with the lack of rain mid growth. Would love to see a tailored plan for each farm that signs up but jaaaaysus the cost of doing that would be too much. Every farm is different so we'd all have aspects that will work better than others. I know blanket schemes are trying to catch all but as said above, sometimes it's impossible to farm it by the calendar dates given.
MayoAreMagic wrote: » They worked off the ludicrous idea that the stock of anyone not in glas was not counted. So the stocking figures were not relevant to the commonage itself at all. For it to fall at such a basic hurdle is hard to fathom. Because of that, some guys got shafted in the stocking rates, with the result of that being very high true stocking rates on commonages. That was totally haphazard and basically a how to guide to overgrazing. It showed a real lack of understanding of commonage, and then a total lack of interest in it once this issue was raised. I hear them mentioning a new reps but I have zero faith in it. They know farmers preferred reps, so they will just rehash glas a bit and call it reps. What I think should actually happen is each measure should be detailed, with observations of the where the shortcomings of each are. The better ones acknowledged, improved and kept on, with new measures, similar in stlye to the ones that worked intruced. Then, area specific ideas could be introduced also, in conjunction with the local knowledge of the farmers, thereby improving known local issues and giving farmers a but of input, while making good use of their expertise in the process.
MIKEKC wrote: » Whether the stock of others were counted or not made no difference because most of the farmers never stocked the commonage but still got paid .unfortunately others pulled out of the scheme because of the stocking rate therefore losing out on payments while those that took the chance on not being inspected got paid
MayoAreMagic wrote: » Not sure how they could not stock the commonage when their stocking rate includes the hectares of the commonage. They would either have had to rent out more land to make up the shortfall or starve the animals in the fields. Both seem kinda pointless.
MIKEKC wrote: » They simply took the chance and with little or no inspections all continued to get paid.
TPF2012 wrote: » I am in Glas here myself, doing wbc and traditional meadow which I think are mixed in what they do for environment. My wbc is feeding a herd of deer all summer so not be much left for birds. Reps was before my time in farming on my own and I'm just wondering what was so good about the scheme, I hear farmers talk about it with great reverence and longing.
Mach Two wrote: » REPS paid for my slurry facilities. So no slurry being drained in to the environment. All being recycled to silage ground. So less chemical fertiliser needed. Over 100 deciduous trees planted. Only 3-4 failed. Surely 400 yds of hedging planted. All still growing strong. It would be nice to see some sort of wholecrop being planted for any other environment scheme. Our landscape is dominated by grass. So a monoculture. I would like to think that a wholecrop would benefit ground nesting birds. What is WBC?
endainoz wrote: » WBC stands for wild bird cover, farmers participating in glas, it's debatable if it does much for birds really. The only birds I really saw in mine werr sea gulls and crows trying to eat the seed as it was just planted so not really what was originally envisioned. I think your wrong to assume all grasslands are monocultures though. It might be true in intensive or dairy type operations where you find places dominated by ryegrass and nothing else, it's fair to call that mono culture but grasslands in general are the furthest thing from it.
longgonesilver wrote: » Can you put up a few pictures please?
Water John wrote: » 'A man goes out to sow his mustard seed... and some fell on good ground'
pure breed wrote: » Question on Glas Scheme. Does anyone know if its OK to put FYM (farm yard manure) on some of the LIPP? It had got approx 1 bag to acre in spring of 18=6=12. Thanks
Base price wrote: I remember reading that it depends on the soil index of the LIPP that you got from your nutrient management plan. From memory fym should be spread on other plots (not lipp) first. Maybe you should phone your advisor and get him/her to check what indexes your LIPP is and ask. Chemical N cannot exceed 40kgs/h.