Friday 23rd June 2017
Managing the land!
The heatwave came to an abrupt end today and we were a whole TEN degrees cooler than we have been, with temperatures not even reaching the twenties. It is a bit of a relief really as it was way too hot to do any work outside and it was quite a challenge to keep on top of all the water troughs etc. It is probably a whole lot nicer for the animals too.
The extremes of weather have been fun this June: we began very cold and wet, had a ferociously hot middle and are now set to be warmish, wettish and generally ‘unsettled’ for the next week or so.
Our 4-acre paddock has, as the photo shows, gone a little bit mad: we had it sprayed to kill off the docks and two days ago put the cows back in BUT in the meantime the grass has just shot up and gone to seed so now we need to get it 'topped' (i.e. as it says on the tin, have the 'tops' of the grass taken off). If we were to leave it like this the quality and quantity of grass would diminish: it is only by grazing and keeping the sward trimmed, do you then get better growth. This is what is amazing about grass, the more you cut it, the more it grows: it really is the best crop one can have.
The cows still have plenty to eat at the moment as in places the grass is still growing well but once we get it topped we will probably do a bit of strip grazing so they graze more evenly and so that where it is left for a while, it has time to really thicken up. We will also put the sheep in as well and so give the top 3-acre a bit of a rest (although it will still have the alpacas and goats). We have just 'weed-wiped' the bottom 3-acre now, this time for reeds as although they are not quite so dominating as docks, they still take up valuable space and nutrients that ought to be taken up by grass! Weed wiping is more economical than spraying as the weed killer is literally ‘wiped’ on the weeds and so one does not need to then spray the whole field. It only works however, when the weeds stand up above the grass so is not always an option. We have to leave this field vacant for a fortnight now, rather than just the one week required for the docks. Hopefully it will be full of lush grass when we can allow the animals back in – we expect them to be looking at it expectantly when the time comes.
Our 4-acre paddock has, as the photo shows, gone a little bit mad: we had it sprayed to kill off the docks and two days ago put the cows back in BUT in the meantime the grass has just shot up and gone to seed so now we need to get it 'topped' (i.e. as it says on the tin, have the 'tops' of the grass taken off). If we were to leave it like this the quality and quantity of grass would diminish: it is only by grazing and keeping the sward trimmed, do you then get better growth. This is what is amazing about grass, the more you cut it, the more it grows: it really is the best crop one can have.
The cows still have plenty to eat at the moment as in places the grass is still growing well but once we get it topped we will probably do a bit of strip grazing so they graze more evenly and so that where it is left for a while, it has time to really thicken up. We will also put the sheep in as well and so give the top 3-acre a bit of a rest (although it will still have the alpacas and goats). We have just 'weed-wiped' the bottom 3-acre now, this time for reeds as although they are not quite so dominating as docks, they still take up valuable space and nutrients that ought to be taken up by grass! Weed wiping is more economical than spraying as the weed killer is literally ‘wiped’ on the weeds and so one does not need to then spray the whole field. It only works however, when the weeds stand up above the grass so is not always an option. We have to leave this field vacant for a fortnight now, rather than just the one week required for the docks. Hopefully it will be full of lush grass when we can allow the animals back in – we expect them to be looking at it expectantly when the time comes.