FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Mike Allwood
Mike Allwood is owner-
occupier of 82ha (200-
acres) near Nantwich,
Cheshire. The 175-cow
dairy herd block calves
during May and June.
Besides converting to
organic production, he is
also producing his own
unpasteurised cheese
WHAT a glorious spring. It is mid-April and cows have been out for about a month, day and night. Once fields are dry enough I like to get animals outside, even when grass is growing slowly.
The more ground we can open up, the more flexibility we subsequently have with our grazing. Any silage left in the pit can be used later when we run out of grass or, even better, next winter.
We used to try to seal the clamp face with a silage sheet, but we do not bother any more as it is of cosmetic value only and seems to encourage a layer of green slime and fungi.
Grass is growing at the rate of about 2cm (1in) compressed height/week, with ungrazed fields having between 10cm (4in) and 13cm (5in) of cover. We like to graze when grass is about 10-11cm (4in) high, finding that cows are reluctant to clean up anything longer.
Dry cows follow milkers, tidying up the odd paddocks which have not been grazed well. The morning frosts have so far checked regrowths, but a few days of warm rain will soon put that right.
Docks appear to have had a good winter and I will continue to campaign for topping this year to help weaken them. I am considering changing to an offset machine as our trailed topper leaves any docks run over by tractor wheels, so the following day the field looks as though it has never been topped at all.
My one real gripe with organic farming is that we need to use the tractor more rather than less. Apart from the issue of fuel use, I do find tractor driving the most mind-numbingly boring of occupations.
I have been writing for Farmer Focus far too long and it is my turn to hand over to somebody fresh and bushy-tailed. I would like to thank farmers weekly for giving me the opportunity to do something which I enjoy and my readers for wading through my articles. I wish my successor luck and a piece of advice; make your last paragraph expendable as it may never appear in print. (Well theres always an exception. Ed). *