Well, since my last blog things on farm have had a bit of a shake-up. Mainly because my 2IC has resigned and finished work on the 30th March due to family health issues and the distance between our farm and the hospital. We wish him and his family all the best for the future. So […]
Howdy all, This blog finds us having had the rain we wanted and grass cover starting to improve. To help speed up the increase in cover we have slowed the rotation to around 50 days. We have increased the amount of supplement we’re feeding the cows to cover the decrease in pasture. Unfortunately it looks like the […]
Today is Saturday the 7th of March and the dark clouds that have been looming all day have started to deliver the long awaited, overdue and very welcome rain that is so sorely needed for our parched countryside, as no rain to speak of has fallen here since early February. Yes, the dry weather has […]
We have been sticking to the plan to survive the dry weather and this has involved: Extending the grazing round in January (when the turnips started) to get onto a 40ish day round (l.5ha/day). Introducing grass silage to fill the gap of grass DM and going from 30 to 40 day round. Feeding turnips at 4m2/cow/day. The current situation […]
It seems that every year we are having big dry spells through summer, so my thoughts more and more often go to what can we do to mitigate it. Do we grow more summer crops, more maize, or do we look at alternative pasture species? Generally, with summer crops if you have a good summer […]