Grass Addiction sweeps the farming community…

by blewog95 | Aug 17, 2020 | Agriculture, Cattle, Education, Farmers, Opportunity, photography, sheep

Grass Addiction sweeps the farming community…

Say what…

I know growing up in rural Wales it was all about the magic mushrooms, but smoking weed and farmers… surely not?!

No.. not at all, BUT they are getting addicted to seeing their grass and bank accounts grow!

Pray Tell!

Rotational Grazing; the New Zealanders have been doing it for years, the dairy lot have caught on and well… its time the beef and sheep farmers got on it and take back control!

Meet the farmer

I met Aled Evans, beef and sheep farmer in West Carmarthenshire who came back from the corporate world to take over 400ha of family farmland. Aled wanted control over his profit, not to be at the mercy of the market or processor and the only way to do this is to Save Money, by cutting the Cost of Production.

Build up your confidence

Start small and build up, gain confidence and grow the addiction of seeing grass grow!

(I thought the addiction to Tractor Porn was bad (no not like that.. literally 16-year-old boys ogling the blue one, the green one, the red one…. No weird positions, unless you are a JCB)) but seeing grass grow… IS addictive!

Aled started by splitting fields into 2 0r 4 paddocks, depending on their size, cattle grazed for 24 hours then moved onto the next fresh paddock….that’s when he saw it… new grass growing, green and lush, with no fertiliser added, and what else was growing well… the cattle and sheep… they were utilising this wonderful ‘free’ feed source… and looking great!!

Upping the game

2 years ago Aled met James Daniels of Precision Grazing at a Farming Connect ‘Prosper from Pasture’ and quite frankly has not looked back! He upped the game, GPS the whole farm to create 0.45ha Cells, that ensure consistency and ease of management. Gone is the manual plate meter and replaced with the bells and whistles of Bluetooth plate meter which sends the data to the mobile phone and then onto the computer where AgriNet works out how much grass you have on farm, days of grazing, growth, too much too little… suddenly there is a plan, a goal, Proactivity!

Yawn…

This is flexible grazing system, grazing a cell from 24 – 72 hours, decisions are made on Supply & Demand, each season can be consistent with the aim of a nice straight line on the graph… no ups and downs here, just a nice straight line of beautiful consistent green grass!

Spend it to Make it….

Spend it or invest it? Investing in rotational grazing will work out about £300/ha, this includes the new water trough system… BUT done correctly, this system will return your investment within a year, with a potential 5 figure saving on winter feed and fertiliser going forward. Surely a no brainer… change the way you say it… Investing in the farm system… investing is powerful, investing is achieving a goal, spending Is wasteful… Invest! Invest! Invest!

We’ve always done it this way…

And it is now time to change. 30 years ago you got £60 a lamb, you still get £60 a lamb and costs have gone up.. so how much is that lamb or beef animal actually making you?

Each year farmers ‘invest’ in feed and fertiliser; you can see it, touch it, you know it does what it says on the bag.. it grows animals and grass…. but get your mind around the fact that an electric fence, efficient grazing, a re-growth period, rain and sun grow copious amounts of grass…. for ‘free!

A hungry cow is an efficient cow…

Pray Tell! Aled houses the cattle over winter, they were housed on the 23 November 2019 after 9 months grazing and are fed their winter ration of silage and rolled barley or bread. They are then drip fed out onto the grazing from early Spring, starting with 4 hours a day, until the grass growth

starts to get ahead of the demand. The cattle then come back in and nibble at some silage. It takes 3 hours of efficient grazing to fill up the cattle, no loitering or walking about the field, full on Olympic style training in the art of grazing, then in to rest and chew the cud! A new Cell each day, winter growth removed and double the grass growth off these semi grazed cells! Winner Winner Grass Clover Ley Dinner!

Working smarter, not harder

Coming back from corporate world to farming, Aled brought with him the corp mentality; management meetings involving all the team and an Agenda, Quarterly reviews, regular Consultant meeting, personal and staff development and time off!

Time Off… yep and by working an 11 hour day, home for tea, every other weekend off, weekend on is only stock checking and time off off for holidays! I know! Cray Cray! But by working smarter and more efficiently a lot can be done in a day and Aled and Llifon are better for it. Work smarter Be smarter (or not so tired that accidents & near misses don’t happen)

What’s your Legacy?

Aled is creating a business he is proud of, one that fulfils his and the team’s aspirations; a successful profitable business. Ego is left at the door, working the land efficiently means that grass, labour and stock are being utilised to their very best. How does he know this? Benchmarking! Benchmarking stocking & labour units, knowing Live Weight gain and % of grass utilisation and efficiency!

Take Control

Changes are happening to farming and the red meat industry. Climate change, subsidy reductions, can leave you feeling out of control. But here is a system that gives you back control. Farming is a game of hope, hope of the weather, healthy stock, healthy price, healthy market. But hope does not give control.

What can you control? You control the Cost of Production. The end price you receive is determined by SO MANY factors…. Which you can’t control, only hope for. By reducing costs, growing a ‘free’ nutritious feed source that your animals love to eat, investing in YOURSELF, your SYSTEM, your EDUCATION will give you CONTROL.

YOU are your only obstacle

As with any system it needs YOU – 100%to make it work. It’s scary, there are systems and spreadsheets and technology and investment. There are areas of the farm to look at, (hard) conversations to be had BUT so much to learn, money to be made, free time to be had. Farming is a lifestyle but it is also a business. Don’t let the lifestyle just be about work, let it be about family, friends and enjoyment.

Rotational Grazing (in my mind) is a no brainer!

There are great companies there to help you, Farming Connect for free education, Precision Grazing consultnats, Datamars for ALL the gear and AgriNet for your software.

Thank you Aled Evans for his time, for showing what can be done, how to create a legacy, develop the ‘next generation’, sharing the gift of conversation, education and inspiration.

Thank you to Datamars for sending me ‘On Tour’ to Wales and providing all the gear and the ideas to all those amazing farmers who are getting involved in electric fences, solar powered electricity, water troughs and waterproofs all in the name of Rotational Grazing and a great farm business!

#NothingButSeriousPower #Speedrite @datamarslivestockuk

Sian Mercer

Photographer, Listener of thoughts, Asker of questions, Writer of Blogs

I am Sian Mercer, photographer, blog writer, which are based on thoughts and ideas, questions I have asked, feelings I have had and wonders which have been answered.

I am a photographer and gatherer of information for your business, please check out my website www.myruraltribe.com to see my work and book your own photoshoot.

Check out my Rural Photography , or follow me on Instagram @my_rural_tribe to keep up to date with my walks and thoughts!

Farming dreams really do come true…

by blewog95 | Mar 21, 2020 | Cattle, Farmers, Livestock market, Opportunity

Farming… is one of those things…. You can’t explain it, it’s something you have always wanted to do and other jobs just never match up to it…. They’re good but they’re just not farming. My Rural Tribe met with Ben Jones, who’s whose dream of having his own farm has come true!

The farming ‘bug’ got Ben Jones as a small boy, when he would holiday with his grandparents, in North Wales on their small holding, chickens, pigs and sheep; the stuff of childhood dreams…?

Ben got on his farming path by being accepted for a place at Harper Adams, but lack farming experience led to a year’s work experience on a dairy farm in Cheshire, where he got paid, bought a car…. The lure of money overrode the desire for a degree and he went back to Cardiff. Time in other jobs were well spent but not farming, a move to Somerset with the police force and renting a cottage with land started his own small holding, keeping chickens for eggs and lambs & pigs for met boxes.

Meeting up with his old school friend, Julia, led to romance and a move back to the Vale of Glamorgan! Both with a love of animals and the countryside saw them starting to rent some land and get their own sheep. The rented land increased, but was all over the area, so a lot of driving to feed and check livestock who lambed outside. A desire to have cattle led to them buying a herd of 12 Dexters; not the first choice for everyone but this hardy small breed suited them perfectly, small, low soil impact, and most importantly they can be out-wintered as damage is minimal, plus in the 6 years they have only seen 1 calve. The Dexters are only grass fed, with about 50 bales of silage over the winter.

Hillside Boxed beef came as a natural progression to the lamb boxes they were already doing, as 5 of the herd were cull cows, Ben took 3 to Raglan market, it was British Blue day… as you can imagine the Dexters were lost and the price received was very low. Something else needed to happen for the remaining 2 cows, they realised they could make more through the meat boxes. Ben found a small family owned abattoir and butchery in Gloucestershire, who were and still are excellent, a calm environment for the cows to go through, hung for 21 days, butchered to traditional and specialist cuts, packed and labelled, means that a viable supply chain has been sourced and supported.

The Dexter herd, they calve really easily and quickly!

The boxed beef has gone from strength to strength with a loyal following and a waiting list, 2 cattle go every month, and people can buy a specialist box with cuts of their choice, or have a Lucky Dip, which means all the meat gets used, and everyone is happy.

Spring 2019 saw the start of Ben and Julia’s dream of having their own farm, a National Trust tenancy had come up for 134 acres near Abergavenny, and they had won the tenancy.

The National Trust have a vision for their farms, to create havens for wildlife, increase species diversity and farm in a low input way which is in tune with the environment. This suited Ben as he had been farming low-input and his livestock have been only been pasture fed.

The Trust have been very supportive to Ben, encouraging Performance Recording, investing in a new infrastructure and providing volunteers who have carried out wildlife and bird surveys on the farm.

The farm is 134 acres of permanent grazing, parkland, wetlands and arable rotations which will be fallow, rye grass, herbal ley and spring barley, the livestock grazing the rotation will improve the soil, reducing the need for chemical fertiliser and the Trust want to encourage arable weeds such as poppies back onto the farm, which will benefit insects and birds.

Farming… it just gets into you… and becomes your life.

Sian Mercer

Photography, Listener of thoughts, asker of questions, Writer of Blogs

I am Sian Mercer, the writer of these blogs, which are based on thoughts and ideas, quetions I have asked, feelings I have had and wonders which have been answered.

I am a photographer, please check out my website www.myruraltribe.com to see my work and book your own photoshoot, for your rural business or family.

Please check out my Podcasts, asking the question ‘What makes a farmer’….

Check out my Rural Photography , or follow me on Instagram @my_rural_tribe to keep up to date with my walks and thoughts!

If you would like to be part of my blogs please do Get In Touch! I would love to hear from you, visit your farm and hear all about what you are doing. Or if you have some ideas of who I should visit, please do let me know!

Step away from the farm….

by blewog95 | Jan 26, 2020 | Community, Farmers, Opportunity

Step away from the farm….

Last week My Rural Tribe had the pleasure of doing the conference photography for the British Cattle Breeders Club Conference. It was so great to be at this 3 day conference and workshops, to meet old friends, make new friends, and to be inspired by fantastic informative talks from industry and hear from farmers, who have A LOT of passion for what they are doing!

It got me thinking though, what makes people attend a Conference and what are the benefits of attending a conference? Do those that attend conferences like this, broaden thier horizons more than those that don’t?

There was a wide mix of people in attendance, students, farmers, vets, industry and organisations, who all got involved on the first day, putting views across. The beauty of a good workshop means that everyone gets a go, to input, and ultimately feedback on thier thoughts, which is invaluable for those representing the industry.

Conversation….

Conversation and being able to voice your opinion is so important, to be given the time to speak, and more importantly, the time to think, is vital. Often we can get stuck in routine, be it on the farm or in the office, which can lead to us becoming narrow in our minds, because we have not had the stimulation from others, face to face, to share those views, our thoughts and opinions. To be heard has become a luxury…

Be brave… ask the question…

Bringing industry experts together in one place, is a fantastic opportunity, you get to hear about research that is being carried out, how this will influence your farm business, learn about new innovations and how to make positive, considerered decisions which will help your business become sustainable. I still think one of the bravest things to do at these things, is to put your hand up and ask the question… to you it may seem simple or irrelevant, to many it is what they wish they’d asked. When I used to teach I would encourage questions, often asking the most basic ones myself… to show that we all have questions and that we can all ask them. Only when we ask can we find the answer, only then we can make the informed decision.

Be inspired….

I still think one of the best ways to learn and be inspired is from those that are like you, farmers, who have made changes, who have stepped away from something that wasn’t working, for them, and took a risk, took a leap of faith…. and made something new! I think quite often we look at those people and think they are different from us… that we could never do what they have done, but here is the thing.. they are just people, like us, but they made it happen, to better themselves, thier business and to make something that is sustainable. You could feel the passion that these speakers had for their farms and businesses, they were inspiring.

Talking to other farmers who had attended the conference, they were passionate about thier business, they were keen to learn about the science behind things, the WHY, the reasons it works, why it is needed, they were taking on the knowledge, they were being sponges, soaking it all in. It doesn’t mean they will implement all they heard, but now they can take it back to the farm and think about it, think about what else is there, think about the conversations they had, restart conversations with people they met.

By stepping away from the farm, be it to attend a sponsored on farm event, or to pay to attend a Conference, is only ever a good thing. Horizons will be broadened, conversations will inspire, opportunities will happen.

I came away feeling totally inspired by all I heard and from those I met. In this time of social media, it reminded me that the best conversations happen in person, that people are where it is at, not via the socials, yes we get the insight, but so much gets lost, so much negaitivty for the livestock industry. This Conference and the people in it, reminded me what a great industry we have, what great people those involved in it are, and that we are bloody fantastic!

Stop scrolling, put the phone down, and get yourself off farm…. get involved, get talking, be heard, be inspired, be outstanding!

Sian Mercer

Photography, Listener of thoughts, asker of questions, Writer of Blogs

I am Sian Mercer, the writer of these blogs, which are based on thoughts and ideas, quetions I have asked, feelings I have had and wonders which have been answered.

I am a photographer, please check out my website www.myruraltribe.com to see my work and book your own photoshoot, for your rural business or family.

Check out my Rural Photography , or follow me on Instagram @my_rural_tribe to keep up to date with my walks and thoughts!