VARIETY IN THE PASTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 33, 8 February 1929, Page 17

VARIETY IN THE PASTURE.

ENORMOUSLY INCREASES ITS VALUE. HOW TO MAINTAIN IT.

/By "SUNDOWNER."*

It ha? long been realised by farmers j and graziers in New Zealand that stock "do" better on "English grass" fixtures than on the various varieties of native grass with which the land became naturally clothed as bush scrub and fern were eradicated. There are several reasons for this, and because it is a fact that stock fatten more quickly, grow more wool, are generally healthier and can be carried in greater numbers on pastures sown down with, a mixture of English grasses than they do, for instance, on danthonia, it i must not be assumed that any English [ grass is superior to our native grasses.

Value of Variety. The essential difference between the sewn-down pasture and the natural pasture is that the farmer is composed of a wide range of grasses and clovers which, besides giving the grazing stock an appetising choice of flavours in its fodder, provides a wider range of nourishment, each variety of plant drawing different minerals and essences from the soil, air and sunlight. The native pasture, on the other hand, is almost entirely composed of one variety of grass, supplemented, perhaps, to a email extent with trefoil. When the latter is most in evidence, in the spring, and the stock have consequently greater variety, it is extraordinary how well they thrive and fatten. Tho same result can be seen when sheep arc given a run-off from danthonia to clover or lucerne, and, erroneously, this is usually credited entirely to the virtues of the legume, the merits of the native grass being overlooked.

Difficulty with Dominant Grasses. All grasses such as danthonia. Chewing's fecue, couch, paspalum, and so forth, which have a tendency to take charge of the sward to the elimination of other grasses, have the same tendency to reduce the value of the pasture through the reduction in the choice, of fodder and variety of nourishment. Grass for grass, many of our native varieties are equal in nutritive value, though perhaps not in succulence, to the imported grasses, and where we can so manage our pastures that the native grasses do not become entirely dominant, they are of greater permanent value than the English species.

While it is admitted that top-dressing increases both the quantity and quality of grass growth, its chief virtue on native gras6 pasture is that by correcting the acidity of the soil and supplying a natural lack of phosphorus, superphosphate enables the various clovers to become established in their proper proportions.

If top-dressing with lime or superphosphate is continued on danthonia country for a number of years, the clovers become dominant, and in their luxuriant growth the danthonia is

smothered—ultimately killed out. Unless during this time the balance of the pasture is maintained by surface sowing with grasses (such as cocksfoot and ryegrass), which have a mare upright habit of growth than danthonia. the pasture will lose value in that it will lose variety, and will be comparatively barren of feed during those months of the year when clover does not make much growth.

The object to strive for must be a perfect balance, whereby tlie pasture contains in abundance the greatest variety of useful fodder grasses which it i-> possible to establish. A Balanced Pasture. It must be remembered that for perfect growth, wool production and fattening, it is just as essential to give the sheep and beef-breed cattle a balanced ration (i.e., a. right proportion of proteins to carbohydrates) as it is in order to produce milk and butterfat from a dairy cow. The only difference is that where the fodder is soiled or hand-fed to the dairy cow, a balanced ration can be secured by judiciously choosing and blending the fodder, whereas with grazing stock the balance must be maintained in the pasture. Of course, where dairy cows are exclusively grazed, the same care should be taken that the pasture has abundant variety of botb grass and clover.

Though few farmers who have used superphosphate for top-dressing will credit it, there is no shadow of doubt that it is quite possible to top-dress land too much with this manure unless a very careful watch is kept to maintain a right proportion of other g/asres to clover. Actually it has been proved thai the class of grasses composing a pasture can be perfectly controlled by regulating the acidity or alkalinity of the soil. This may appear to be a roundabout way in which to secure the maintenance of a mixed pasture, but actually it is the fundamentally correct method, and by far the simplest that can be adopted. Controlling Balance of Pasture. Tn simple practice it amounts to this: When a pasture, be it of native or English grass, shows a deficiency of clover and the intrusion of sorrel, plantain, moss and such growths that indicate soil acidity, applications of superphosphate and possibly lime are required. On the other hand, when clover, trefoil, lotus major and other legumes threaten to become dominant, there is a necessity for applications of sulphate of ammonia or perhaps sulphur. the most practical method of controlling the variety content of a pasture while at the same time securing the maximum amount of growth of which the land is capable. It ie possible, of course, to determine the acidity—or alkalinity—of the soil by means of tests with litmus paper, but this gives the farmer little definite information as to what procedure to follow when he wishes to check the dominance of one or other type of grass.

The condition which favours the growth of the legumes which, of course, include lucerne, is almost neutral, hut very slightly acid. Considerable acidity i* absolutely fatal to the luxuriant growth an<i permanency of clover or lucerne.