| Grassland
Image: Jon Moorby
Improve what you get from grazing with BGS
The British Grassland Society has just held its summer meeting in Brittany, where we visited 5 commercial farms, as
well as a research farm in Normandy.
t was a departure
from the norm for
us, as the summer
meeting is usually
hosted by an
affiliated local
grassland society within the UK.
Our group, mostly farmers but
also some scientists and
commercial members, learned
much about livestock farming just
across the Channel, as well as
experiencing some typically
excellent French food and
hospitality!
I
“We saw a range of very diverse
systems”
Brittany is an important
livestock and also vegetable
growing region, but NVZ
legislation means that stocking
rates are strongly limited, in an
area where farms are generally
considerably smaller than here.
The group were surprised just how
constrained the farmers were in
terms of stocking density,
controlled by N loading rates, as
well as strict rules about N
applications, such as on maize
after grass. However, the British
farmers generally felt that their
French colleagues have more
Government support for farming,
for disease control or herd health,
as well as in how subsidies are
paid.
We saw a range of very diverse
systems, from a very foragebased, moderate yield dairy, to
high-yielding dairy using a robot
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
with some grazing, as well beef
units varying from primarily grass
and forage finished animals, to
intensive finishing indoors.
However, all had a focus on
growing quality forage, and in
most cases feed, on-farm, to
reduce the cost of bought-in feed.
At the research farm in
Normandy, two dairy systems
based on grazed grass and maize
plus grass were being evaluated
for their effectiveness in terms of
economic, environmental, and
social (life balance) impacts,
alongside other studies to assess
the benefits or impacts of lowinput systems, including
undersown maize and wheat.
The farmers we visited were all
either pilot farms for dairy research
organisations such as Institut de
l’Elevage (the French Livestock
Institute), the regional chambers of
agriculture or members of Eilyps,
the growth and performance
organisation which is farmerfunded. It was evident that there is
a great deal of practical help
available to help farmers become
more efficient either by lowering
costs in their systems, or
becoming more self-sufficient in
feeding by growing more feed onfarm for protein or energy, or by
improving forage utilisation.
Whilst we do not have such
established advisory networks now
in the UK, there is still some
support available, whether
organisation or farmer-led. One
such example is the BGS grazing
mentors project, which is now
open to farmers wishing to get
guidance from a fellow farmer to
increase what they get from
grazing. We have mentors in
Cheshire, Leicestershire,
Shropshire, Yorkshire, Wiltshire
and Pembrokeshire so if is of
interest please contact BGS at
[email protected]
July 2016 | Farming Monthly | 25