[tobytoby]

Hoping to hear soon if i have got my land, and i was wondering what benefit there would be to cattle to graze down the above grass in a woodland area 3+ acres?. It hasn't been grazed for 3-4 years. There is an odd patch of brambles and nettles, but mostly long grass dying back and a deep bed of thatched old grass. I can borrow some cattle to clear it back and was toying with over wintering 6 sheep - but letting roam over the full area? Is this wise or should i strip graze the area? Fencing and water not an issue. Thanks

[ellisr]

When I moved into my new house a few years ago the fields were very overgrown and looked awful. I popped in 6 sheep which over the winter and following spring made a beautiful job of clearing it all down. I did feed concentrate over the winter but very small amounts and a little hay and they held condition beautifully even through some bad snow.
I would personally take out the brambles if you are putting woolies in as it is a recipe for disaster they will search them out and get tangled and then you have the task of trying to get them free whilst they stress and twist in even more

[Rosemary]

Have a search on google for foggage or standing hay. I think we might try this next year - deliberately  We've done it by chance last year and this. Using foggage doesn't seem to be very popular but it does seem to give winter keep without needing equipment to make hay or silage.

[tobytoby]

Thanks Rosemary, i have never heard of Foggage?

[robert waddell]

in the old days after a crop of hay you get the regrowth this is what is called foggage very nutritional and can fatten lambs increase milk production and also fatten cattle
to get a good sward of grass and maintain it it has to be managed in a proper fashion
leaving the grass to go wild and uncut is totally wrong the clover and good grasses are rotted out by the thatch of winnowed stems that are there for all to see
the following year you have to harrow the field to get rid of the old grass
foggage does not last the winter long once frosted its nutrition is lost you can also get winter kill on your sward
a hay crop that has been left uncut is only a salvage operation  it wont make good winter keep if the weather permits and you rely have to strip graze to get the animals to eat and not waste the whole field

[SallyintNorth]

in the old days after a crop of hay you get the regrowth this is what is called foggage very nutritional and can fatten lambs increase milk production and also fatten cattle

Hereabouts (weather permitting  ) we put our speened lambs on the fogs.  The fogs are the early regrowth of the grass cut and baled for hay, haylage or silage.  In more predictable times, you finished cutting your hay by the end of July and speened your lambs onto the fogs in August.  Not only are the fogs highly nutritious to help the lambs replace the milk they are now not getting and fatten for sale by the end of the summer but they are also clean - no worms, having been empty of sheep for several months and scalped for haymaking.

I'd never heard the term foggage before.  I don't know whether foggage is ungrazed fog that's become overgrown?

[robert waddell]

it is just the same different dialects with different spelling

[suziequeue]

It's great to red this. It's what I wanted to do once our hay was cut but we need to get the fencing fixed first so the grass has grown rather long (6") unfortunately. Hopefully we will be able to start them on it soon