Jersey cows enjoy diversity

A day spent on a dairy farm.

A mixed species on a dairy farm, coastal NSW

This field day was the second coastal MS event organised by Lee Fieldhouse. I am always interested in new ideas especially if I can use them at home on my degraded landscape that is under-going regeneration.

Living on the eastern seaboard of Australia (the area between the coastline and the Great Dividing Range) means we have high rainfall and big dumps of rain (anywhere between 200-800mm in 24 hours sometimes). In the hinterland we have the issue of eroding runoff and for those on the lower floodplains they have the issue of going under water.

Our summer season growth rate is insane and there’s opportunity to make hay without any detriment to the regenerative side of things. If your herd can’t keep up with grazing then utilise what Mother Nature is giving you or start trading (buy some to increase the size of your herd when grazing is plentiful). This is a little tricky when you have a dairy herd but Chris Eggert has a new way of farming since introducing MS into his pasture.

These are the guidelines he uses:

• Use smaller cows (Jerseys),

• Milk them once a day - giving Chris and his family his life back,

• Grow other animals to utilise their natural fertiliser inputs (chickens and pigs).

• Sell direct from on-farm - market to the city slickers in Sydney ($11 per litre, yes that is correct, $11).

Grazing on a diverse range of plants and grass.

On a personal level I see so much benefit in over-sowing MS mixes into pasture. I have played around with this at home and my horses love chowing down on sunflowers and legumes. They eat the “weeds” too so the combination of different grass species, weeds (natures MS) and an introduced MS mix creates a combination of minerals and nutrients not found in a monoculture of grass. If animals just eat one type of food eventually they are going to become sick and we see this all the time. They are designed to roam across huge areas of land, foraging through different landscapes. We are the ones that built fences so it is up to us to incorporate diversity into our grazing and allow them to move freely.

Walking through one of Chris’s paddocks

For his summer mix Chris has, in the past, used bog standard bird seed. This usually contains sunflowers both grey and black, millets, sorghum, corn, barley, buckwheat and oats. I have used bird seed that contained canola and I’m sure different brands use different combinations of mixes depending on the season.

This may not suit everyone but I feel it is a great place to start.

Looking at another paddock with a lot more pasture diversity.

As we walked through Chris’s paddocks it was noticeable how the MS were encouraging the pasture species to return, I didn’t see competition, I saw diversity. Clovers and many different types of grass. I believe it gives the really palatable species a chance to reintroduce themselves back into the system. The feed load in the paddocks is so great that those palatable species, the ones that usually get grazed out of the system, are given a chance to germinate and become part of the landscape again. It takes the intense grazing out of the picture and allows the animals to graze lighter depending on the time allowed to graze each paddock plus the following recovery time. There’s never just one factor, always a multiple effect.

The soil was completely saturated and had been flooded for several weeks earlier on in the year. We have had so much rain and floods this summer, there were areas that were too wet for the MS to grow but the ground was still completely covered with grass even in the water logged areas.

The MS didn’t like this wet area but the grass is still thriving and covering the ground.

Lablab is a fantastic addition to a MS mix because:

• It grows quickly

• Covers the ground incredibly efficiently

• Will grow up sorghum and corn

• Great forage food

• Legume - nitrogen fixer

I have also noticed it loves growing in a MS mix.

Lablab growing up the corn.

The effect grazing cows have on a pasture depends on the overall health and ground cover of the paddock. The diverse coverage has a two way fertilising effect. Diverse feed for the animals, and then the impact of being trampled into the ground. The most important part of managing land is to maintain a layer of ‘skin’ on the surface and planting MS mixes is such a fantastic way of benefiting from this.

As the photos show even once the animals have given the paddock an intensive graze the effect of the plant matter lying as a carpet on the ground leaves a significant amount of green mulch. Plus the added fertilising effect of the manure and urine creates a composting effect on the soil surface.

A demonstration of how Chris over-sows into his pasture was given by his Dad. They use a tyne planter with discs to cut through the grass followed by the tynes that dig the channels where the seeds are directly drilled. This machine works well in these conditions because the soil moisture level is so high. The channels aren’t closed behind the seed placement.

Considering this property has been under water this year the condition of this farm shows how well they are managing the high rainfall and on occasions the water logged ground. Plus they are continuing to dairy farm without animal health issues especially the animal’s hooves which is impressive. In my opinion I believe the Multi Species and biological approach Chris and his family have adopted is making this farm easier to manage and ultimately their farming life is a pleasure not a burden.

In my opinion.

Jerseys walking back under the railway line where the flood height was up to.