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Holistic Approach a Winner with Livestock
Improved stock health as a result of a holistic approach to pasture management
won Cave farmers Herstall and Alyson Ulrich the livestock award in the recent
Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
The couple farm a total of 589ha of which 485 ha is dry land hill country,
while a second 104ha property is an irrigated finishing and forestry block.
Together the two properties winter 27000 ewes, 700 hoggets, 100 rising one
year bulls and 280 two rising two year old bulls.
After completing a holistic management course three years ago, the Ulrich’s
have adopted the principles of holistic grazing management and have noticed
a marked improvement in soil health and pasture quality and quantity and
stock performance.
With the goals of sustainability, nurturing the bio-diversity of the property
and maximising income and profit, the Ulrichs have gone back to the fundamentals
of how to grow grass.
Herstall believes by improving soil health you will improve plant health
and consequently stock health.
Understanding how plants grow, allowing them to reach their maximum growing
potential and allowing the plant time to recover is an important part of
the holistic system.
He says it is important not to graze pasture too short so that the leaf index
ratio is not reduced too far and photosynthesis is not retarded. The time
allowed for plants to recover between grazings will vary between seasons
and years.
In their grazing system the Ulrichs have “grazing cells” with each cell consisting
of a variable number of paddocks depending on the season and climatic conditions.
In spring, for example, the number of paddocks within the cell maybe between
10-15, while in winter all the paddocks on the property will be incorporated
in the one cell.
With the use of a grazing plan drawn up by the Ulrich’s stock manager in
spring, the sheep are rotated within these cells spending an average of two
days in each paddock.
When the sheep leave the paddock the amount of residual matter as assessed
by eye, is recorded and the time the stock spends in the paddock may be adjusted
for future grazings.
The goal is to graze each paddock for two days, while any paddocks that require
a maximum four days grazing will either be break or permanently fenced.
Under this holistic system more plant residue and some trash is left on the
paddock. The trash is trampled back into the soil by the stock providing
a valuable food source for microbes and earthworms.
The Ulrichs have noticed an increase in the number of earthworms in their
soils since using the holistic system and say it is the earthworms and soil
microbes that stimulate water and nutrient cycles.
Another plus is improved moisture retention with the soils being protected
from wind and sun by the trash and residue cover.
Herstall said in this system the paddocks are grazed very evenly as opposed
to set stocking where the sheep will always eat the most palatable plants
such as clover and ryegrass first, which causes these plant varieties to
get hammered.
In the past under a set stocking grazing regime, the Ulrich’s tended to have
cocksfoot and browntop dominated paddocks, these being the plants the sheep
did not like to eat.
The only time the Ulrichs set stock now is at lambing, as after tailing all
the ewes and their lambs are mobbed up into flocks of between 700-800 ewes
(with their lambs making around 2000 grazing mouths) to start rotating within
the cells again.
The Ulrich’s start drafting lambs at the end of November, and last season
sold 1200 lambs before and including the draft at weaning, averaging 36kgLWT.
Under the holistic grazing system the Ulrichs have pushed their weaning date
out from the beginning of December to January 20, so they have been able
to sell more lambs prime straight off the ewes.
The ewes are weighing an average 5kg heavier at weaning than under the traditional
system, a reflection of the better quality summer pasture.
Lambing percentages have been maintained at 146% in the past three years
despite two droughts and one very wet year.
With improved pasture management Herstall says he has reduced the quantity
of winter feed he grows by 50% and has had to do very little thistle spraying
due to denser, better quality pasture.
For some years now the Ulrichs have tested their soils for micronutrients
as well as macronutrients and topdress with trace elements along with the
fertiliser according to the soil tests. Herstall believes this attention
to trace elements is reflected in improved stock health.
Although the shift to holistic pasture management systems has required a
change in mindset for the family, Herstall says they were convinced of the
benefits of the holistic grazing three-quarters of the way through their
first spring using the system.
Published in the May Country-Wide southern edition. Reprinted here
with the kind permission of Country-Wide.
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