Re: Cattle prices


"Derry Argue" <home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns96DC971393365derryadviegundogscou@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "Jim Webster" <Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> news:dh5nn5$t1t$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
>
> >
> > "Derry Argue" <home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> > news:Xns96DC5A107F9C7derryadviegundogscou@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> "Jim Webster" <Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> >> news:dh49d0$php$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
> >>
> >
> >> More good advice. Yes, I can probably get draff locally and an 8'x5'
> >> >
> > ready for next time!
> >
> > so long as it as a plastic *** over it to keep the air out it should
> > keep well enough
> >
> >>
> >> The problem over the years is to find a tenant who understands this,
> >> but trailer load would keep me going. I don't want the cover mown
> >> down like a bowling green as I train the pointers on bob white quail
> >> which home like pigeons after the dog training session and enter
> >> their pen by a funnel
> >
> >> stock owners are usually intent on removing grass to ground level as
> >> quickly as possible -- even myself when I had the sheep! Currently,
> > trained
> >> dogs are quite profitable so a new approach is called for.
> >>(Snipped)>
> I would suggest that you want too few
> > cattle, plus perhaps a handful of sheep. The cattle will smash things
> > up a bit and eat down a lot, but still leave some, while the sheep
> > will nibble right down the areas the cattle have taken down, so you
> > will get a wide variety of heights.
> > I suspect you want to avoid genuine scrub?
> >
> > Jim Webster
> >
> >
> >
> Exactly! Which is why I thought of Highland cattle. Thinking long term, a
> friend has suggested that there should be an increased demand for low
> maintenance cattle in the future as more want animals to maintain the land
> and are quite happy to wait for beef to mature for the freezer.
>
> I did find it a problem when my sheep flock (Lleyns) shrank to a critical
> level after the usual collapse of the pedigree sheep market. The
> professional shearers weren't really interested and there was still the
> same old problem of drenching, dagging, trimming feet, etc. to go through,
> all without a dog as that too demands a certain flock size or they go
"stir
> crazy". My mind was wandering towards some of the primitive breeds -- to
be
> harvested for the freezer with the rifle but otherwise put on minimum
> maintenance!<g>
>
> I deal with scrub with Blaster from a knap-sack sprayer applied from the
> back of the quad. Very effective if not particularly cheap.
>
> I have had to be careful to stay "agricultural" so I still qualify for the
> various crofting grants. Otherwise, the Scottish Woodland Grant Scheme
> should work out quite nicely with the new forestry being ideal for dog
> training for some few years yet. Should see me out anyway.
>

It is worth checking to see just what extra costs they manage to hang around
slaughtering animals over 30 months old. If they don't manage to kill the
job through financial charges then something hairy that can go into a deep
freeze at four years old might well be worth entertaining.

If you have the time to fit in a small herd of Highland cattle, then just
supplementing their feed with a bit of draff during the middle of winter
could well manage the area for your dogs. Either than or just a few store
bullocks, keep buying a handful every year and having them killed as they
come ready, whether at three, four or whatever years old.
That has the advantage of being flexible, if you are 'overgrazing', (a
relative term in your case) then just buy a few less. Similarly as they are
destined for freezers, you are isolated from the market price and such
cycles. Cattle should be less trouble than sheep, and you are still,
ostentatiously agricultural.

Jim Webster


.