Forget the prices, just hold enough stock to make the schemes!

Your approach is correct but aim to minimize cost while maximizing output within that aim.

That might mean 40 livestock units on your place. Depends on your farm. The number depends on your land and layout.

If left to nature, under an environmental scheme, with a payment, then yes,

If no payment, then very few, would do that.

Are you wondering what to do with the home place.?

I don't mean to pry.

Whatever stock you have at say end September need to be factory fit . You don’t want to get caught with TB and be forced to over winter .

Many people already farming this way but with maybe slightly more stock .

I agree with the sentiments of the OP - no point killing yourself and the land producing for ever smaller margins. Alot of lads around my place in North Mayo seem to have come to the same conclusion. Helps too that there is more "off farm" work around these days too. Farm shops seem to be a growth industry too and a lad down the road is making good money selling the goose eggs for 3euro a pop!!

I have been slightly understocked the last few years and it's far worse than being overstocked. An absolute balls if grass gets ahead of you and very difficult to predict growth patterns a few weeks out. I have about 40 acres that you couldn't cut and bale but produces alot of grass. Cutting silage 3 weeks earlier has resulted in a real glut of grass in late july/August and I could be short in June. I need to keep a closer eye on it and take another cut of silage off one or two of the meadows instead. I feel that there has been mental grass growth in the past 2 years.

Not saying what you’re suggesting is wrong - but if you’re doing this, would leasing the place be an option?

The income is tax free, and you don’t have any hassle, not even for the summer months…

I don’t really understand your reply, but fair enough…

If you considered and discounted leasing that’s fine, it was just so you know your options…

What’s the cause of scutch coming into grass?

I have a small paddock that I had lambs on last spring with a creep feed for a month or more. It was well bared down. It came on great over the summer, was really pleased with it - I put it down to good dung when the lambs were ad lib on meal…

But I see lately that a pile of scutch had come into it…

Have to say OP you have a good argument. I had looked into going into drystock after a tough calving season one time. Can't rightly remember why I didn't go through with it, sucker for punishment I suppose.

Yea, Once we let the grass grow up and lie down, it promotes scutch,

We don't cut silage so we have to graze everything, it deteroirates very quickly if you don't get to it in time,

I can't say what happened to yours, but scutch doesn't thrive in tightlly grazed grass. We let a couple paddocks go too far last year and had to strip graze last november. It's only really coming right now

I have a limited patch of mob grazing some scutch establishes, find that the overall range of plants is increasing and the scutch seems to get pushed back after a while.

In places I have walked here where they have years of mob grazing experience, it's not a problem.

A work in progress, we'll see how it goes next year.

Scutch loves disturbance.

Would expect scutch to feature only in a tillage scenario.

Yours is probably creeping bent. Tight grazing, if lime is adequate, will promote ryegrass and clover.

Apparently there's a breed of farmer out there where that's not important, plenty of fields around here with accidental mixed species.

each to there own I suppose. One thing I've noticed abut that style of farming is tha Ragwort won't tolerate it....nor docks either

Not saying what you are doing is wrong - but you might need a bit more of a plan…

regenerative grazing is grand, and it’s supposed to give life back to the soil by trampling grass. But it’s daily moves, small paddocks. You need wire and water in place…

without this, you might need to consider a topper to keep things under control…

50 acres is a nice bit of land. Would you consider only working some of it for a while? Say 10-15 acres, get that sorted as to how you want it and then roll out your system to the other 30 odd acres. Plus any money you from letting the 30 off acres would finance any changes you make on the bit you keep…

What stock are u planning on getting? R u going to finish them?

I never had it in grazing before, didn't bother differentiating, it's shite grass thats all I know, Two paddocks got ahead of me last year and had to strip graze it last november so it appeared in those paddocks this year, It seems to be gone out of those paddocks now by hard grazing. Very difficult to manage grazing without the option of cutting for silage.... most paddocks here are less than an acre. Not really fair to ask a contractor to cut

Better grass quality in the paddock system 80 DMD compared with low 60s in regenerative farming with a reduction in animal performance

The paddocks I put in to mob grazing, known as the course meadow here, which says it all.

I found it grew a lot more grass, lot less poaching, an addition grazing, was handy to have a bank of grass. I could even let them back in now for a few days with a bale, definitely helps ground that is soft last longer, the year was a big help there as well.

Cattle seemed content and after it went in to good grass.

Tried it after giving a bag and a half to the acre of 18 6 12 to a 2 acre paddock, thinking that's 50 quid shook out.

Will add in another bit of mob grazing next year,

It needs to be movement every day or it doesn't work.

Too soon to say how it turns out but the costs of farming are out of tune with the reality of prices.

Once a person is farming a few years they get to figure out what suits their own farm best. I doubt if farmers are that easily led by the nose by teagasc.

You apply what research suits you to your own farm. No one that liked to farm progressively is going to let their farm go back

In an average stocking rate, a bag of 0 10 20/acre every year maintains fertility