New Entrants Workshop : Getting More From Your Grass (Borders) – event summary

The final new entrants workshop of the winter was held on farm for the first time in the Borders, with a focus on grassland management.

Grassland management is a key element to improving cattle and sheep outputs. The meeting highlighted ways to significantly improve grassland utilisation and give new entrants to farming the confidence to start managing grass in a rotational or paddock grazing system.   Host farmers Charley and Andrea Walker will explained their grazing system.  The following topics were covered:

• Setting up a rotational/paddock grazing system
• Measuring grass growth during the growing season
• How to manage the system in periods of under and over production
• The importance of clover in grassland

After an introduction to the hosts and the farm in the steading, the group moved into the fields where host farmers Charley & Andrea Walker explained their rotational grazing system. Our hosts at Barnside were fantastic and gave a really informative and passionate insight into how to set up a grazing sytem to maximise productivity.

The handout from the meeting: Barnside Handout 23032017