IMPROVING UNPLOUGHABLE HILL PASTURES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 78, 4 August 1950, Page 4

IMPROVING UNPLOUGHABLE HILL PASTURES

The problem of establishing and maintaining a satisfactory pasture on unploughable hill country in a manner which is economically possible to the farmer is in many cases not solved’or only partially solved, states the annual report of the New Zealand Department of Africulture. As in all swards, clovers are the basis of success on hill country, and experimental work is directed basically toward the introduction of desirable strains and species of clovers into hill-country swards and their encouragement into vigorous growth by suitable topdressing and controlled grazing management. Trials In Progress A large and increasing number of trials is in progress to discover ways of achieving this. Though most experiments are of small-plot types, several padock-scale trials are also being established where the factors of grazing management can be more adequately controlled and evaluated. This work has direct application to soil conservation, a vigorous dense pasture sward being an efficient preventive of some forms of erosion.

Results have shown that subterranean clover (on land of lower fertility or lower rainfall), white clover (where the rainfall is reliable and soil fertility can be maintained at a fairly high level), and Lotus major (in the areas of highest rainfall or in naturally damp locations) are the three most valuable species on hill country. The exact conditions required for their introduction by surface seeding are not thoroughly understood, however, and investigation is proceeding.

The establishment of grass species by surface seeding under hillcountry conditions is much more difficult than that of clovers, but to achieve the full benefit from clover introduction it is probable that means will have to be found to introduce more productive grass species than are normally found in hillcountry swards. Reversion to Scrub Problems of reversion to fern, scrub, and secondary growth must be investigated in any scheme for the improvement of hill-country pastures. Though some work is in progress with the use of chemical weedkillers on scrub growth, in most cases such a method probably will be more costly and give less-lasting results than one which brings about improved density and growth from the pastures and includes controlled grazing and particularly avoidance of overt-grazing of such pastures.