Need something to eat all this grass!!!

Hi All,

Love this forum - we've just bought 5 hectares in Springston and planning our build - we have nothing on the land as yet - no barn, sheds or anything. Any suggestions for what we can put on land to keep grass down? Is it normal to borrow a neighbours sheep for grazing? We'd rather not have bulls (pugging all around the stream) - do we buy some lambs?Boundary of section is deer fenced but no other fencing or paddocks. suggestions welcome please :confused: - very new to this!

When we bought we had lots of renovation work to do on the house, so didn't want the added complication of our own animals. We leased our grazing paddocks to neighbours who graze cattle. Our agreement requires 3 months notice of termination of lease by either party. There are other things you have to ensure you specify in any agreement - so if you decide to go down this route you need to consider them as well.

If you dont have yards so you can handle your own stock you are better of leasing out your land to a local farmer. they might want to close up paddocks to make hay.
Or you could consider getting hay may yourself
If you want to protect the stream, the farmer can put up electric fencing to keep cattle off but sheep are not as easy to keep behind electric tape unless they are trained

Any lambs for sale now will be last seasons hoggets, so getting near a year old. Because they are lambs they will cost you about $2.20 per kg live weight, $5/kg dead. As soon as they cut their teeth in about 1 to 3 months, they will drop in value to about $1/kg live, $2.20/kg dead. So to not lose half of your money, you will have to check the hoggets every couple of days to check that there teeth are not loose, and the day they are take them to the freezing works.
If there are no water troughs then the animals will need to get to the river for water.
It sounds as though you have a subdivided cropping farm. If grass was planted after the last crop came off then you should be able to get balage made. When we looked at a block close by, the stones were rolled into the ground before the hay was cut. Discuss with a couple of local contractors.

Thanks for responses! Much appreciated. It looks like baleage is the way forward for us.