December 28, 2012

• Grass Farming

  The book I read to research this post was Grass Farming by DW Morris et al which is an excellent book which I bought from a carboot sale. This book is a bit of a classic on the subject of sheep and cattle farming. The main thing this book is about is making the most of the available grass because modern farming is about being efficient. Dairy farming is the most productive of the 3 types of farming covered but to make it pay each cow must produce 4,500 litres of milk per year. This means they must have good quality grass and feed and must enjoy eating it. At one time they would grow grass one year and alternate that with italian ryegrass and kale. Modern thinking is to grow grass all the time with a small amount of land set aside for any additional crops which will be fed as part of their winterfeed. This helps make the grass more drought resistant, improves soil structure, helps the grass be more disease resistant and also you can grow more grass. It has to have fertilizer regularly. They normally have 1 bull and sell the male calves for veal. Even a small farms needs at least 100-150 cows. Often a farm that size will have only 2 people working it. If you have ewes you need approximately 10 times as many as cows for a given size of land. Sileage which is fed in winter must be protected from rain and should be stored in either a dutch barn or water tight silo. The rain can wash a lot of the nutrients out of it. You should also grow a reasonable amount of clover with the grass and should keep the weeds to a minimum.

  • 5:23 pm
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