[Zebedee]

I've bought a small flock of ten Shetland ewes and four lambs plus three Dexters (two cows and a bull) for my twelve acres or so of grass. Two more Dexters are supposed to arrive this week. Is this about right for a low-intensity, conservation grazing type management? One principal aim is to maintain two relatively species-rich hay meadows.

A hay cut was taken off about six acres in July. In theory, that should mean plenty of food for the animals this winter at least. I've actually sold some hay as well now as the horse owners seem to like it. As this is the first time I've ever kept farm animals of any kind, there's a wholesale lack of experience on my part. I was wondering what knowledge or observations others may have, especially those who may hold a similar interest in conservation.

[twizzel]

I guess it depends if you can rest a few acres at a time, whether you will supplement with forage in winter, how good the grazing is etc. I think for now you'll be ok but come next year if your shetlands all have 1 lamb each, your cows all have 1 calf each you may be a bit pushed especially when weaning comes and you need to split heifers/ewe lambs from your ram/bull.

[Backinwellies]

Doesn't sound very low density when  all the offspring have arrived. Remember you keep cattle 2  years ish before slaughter so there will be 2 years of youngstock at any one time. (4 cows, 1 bull and at least 8 younger ones) . You may have to buy in winter feed in the future or rent some grazing to keep up this stocking level.

[shygirl]

its easy to over stock when you previously you have seen your land as overgrown but cattle do eat an awful lot.
I only have two Shetland cows and a bull but still have a rolling herd of 7/8 cattle. if you intend to breed from the 4 dexters and finish your calves, you could have 15 odd cattle on 12 acres. that's a lot. are you wintering in?
you should need 5 big round bales per cow per winter.

[Dogwalker]

It all depends.
I've got 24 sheep and 24 goats (including this years lambs / kids) on 12 1/2 acres and it's under grazed.
I think you'll have to try it and adjust numbers as you gain experience.

[Marches Farmer]

Provided you can store it properly I would advise keeping all the forage you can rather than selling it.  I expect horse owners will like but you'll wish you hadn't sold it if we have a winter like the last one, where the ground was so wet we housed our sheep for six unplanned weeks, or like the year it snowed in early December and didn't melt for months or .....  Grass has grown well through this summer, but whatever you've got now will have to last  until the end of March or into April, depending on how late the Spring is.  If you overstock the pasture will look like a mown lawn and you'll need to feed hay or silage.

[Zebedee]

First, thanks for your helpful replies. It's all a juggle when you have a finite supply of land while the numbers of animals are elastic but growing. I took the approach of jumping in and adjusting as I went along.

I've already had to move the four lambs to another field as my friend put his ram in to the ewes last weekend and he's the one pushing me to increase the numbers. And yes, alarmingly, I've noticed the Dexters have had a significant impact already on the pasture where they're grazing presently. And two more arrive this week! I only bought the bull because the farmer selling me the cows said he was sending off the bull to get topped immediately the females had gone and he looked so handsome and friendly. I just liked him! A case of trying to run before I can walk, especially when, in theory, six acres are supposed to be shut up next year for hay.

Hay-wise I've about 200 small bales of hay left stored off site in the dry. Funnily enough, a lady who bought fifteen to try only to tell me her horse turned its nose up at four of them, came back yesterday and picked up another thirty. Amazing what a bit of cold weather will do to a horse's attitude.

Buildings-wise, I've nothing at the moment apart from some old sheds which the cattle would knock down like matchsticks. It's an issue I'm dealing with now as I'm putting in a prior approval Application in the next few days for a multi-purpose building. One good thing about the Coalition is that they've made the planning application process a sight easier (or less stressful and more certain) as there's only limited scope for an LA to say 'You can't do this or can't do that' these days. The PD regulations only demand a plan and no elevations, just a list of intended finishes.

This winter and next year will be an interesting time, that's for sure.



 

[Steph Hen]

From a slightly different angle:
What species in the meadows that you would like to conserve? A grazing/cutting management will depend upon what your preferences.
What management was it under previously?
Do you want to enhance or maintain your meadows biodiversity?

[Zebedee]

I'll answer your questions with a bit of a discourse. When I moved here about twenty years ago, I put the fields into Countryside Stewardship in exchange for a capital grant on a pond project (the money was easier to get then). The fields had conservation interest with just under forty odd grass and herb species identified at survey. I wasn't farming myself at the time so outside graziers used the land and I was supposed to keep the graziers to a regime intended to conserve the fields as hay meadows which I know historically they undoubtedly were. All well and good but over time it proved a struggle as inevitably the graziers would bring on more stock than the fields could cope with, half the time they couldn't be bothered to make the hay and, perhaps worse of all, would bring in supplementary, non-indigenous feed that introduced masses of weed species. I ended up hand-pulling well over ten thousand thistles from one field alone. It made me resolute to turn it around so I decided to become a farmer myself and learn from scratch.

Turning to your points. All the species in the field are worth conserving, including the odd creeping thistle. It's the balance that needs to change as grasses and rank species dominated and thus need management to allow the flowers to show in greater number. There was nettle interspersed everywhere as well which is a tell-tale sign of enrichment. So I've re-introduced a management system based on hay cuts and managed to make about 400 small bales this summer, a year which has been fantastic for grass, I'm sure you agree. My fields are a shining example, or should be, of what an old English hay meadow once looked like. At the peak before the cut this year one field literally abounded with zillions of creatures that jumped aside as you walked through. It's an amazing sight. When you compare that with the productive but boring and silent rye grass monocultures that surround you, you'd start to understand where the motivation comes from. 

Species-wise, there's scope I'm sure to do more but I don't particularly want to spend hundreds on wildflower mixtures where the prognosis is unknown. I have some hay rattle seed I've collected and I've bought some betony seed too which appears absent presently, but that's about it for the moment. I'm just trying to get a system of animals, grass and hay all working together to attain a kind of serendipitous harmony. It looks from your collective comments though that I may have overcooked the animal numbers a bit.   

[Factotum]

Don't sell any more hay.

Our Shetland cattle eat (on average) nearly 5 large round bales each over winter. That is between 50 and 55 small square bales each. We feed hay to ours from about the middle to late November through to early May - it depends on the weather in April/May - some years we have snow on the ground in the second week of May.

I think Dexters are smaller than our Shetlands, but you could possibly expect them to eat a similar amount.

You'll probably have to buy in  fodder for your stock by the end of the winter season.

Sue

[Backinwellies]

Don't sell any more hay.

Our Shetland cattle eat (on average) nearly 5 large round bales each over winter. That is between 50 and 55 small square bales each. We feed hay to ours from about the middle to late November through to early May - it depends on the weather in April/May - some years we have snow on the ground in the second week of May.

I think Dexters are smaller than our Shetlands, but you could possibly expect them to eat a similar amount.

You'll probably have to buy in  fodder for your stock by the end of the winter season.

Sue

Your sheep will want up to a bale a day too .......... 200 is unlikely to take you through the winter unless it is exceptionally mild and dryish.

[Zebedee]

I'll keep the hay and won't run any more ads. My friend today said he'd put some haylage by as well.
 
Dexters do love their hay all right. I brought them up a bale yesterday evening and as soon as they saw it they came charging down the hanging toward me, digging in just before the electric wire. The bull misjudged his braking distance and slid down the slope toward the wire which he just touched with his nose. Zing! One of those comic moments.

I've managed to avert having to take the two other cows and feel relieved, frankly. So thanks for the assessment. I'll start walking again now. Maybe some chickens.