WINTER GRASS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20083, 12 November 1930, Page 17

WINTER GRASS.

USEFUL EXPERIMENTS. Good ryegrass seems likely to make money for us in the future. Mr M. J. Scott's evidence that at Lincoln College five sheep to the acre have been well wintered on grass, with extra dry feed, shows that when one has enough of the right sort of grass, knows how to manage it, and is sure that it is permanent, one might be able to reduce ploughing nearly to nothing. But on most farms the necessary aere age of ryegrass could only be established gradually; and on farms with a big proportion of light land, it iB not certain that it could ever be done profitably. But something more might be done with a smaller area of grass than would winter the average sized mob of farm ewes at the rate of five to the acre. «

Here are the results of a trial made on a farm mostly of medium to light stony land, to explore one possible way of growing grass and wintering ewes on it. The paddock on which the trial was made is good medium-heavy silt on the Selwyn river, near the hills. The average rainfall here for the last four years was 29iin. The paddock was sowli down in March, 1927, with 351b perennial rye (commercial seed), 51b red clover, and Icwt 44-46 superphosphate. It was topdressed in June, 1928, and June, 1929, c?teh time with 2cwt 44-46 superphosphate. Either this treatment has kept poor ryegrass going, or a l, consignment of commercial seed happened to be very much better than usual. In the 1929-30 summer the paddock was extensively grazed with ewes and lambs until weaning in the middle of February, after which it was not grazed again because the grass was not wanted. On March 13th, it was mown as close as possible, and betwoen March 17th and 24th, it was top-dressed first with 2cwt 44-46 superphosphate, and then with lewt sulphate of ammonia. The & 1-5 acres fenced into two, to be kept for the winter, were then shut up. I have no record of wlion there was first a good growth on them, but it was long before the beginning of winter. At the end. of June there was a verythick and healthy green growth of rye and red clover from four to six inches long. During the winter clover up to about three inches stood the frosts which were heavy, but longer plants were blackened. The grass browned at the tips a little more than some Italian rye sown in February, on rather lighter land.

Between June 29th and August Bth, 780 ewes were rationed on the paddock for 27 days, for an average time of 1 2-3 hours per day. On 19 of the 87 days the ewes were given tho following extra, feed:— Two days—l 4 hours per day on turnips.

Eleven days—An average ration of 2-3 rd lb of chaff per ewe per day. Six days—An average time of 40 minutes per day on green feed (Italian rye).

This was all the ewes had to eat, except a lick. Their run-off was by that time a desert. of stones, bare of anything that grows. The carrying capacity of the grass for the 41 days of 1 2-3 hours each, between June 29th and August Bth, was thus 63i ewes per acre; or the equivalent of 26 ewes per acre for 1 2-3 hours per day for 100 days of the winter.

Beckoning on a two hour day, it was 522 ewes per acre for 41 days, or the equivalent to 21J ewes per acre for 100 days. Or, again, allowing for two-hour days in June and July and a threehour day (in two feeds) in August, the equivalent of 18J ewes per acre for 100 days of winter. The rationing done looks rather too short, but the ewes improved wliile on grass and chaff, and lost a sluggishness developed while on turnips in June. In August 11 ewes died of paralysis. But if the July feeding was the cause of these deaths, so probably was the feeding in August, which was a little better, and the feeding in June, which was not quite so good as that in July. The lambing percentage on the ewes tupp.ed was 108 i, and at present the lambs look well.

The cost of mowing and top-dressing was 31s 4d per acre. This includes railage and cartage; time wa-stcd getting a mower going; emptying out, crushing and rebagging sulphate of ammonia, and setting an obsolete limesower to spread it; man's wages and keep. An improvement that might have been made here is that the grass might have been fed off at a profit, for Instance, by lambs being fattened on grain, instead of the pasture being mown at a loss. The grazing this spring, summer, ana autumn should stand some of the cost of top-dressing and mowing, but if it U all put down to wintering the costs for grass on the 100-day basis are: Sheep Hours Cost per sheep per acre per day. for 100 days.

Valuing chaff at £3 per ton for a twoton crop (Lincoln College estimate), the cost of 2-31b of chaff per ewe per day is lid a week, and is 9£d per ewe for 100 days. , The costs of wintering on grass and chaff are thus: 3s, 3s 3d, and 3s 6d per Sh The paddock was cut up and heavily trodden at the end of its feeding off, and it was fairly clean so^ that very little natural manure went back. But the grass started growing again before some more of the same sort not grazed at all in the winter, and was reidv for another season s work at the beginning of September, but no more than ready. At present it is a little tMnner on the blocks fed than on those not fed in the winter and looks Is though a dressing of nitrogen in August or a longer spell in September would have done it good. It would probably have been a good thing to have started top-dressing » the autumn on a foundation of lime The cost of half a ton per acre here would be about 17s which, if debited fo wintering, would raise the costs to 3s Bd, 4s Id, and 4s 6d per sheep. A more complete top-dressing might liave been still better and raised the tlt sheep higher. But, again, if top-dressing is debited to wintering

then any improved grazing next spring and summer is free. One could only prophesy that grass would react as well again to the same treatment or to several years of it, and the prophesy might be wrong. A slow decline of the pasture could probably be countered in time to prevent * shortage in the winter ahead. It would be hlrder to toll a decline m quality of feed. And there would be the risk of relvine on good grass paddocks as potential winter feed and finding, when it was too late to grow anything else, that grub had stripped them. But. if one could be reasonably sure of it, this sort of grass is cheap and good winter feed. The time of growing it is a time when grass can usually be spared; by then most of the lambs have been got away and the ewes, except for flushing, do well on lighter feed. Also if paddocks can be temporarily left out of the grazing .programme while they are being ploughed and worked for turnips or green feed, they can be left out for a shorter time while grass is growinLess ploughed land and more permanent grass, apart from the difference m expense, would mean having more feed, more room to spread ewes at lambing, "nd possibly more shelter-all extremely valuable on a small farm well stocked with ewes, where the proportion of ploughed land is high and the lambing paddocks are often badly overcrowded. There would also be more feed of a sort in dry weather, but otherwise what to do with surplus grass on stony land is another problem with the grub in it again. _ _ T _ R _

s.. a. 26 1 2-3 1 24 21* 184 2 1 5* (June and July) 3 1 81 (August)