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Contents tagged with grazing
19 June 2020
Successful buffer feeding not only helps slow down the rotation and conserve grass for grazing, it can also be cost-effective if you reduce waste, maintain milk yields and generate payback. While feeding in the paddock is a cheaper option, it risks encouraging local wildlife into the paddock, which isn’t good for TB management.
16 June 2020
Join AHDB Beef and Lamb and Dr Liz Genever, independent beef consultant, for a webinar on finishing cattle at grass.
17 June 2022
Seed heads will always happen, but managing them correctly can reduce the impact they have on cow intakes, milk production and the rest of the grazing season
16 April 2021
An article looking at Using dirty water as a source of moisture for the grazing platform could lead to rejected paddocks, or poor residuals, caused by high potassium levels, which make grass taste bitter.
7 May 2020
This article looks at how you choose seed mixes dependant on which grazing platform you are going to use.
24 April 2020
This article looks at how you should consider grazing infrastructure as an investment.
26 May 2022
This article discusses whether you should be supplementing or substituting a grass-fed diet
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23 April 2020
Join AHDB Beef and Lamb for a live chat with suckler beef farmer, Tim Phipps from Bragborough Hall Farm in Northamptonshire.
21 December 2021
To benefit from higher grass yields in the long term, spring reseeds need a light grazing and careful management in their first 6 months. Start by doing a ‘pull test’ to establish whether seedlings have rooted properly and then use young calves to nip off leaves from 6 weeks after establishment. “The last thing you want to do is to graze and lift out seedlings,” says LIC consultant Sean Chubb. “You only want to take off the top 4 cm to encourage regrowth and tillering, so use calves because they won’t graze as low or as hard as older stock. There is no point in doing all that hard work if you then have to oversow next spring. “In their first year, new leys need preferential treatment: leave a residual growth of 5 cm, potentially graze less and then perhaps correct for this in autumn. Accepting less tonnage this year means you will be rewarded with better growth in future.” Using heavier livestock not only risks overgrazing and slowing regrowth, but also compaction where reseeding has involved a full seedbed preparation leaving a light, fluffy soil. When direct drilling into an established sward, however, cows can be used to do a light first grazing. After its first grazing, a new ley should be left to grow to 2.5–3 leaves and not be overgrazed. Leaving slightly higher covers avoids taking energy out of the plant: roots need to grow down and out, says Sean. “This is particularly important going into summer. New leys are more susceptible to drought and dying from overgrazing,” he points out, adding that a typical 10% of the platform reseeded each year is not a large enough area to affect measuring and software calculations.
27 March 2020
The cost of a lost grazing day to businesses is an important calculation, even for experienced grazing managers.
2 January 2020
Strategic Farm - At this meeting we will discuss Spring Grazing in Autumn Calving Systems, Join dairy grazing consultant, Andre Van Barneveld and SDF farmer Arthur Owen and explore how to prepare your gazing platform for maximum success at this event in North Wales
23 May 2023
Use the sward stick to measure the height of grass within a field