Since returning to the household partnership to hitch his father, Robert, final autumn, fourth-generation farmer Richard Tustian has applied some key initiatives.

They type a part of the farm’s transition to a regenerative system to assist make it extra resilient.

He was initially self-employed, engaged on a spread of various farms and, latterly, spent 4 years employed as a shepherd on the Blenheim property.

This expertise fed into the initiatives he introduced into the household enterprise:

• shopping for a September-lambing flock of Dorset ewes
• composting cattle muck
• grazing sheep on winter cereals

See additionally: 7 farmer tips about transferring to regenerative farming

“Our general aim is for the enterprise to nonetheless be getting in 30 years’ time, with the chance for the subsequent era to hold it on,” says Mr Tustian.

Grazing and forage planning

Livestock are on the coronary heart of Grazing and forage planning – the cropping system is designed to suit their necessities. The focus is to enhance soil construction, microbiology and water-holding capability.

The complete of the arable space has cowl crops planted, which additionally offers winter grazing.

The farmed space totals 200ha (494 acres) and is a combination of owned and rented land. This consists of 40ha (99 acres) of everlasting pasture, 10ha (25 acres) of Natural Leys, and the remaining arable.

Cropping has shifted from steady wheat to incorporate oilseed rape, winter and spring barley, winter beans and winter wheat.

Furthermore, fertiliser necessities have been considerably diminished, to 30kg N/ha on cereals and 50kg N/ha on oilseed rape.

He attributes this to a mixture of livestock integration, efficient use of cattle muck and the introduction of canopy and break crops to assist repair soil vitamins.

Introducing sheep

Mr Tustian purchased 100 Dorset-cross ewes in a farm dispersal sale in spring 2022. The goal is to lamb these in September annually.

He selected Dorsets as a result of they’ll lamb at any time of 12 months and are well-suited to a forage-only weight loss plan.

He hopes lambs may be completed on cowl crops between February and April and shall be prepared on the market for the Easter market when there may be sometimes an uplift in costs.

It additionally means lambs shall be away earlier than the summer time when the arable workload is highest. The earlier flock of North Country Mules was offered in August.

The Dorsets had been tupped in mid-April and lambed outside within the first half of September on clover and rape stubble.

The clover was initially planted with buckwheat as a companion crop to assist minimise flea beetle injury within the rape.

It produced an understorey that lasted by to reap and supplied welcome forage: the Dorset ewes grazed on a 6ha (15-acre) space forward of lambing and one other 20ha (50-acre) space was used to complete some lambs.

Mr Tustian grazes three castrated male Alpacas with the sheep to assist shield the sheep in opposition to foxes.  

Lambing efficiency

The flock achieved a lambing share of 201%, with 82 ewes lambing out of the unique 99. No ewes had been turned out with greater than two lambs every to keep away from overworking them.

They discovered 17 empty ewes at scanning, all of which obtained in-lamb in the course of the second cycle. Mr Tustian believes they might have misplaced the lambs following shearing within the first week of June.

Therefore, he’s contemplating delaying shearing by 4 to 6 weeks to keep away from unsettling them in early being pregnant, or shearing a lot earlier – nevertheless it could be tough for the ram to mate sheared ewes.

This has, partly, prompted him to purchase 200 Exlana ewe lambs. They carry some genetics that imply they may cycle all 12 months spherical and the plan is to mate them in April when they’re 12 months outdated.

“Any ewes that take will be a part of the Dorset flock and lamb in September, rising flock numbers,” Mr Tustian explains.

“The back-up plan is that those who don’t get in-lamb may be tupped once more within the autumn to lamb in spring 2024.” But by 2025, the goal is to have the entire flock lambing in September.

Grazing choices 

The sheep graze natural leys containing 15-20 totally different species, nearly all of them legumes, plus some cocksfoot. Weaned lambs from the earlier Mule flock grazed the leys in April this 12 months, adopted by cattle.

Remaining retailer lambs from the Mule flock will now graze the rape stubble and remaining clover over winter, forward of planting barley subsequent spring.

Meanwhile, ewes and lambs are being moved onto the natural leys, grazing in short-term paddocks. Fences are moved each 5 days or so, to permit sward regeneration.

The goal is to have all livestock off the everlasting pasture by the top of November, till the start of April. They will as a substitute graze natural leys, winter cowl crops or cereals.

Barley trial: grazing and compost

This 12 months, grazing sheep had been trialled on barley in February and March. Grazed and ungrazed areas of the sphere had been in contrast. Composted cattle muck was unfold on the barley in April, as soon as the sheep had moved.

One space obtained compost solely, one was grazed solely, one other obtained compost and was grazed, and the ultimate one had neither. 

“The barley held up effectively, with no constructive or unfavourable impact of grazing on the crop yields when it was harvested in early July,” Mr Tustian studies.

“However, it provides us extra choices for grazing in February, permitting grassland to get a very good begin.” In addition, no progress regulator, fungicides or pesticides had been wanted on the barley.

“While barley yields aren’t notably excessive, at round 6-6.5t/ha, the upshot is that we now have diminished inputs with no unfavourable impact on barley yield,” he says.

Composting cattle muck

Mr Tustian began mucking out cattle sheds on 1 January this 12 months and put the muck into windrows on a 0.4ha (1 acre) space of land.

He modified a mower conditioner to show it as soon as per week for 4 weeks and added some woodchip to assist encourage fungal growth.

After three months, it was prepared to use to the cereals, with microbiological checks exhibiting he had achieved a fungal-dominated compost. This is sweet for soil growth and performance.

Although this isn’t full composting, it does permit the preliminary breakdown of the muck.

There are presently 600 tonnes of compost in storage, together with some from different native farmers, and it will likely be utilized to all cereals subsequent spring.  

Future

The subsequent step is to transition the breed of the farm’s 20 dairy-cross suckler cows. They are already efficiently grazing on natural leys, with no mastitis issues this 12 months.

The Tustians plan to breed them with their very own Simmental-crosses to carry them a step nearer to a beef breed, which is best suited to a grass-based system.