It's not just about Pasture species but a whole farm approach
Our aim is to catch all available rainfall for utilisation throughout the season, it is important that we have livestock which complement our pasture growth profile and management system. Legumes drive our business - sustainability, viability, profitability.
The Legume doing the best in your environment is probably the one fixing the most nitrogen! In our environment the best legumes are Lucerne, Subclover and Red Clover. The best herds are Chicory and Plantain, and the best companion grasses are Prairie Grass, Gala, Bareno. We uses these pastures as either pure stands or pasture mixes, such as a pure Lucerne stand, or a Lucerne/Prairie Grass mix. We aim to renew 10% of pastures annually, and would like to get a ten year life, however seven years seems to be more typical in our environment. We direct drill where possible.
Fast growing animals eat less feed, so we target our feeding to ensure maximum growth. We target early lactation in hinds, autumn growth in weaner deer, and the first 12 weeks of a lamb's life, as it will grow faster in this stage than any other time in it's life. Breeding ewes only rrequire quality feed for three months of the year. We also have to policy that "if you can't feed the, get rid of them". Historically young stock are not usually fed any supplement (although we are now strategically using grain feeding of weaner deer at certain times of the year). We use pad feeding of breeding stock using cereal silage until there is sufficient cover on the paddocks to allow grazing again.
The Legume doing the best in your environment is probably the one fixing the most nitrogen! In our environment the best legumes are Lucerne, Subclover and Red Clover. The best herds are Chicory and Plantain, and the best companion grasses are Prairie Grass, Gala, Bareno. We uses these pastures as either pure stands or pasture mixes, such as a pure Lucerne stand, or a Lucerne/Prairie Grass mix. We aim to renew 10% of pastures annually, and would like to get a ten year life, however seven years seems to be more typical in our environment. We direct drill where possible.
Fast growing animals eat less feed, so we target our feeding to ensure maximum growth. We target early lactation in hinds, autumn growth in weaner deer, and the first 12 weeks of a lamb's life, as it will grow faster in this stage than any other time in it's life. Breeding ewes only rrequire quality feed for three months of the year. We also have to policy that "if you can't feed the, get rid of them". Historically young stock are not usually fed any supplement (although we are now strategically using grain feeding of weaner deer at certain times of the year). We use pad feeding of breeding stock using cereal silage until there is sufficient cover on the paddocks to allow grazing again.