rabbits will chew through chicken wire. I use welded wire for sides and old metal bed frame for the floor - 2x2 inches mesh. I planted some willow and poplar without plastic and they grow slower than with plastic but they grow. I planted them mostly for goat and rabbit feed. am planning to coppice them every couple of years in july-august
These rabbits don't seem to chew wire or dig. They pushed up wire where staples had been poorly applied. I'm well aware rabbits can dig, but decided to give open bottoms until I see a problem. If they chew or dig I'm ready to act, but so far these rabbits are super chilled...
Richard Perkins from my 3 years experience of keeping rabbits like this I learnt that it is not much of a problem if you keep moving them on fresh grass every day and they constantly have food and water. the problem is keepong foxes away. i had fox dig underneath and eating the rabbit. same with chickens, but since you have quite a lot of electric wore around the farm as well as dogs you should have less problems (I hope). in summer I hardly feed them anything else except for pasture but the UK grass is not nutritious enough for then in the winter and they need supplementary feed.
You should probably push the cuttings to the ground in an angle of about 50-60 degrees. That way you'll have multiple shoots growing up slightly away from each other and not bunched together like what you'll have when you push them in a 90 degree angle. Also, pruning after maybe about 0.5 meters of growth will thicken the hedge quickly.
Hi Richard, thanks for sharing! Great Video as always. I'd be interested in why you use plastic sheets? What are the advantages and are you concerned about them rotting away in the fields? Thanks a lot!
Hello from The Basque Country, How is call the "Willow" in latin or the variety that you use. can be use to feed the animal??? Thanks so much, you are doing a great job.
Wouldn't the willow spacing be 2 plants/meter if your planting them as described? I mean, in ten meters using that method there will be 21 plants, not 30 because you're technically leaving half of the plant on each end as part of the next meters spacing... not saying this to cut anyone down because what you guys do is amazing... just thinking that you might be cutting a lot of extra for this job that you won't end up needing (664 cuttings)... i could be mistaken though
I see its been a while, so if u already fig. This out, sorry. If u haven't or for anyone else wondering, the key line plow is P..a Yoeman's design of a subsoiler plow, it's just like, the best design/works even better than others. Subsoilers plows are coming enough, I was never involved in the machinery side of things on my folks diaryfarm, but I've heard of subsoilers & I'm betting that John Deere sells em. I would so the research, if you haven't already now, on the difference between Yoeman's & the average or next best, brand's one, & compare costs , see if any are for re-sale or rental in your area/region, see if any neighboring farms have one they'll rent to you or even buy a less-desirable brand & modify it, if you or a friend is a good welder/fabricator. My hubby is, thankfully, so that's the plan, if need be, once we move back to WI & onto bigger acreage. In a couple of Richards videos he mentions that other subsoilers are an option, the key line/Yoeman's brand, is simply the best, & he also mentions that someone could modify another brand/make their own. I'd already thought of it, but that was great to hear, from his expert opinion ! He has also said that they're unnecessary, just takes longer w only using holistically planned grazing or etc. (that he'd do in market garden sans grazing, to regenerate soil). Its all so cool, isn't it ?! 😀
I hope you get to film the plowing, I'd like to see that. I'm super excited because I finally ordered your book today!
rabbits will chew through chicken wire. I use welded wire for sides and old metal bed frame for the floor - 2x2 inches mesh.
I planted some willow and poplar without plastic and they grow slower than with plastic but they grow. I planted them mostly for goat and rabbit feed. am planning to coppice them every couple of years in july-august
These rabbits don't seem to chew wire or dig. They pushed up wire where staples had been poorly applied. I'm well aware rabbits can dig, but decided to give open bottoms until I see a problem. If they chew or dig I'm ready to act, but so far these rabbits are super chilled...
Richard Perkins
from my 3 years experience of keeping rabbits like this I learnt that it is not much of a problem if you keep moving them on fresh grass every day and they constantly have food and water. the problem is keepong foxes away. i had fox dig underneath and eating the rabbit. same with chickens, but since you have quite a lot of electric wore around the farm as well as dogs you should have less problems (I hope). in summer I hardly feed them anything else except for pasture but the UK grass is not nutritious enough for then in the winter and they need supplementary feed.
You should probably push the cuttings to the ground in an angle of about 50-60 degrees. That way you'll have multiple shoots growing up slightly away from each other and not bunched together like what you'll have when you push them in a 90 degree angle. Also, pruning after maybe about 0.5 meters of growth will thicken the hedge quickly.
Hi Richard, thanks for sharing! Great Video as always.
I'd be interested in why you use plastic sheets? What are the advantages and are you concerned about them rotting away in the fields? Thanks a lot!
Hi Richard,
Are there buds remaining on the cutting stems when you plant them? Thanks,
David
Nice. In your context producing goat feed during droughts isn't a priority but that willow
would be prime stuff.
What are you using the biomass for Richard? Heating or chipped mulch or what? just curious. Maybe I missed your explanation
Wind break. They're cutting the pines down in a couple of years.
Been really enjoying this videos - what camera/mic are using?
Hello from The Basque Country,
How is call the "Willow" in latin or the variety that you use. can be use to feed the animal???
Thanks so much, you are doing a great job.
I'll second that...
Wouldn't the willow spacing be 2 plants/meter if your planting them as described? I mean, in ten meters using that method there will be 21 plants, not 30 because you're technically leaving half of the plant on each end as part of the next meters spacing... not saying this to cut anyone down because what you guys do is amazing... just thinking that you might be cutting a lot of extra for this job that you won't end up needing (664 cuttings)... i could be mistaken though
Anybody know where I can get a key line plow in Texas ? I called john Deere and they didn't have a clue of what I was talking about
I see its been a while, so if u already fig. This out, sorry. If u haven't or for anyone else wondering, the key line plow is P..a Yoeman's design of a subsoiler plow, it's just like, the best design/works even better than others. Subsoilers plows are coming enough, I was never involved in the machinery side of things on my folks diaryfarm, but I've heard of subsoilers & I'm betting that John Deere sells em. I would so the research, if you haven't already now, on the difference between Yoeman's & the average or next best, brand's one, & compare costs , see if any are for re-sale or rental in your area/region, see if any neighboring farms have one they'll rent to you or even buy a less-desirable brand & modify it, if you or a friend is a good welder/fabricator. My hubby is, thankfully, so that's the plan, if need be, once we move back to WI & onto bigger acreage. In a couple of Richards videos he mentions that other subsoilers are an option, the key line/Yoeman's brand, is simply the best, & he also mentions that someone could modify another brand/make their own. I'd already thought of it, but that was great to hear, from his expert opinion ! He has also said that they're unnecessary, just takes longer w only using holistically planned grazing or etc. (that he'd do in market garden sans grazing, to regenerate soil). Its all so cool, isn't it ?! 😀
Do you sell a PDF version of your book?