Ha ha..silly me.. thanks

Hi Doreen,

you have to click on the download icon 😏

Regards

Mark

Hi Mark, I can only see one sheet when I open this pdf

Great Mark, explains things pretty well. Thanks for sharing!

Also relevant to our recent discussions, a general summation on the effects of grazing high or low, and long and short recovery periods.

Hey Folks,

On the topic of “Grazing in Spring in a Mediterranean Environment”, I’ve taken a couple of pics from my green season grazing paddocks to illustrate what adequate recovery of ryegrass, prior to seed set, looks like.

One pic shows some ryegrass going to seed in spring, before it has reached 3 leaf stage. In this case we would…

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Cheers Mark, I will probably move them onto the stockpile feed when they finish in this current paddock at the end of the week .. in the meantime will try for a higher density stocking rate in the cells.

My take is that you cant push sheep much harder at this stage Kate. It sounds like your dung scores and condition are good. The fact they are not eating as much of the forage and leaving stem material is less of an issue with annuals as there won’t be much leaf recovery from now on and the residue will provide you with some good soil cover over…

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Admittedly I have destocked to the point that mob grazing is challenging .. but this is the best I could get in terms of utilisation after a 2 day graze with our sheep – they are not very interested in eating much beyond the top third of the grass with more trampled than eaten. So should I force them by keeping them in the cell for longer or do…

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I have quite high leaf to stem ratio, even with the longer recovery periods. The cow pats are telling me that I am still a little low on fibre at the moment! This will change as we get towards senescence, but that will be a while off here.

the question about cows vs sheep: I’m not sure on the answer to that, but I do like the way cattle…

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Thanks for your input Eric,

I think having well rested pastures up your sleeve ready to go at this time of year is key.

Re the utilisation, do you think the cattle do better than the sheep on high fibre forage?

That’s a great article Mark. I totally agree that it is a delicate time of the year with grazing management. The way I tackle this period is by focusing on the grass first, soil second and animal requirements third – the animals are doing well without too much of our influence! My aim is to prolong the growing potential of our pasture and…

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Hi Folks,

I’ve just written a piece outlining some of the considerations that come with grazing pastures in spring, and making the transition from the growing to the non growing season. You can either download it or read it below. We would love to hear your input on how you negotiate this time of year in your grazing program.

Grazing…

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Thanks Eric, that’s what I thought .. & yes the ewes are a bit chubby I know!

I think she means a second bite of new growth, grazing the stemmy older stuff no problem but happy to be corrected!

Great photo’s Kate.

it doesn’t appear that your sheep are suffering from lack of nutrition 🤠

Our cool season grasses are typically high in ME and protein but can lack the fibre, hence the scouring – particularly early winter when there is a high leaf to stem ratio with our annual plants. Grazing lower will increase the fibre better than grazing…

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I thought they were only meant to have one bite of each plant then moved. Pretty sure Judi earl says don’t leave them too long or they go back for a second bite. Not that that helps you.

I’ve been mob grazing now since getting the sheep out of the sacrifice paddock in early June. I was also feeding hay until just a couple of days ago, had a small problem with scours with a couple of the mob but now resolved. I have been sizing the grazing cells to fit the mob for an even graze/trample of the whole cell over a max 3 day period.…

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Thanks Mark – this is what I was leaning towards. So will give a good grace

Hi Will,

Yes, you can and should graze it now as this will set the scene for another round of vegetative regrowth.

I would be inclined to get the animals in there with high mob density and take the whole lot down quickly, but more completely. This will make for a more even stand of regrowth. Only partially grazing the area will result in…

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Hi Will, with my limited knowledge , and not knowing the size of the paddock you are discussing, I would say the following.

If you are cutting for Hay, then that is not normally carried out til mid October- mid November, depending on season. If you have some good growth already and you leave it un grazed then you risk it going to seed early…

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We have fairly poor soils and growth of an oats and pasture mix that was sown in autumn, is fairly patchy right now – some areas are great others look bad. In a paddock we want to cut hay in, is it a good practice to give it one light graze over with cattle and then leave it till hay time? Or just keep the gate locked until hay cutting time?

So much in this podcast has been covered by Dr Christine Jones in her various podcasts and webinars with us. They mention in this podcast that she is retiring but what a legacy she is leaving behind, an enormous volume of research and applicable knowledge that is finally being recognised as critical pieces in the puzzle to restore the health…

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Cover crop microbiome overwintering mentioned in this one.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/regenerative-agriculture-podcast/id1372359995?i=1000659624439

That’s sensational Mark! A true testament to your recommendations. A great benchmark for us all!

How’s this for growth.

This is the area where I left a cover crop to go to seed last year for stockpiled dry summer feed.

You can see how well it came away this season. Even the dog thinks it’s worth eating!

Certainly has! After my last post I decided to put the mob back into the sacrifice paddock with some oaten hay I bought.. just moved them into the first strip this morning.. much more grass now!😊 Put some hay in a mobile feeder to help with the adjustment.

Hi Kate, what a difference 2 weeks have made! We have a nice mix of rain and sunny days, bit warmer than usual and the pasture has responded beautifully. Cows are now on grazing rotation, aiming plus 60 days before 2nd lap.

I am starting them off for overnight on grass at high density ( 150 hd on 1-2 ha) and then back to sacrificial paddock…

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Ended up just extending the sacrifice paddock a bit and have bought some Oaten Hay to keep the mob going. Means I can give the rest of the paddocks a bit more time…

We are still holding cattle in same paddock and hand feeding. Will apply foliar Liquid Trace Mix hopefully over the next couple of days to give a bit of a boost before grazing. Much like you Kate, some areas of paddocks have good cover and others not so strong so trying to give it just a bit more time. I am pleased this recent front has not…

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And to you also Eric, hope you get a good dousing! We seeded 10ha with multi species and are also keeping it locked up to go to seed this year. Will have plenty of standing feed for summer/autumn next year 😃. Having a year off lambing.. happy days!

Sounds very similar to what’s happening at ours. Got some foliars on some of the paddocks last week but got foiled by the rain so will be pulling out all stops as soon as this front has gone .. with very similar mix to what you are putting on ( except I had to buy the fish hydrosylate & seaweed tonic .. maybe I’ll make my own this spring.

Hi Kate,

We have just enough moisture to keep most annuals alive but not really growing much – it’s been a tough couple of weeks watching a good germination thin out and wilt. We are still waiting for another good 10ml + rain event to wet up the root zone! Maybe tonight/tomorrow! Cows are still in a sacrifice paddock here. I don’t want to…

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Hey Kate.

We run out of hay and silage next week, so we will be onto the new pastures 5 weeks post seeding instead of my preferred 6 weeks. We also have a mix of pastures with some already at 2500kg/ha and looking good, but others only at around 1500kg/ha. Our various brassicas, radish, mustards, vetch, clover etc aren’t going to like the…

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