Advantages To Away Wintering

Advantages To The Livestock Producer

• No cost for straw bedding if agreed on a dung for straw basis?
• Access to cheaper feeds eg cereals, etc.
• Potential to partly outwinter eg on stubbles, grazing catch/cover crops, etc.
• More housing available at home.
• Less forage required, higher proportion of grassland grazed.
• Potential to increase stock numbers.
• Less work/labour required over winter.
• Avoids the investment in new buildings to maintain or possibly increase stock numbers.

Benefits To Arable Producer

• Retaining straw/dung retains nutrients on farm, reducing fertiliser bill.
• Incorporating dung rather than straight straw speeds availability of nutrients, particularly N, further reducing fertiliser requirements.
• Justifies grass in rotation to produce winter feed or
• Rations can be entirely straw based with concentrates based on cheap by-product grain eg light barley, failed bread making wheat, etc.
• In time will significantly improve soil organic matter content and overall soil fertility.
• Can utilise fields unsuitable for cropping.
• Utilises and helps maintain buildings which otherwise might be unused.
• Provides work for staff over winter. Careful planning can help minimise weekend work to just checking stock.
• Helps spread tractor/loader overheads.

Basil Lowman, basil.lowman@sac.co.uk