Thursday May 15, 2014

Day 79..

Machinery Morning
We hitched up the topper and the tipping trailer and went off to sheepwalks for some machinery operations!!! Grass grown for grazing is like no other crop as the swards need to produce as much vegetative growth as possible throughout the season - without heading! And a topper is used to help maximise productivity. Pasture toppers are more widely used by farmers for grassland weed control, especially to control thistles, but can also be done for pasture maintenance and cosmetic measures. We used an agrimaster 280 topper attached by three point linkage and driven by the PTO set to 520 (I think) for operating. We set the topper going to see the results!! Unlike a mower, topping, leaves the grass chopped up and spread out on the ground ready to be utilised as organic matter back in the ground.

Animal Afternoon

the fleece of a sheep's back... we looked at the wool side of shearing today, as this also has a price in sheep production. Dom explained that originally some sheep were bred for their wool, were kept for 6/6 fleeces and then went to the meat market as lamb - whereas these days we breed for the meat and the wool is a by-product! Breeds of sheep are graded according to the type of wool they produce: Fine (Rambouillet, Merino) Crossbred - Fine x Medium (Targhee, Corriedale, Columbia) Medium - Fine x Long (Suffolk, Hampshire, Dorset, Cheviot, Montadale, Southdown, Shropshire, Tunis, Polypay) Long - Course (Romnay, Border Leicester, Lincoln, Cotswold) Carpet - Double Coated (Scottish Blackface, Karakul, Icelandic) Hair - Shedding, not sheared (Katahdin, Dorper, Barbado).
We also had an introduction to BSE - or mad cow disease as it was more commonly known! Although this have virtually died out now, there are a few cases still recorded in Britain over the last few years.
We finished to day with two tests!!! A breeds test - Animal and its purpose (e.g. Dairy or beef) and a written test with regards to understanding and promoting animal health! fingers crossed for some more p grades met!