Turn Out

[Saffy]

I couldn't remember the name of one of the grasses we used and have been having a look - it was Meadow Fescue. I found this, it probably won't be of use to many of us but is quite a good list and explains uses.

Stephanie

Italian ryegrass (IRG)
Vigorous establishment and high yielding
Early growth, long season and high sugar
1-2 year leys
Heading dates: mid-late May
Needs frequent cutting, tight grazing to maintain quality
Responds to high fertility
Hybrid ryegrass (HRG)
Italian x perennial ryegrass hybrid
3-5 year leys
Slightly lower vigour and yield than IRG, but better mid-season quality and
more persistent new varieties
Perennial ryegrass (PRG)
Mainstay of medium/long term leys/permanent grass
Adaptable, nutritious, and responsive to moisture and soil fertility
New varieties available (eg AberStar) with high sugar content
Classified by heading date, with a later heading associated with leafy, more
persistent type
Heading dates: Early Early-mid May
Intermediate Late May
Late Early-mid June
Diploid and Tetraploid varieties of IRG, HRG and PRG are available. Tetraploid
varieties have higher yield at first silage cut, high sugar and moisture content, but a
more open growth habit and less persistence. Seed numbers/kg are typically only 50-
60% of equivalent diploid varieties. Tetraploid varieties should not represent more
than 50% of medium/long term seed mixtures.
Timothy
Late heading, winter hardy and palatable
Well suited to wetter, heavy soils and winter sheep grazing pastures
Low sugar content
Replaced by tetraploid PRG varieties on intensively grazed and silage leys
Very small seed and slow to establish
OTHER GRASSES
Cocksfoot - early heading, drought tolerant, productive species, but low palatability
even in improved varieties. It is good for grazing on very dry soils.
Red Fescue - winter hardy and early growing species makes it useful on hill grazing
pastures. It needs tight grazing to maintain leafiness and quality.
Meadow Fescue - nutritious, leafy species traditionally used with Timothy in
grass/clover leys. Its less vigorous and lower yielding than PRG, but useful in low
intensity, grass/ clover leys.
CLOVERS
White Clover
See the White Clover factsheet in this series.
Red Clover
Nutritious, nitrogen-fixing species suitable for short term, cutting or cut-graze leys. Its
single growing point makes plants intolerant of close or winter grazing and
persistence limited to 3-4 years. Use resistant varieties and rotation (5 years) to
avoid soil borne disease (Sclerotinia) and stem eelworm. Be aware that oestrogen
precursor makes red clover unsuitable for sheep grazing six weeks before, during
and after tupping.

[Saffy]

Now that most people have probably turned out - how about a few nice pics of the Dexters in the fields? Come on it only takes a few minutes to take the camera out to the field and load them up for us all to see! :D

Stephanie

[Anna]

Ok Saffy..
..but I am ashamed of my dexters right now. They have grown too fat this winter. The really broad one is due in May.

Their friend is a Swedish fjall cow, an old polled diary breed from the northern parts of the country.

Not much to eat yet..

[Saffy]

Hello Anna,

They look lovely, one of mine is due at the beginning of May as well but looks as if she will calve in about a week.

Do you milk the Swedish Fjall?

Stephanie

[Anna]

Do you milk the Swedish Fjall?

Not yet, but the plan is to milk her when she calves. Hopefully rather soon.

[Bridgehouse]

Hi Stephanie,

Would you mind going through loading some pictures on here and I will have a go. I have tried once before but was not successful!

Thanks
Mark

[Saffy]

Hello Mark,

I hope this helps, if not PM me and I will see what I can do to help.

1. To use photobucket go to the website www.photobucket.com and follow the prompts to start your own page.

2. Once that is set up you can upload to it with ease.

3. Then when you are ready start your Topic or Post in the usual way, minimise this page down using the little minus icon in the top right hand corner of the page.

4. Go to your icon for the net and go onto the internet again and then go to your photobucket page.

5. Find the picture you want to copy onto your post. It seems to be easiest to click on the image opening it up to a full page of its own, below and a little to the left there will be four options - Email and IM, Direct Link, HTML Code and IMG Code. You need the HTML Code.

6. Left Click on your mouse over the HTML code, it will light up blue and the word "copied" will come up.

7. Now go down to the bottom line of the screen with your cursor and click on The Dexter for Sale Site wording and it will pop back up.

8. Go to the box for your post. Hold your cursor where you would like your photograph to be and Right Click on your mouse. It will light up a small drop down menu with options in it.

9. With a Left Click choose Paste and your photo will appear as a jumble of letters and numbers. Go to Preview Post to see if it is the right one! GOOD LUCK!

That way you can go back and forth and put on a string of pics one after the other if you want.

10. If you just want to show us the one pic you can open up your photobucket - choose your pic - step 6 and then go to this site in the usual way start a post and drop it in - no need for opening up a seperate window.

Stephanie

[Bridgehouse]

Here goes!



Below is Bridgehouse Valentine! - hopefully



Just trying these two first!

[Bridgehouse]

I am feeling quite confident now!



These are last years calves along with my red cow that calved on Valentines Day 2010!



This is my bull Monksmead Prince. I bought him as a calf, with his mother Woodmagic Midget 5th, his sire is Breoch Sultan. He is not halter trained but I am very peased with his temperament and he has been tested as a non-carrier even though short in height. He is 2 years old now and I have 9 calving from him this year.






Hope you enjoyed them
Mark

[Bridgehouse]

Hi Stephanie,

Forgot to say a big thank-you for the bullet points. Very helpful - thanks.

Mark

[Saffy]

Thanks Mark - lovely pics, I like the look of your bull, nice and chunky, perhaps we will see some pics of his calves in a while.

Stephanie