USING IMPROVED PASTURE

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26605, 15 December 1951, Page 5

USING IMPROVED PASTURE

Many Management Problems

SILAGE AND CATTLE AS AIDS

The proposition that while the establishment of good pasture is now well understood in Canterbury, its management to use its capabilities fully is much less well understood, was put forward at Ashburton this week by two speakers well qualified to give an opinion. They were Mr G. K. McPherson, irrigation research officer at Winchmore, and Mr C. P. Whatman, instructor for the Extension Division of the Department of Agriculture at Ashburton, who were the judges this year in the county pasture competition. Both men discussed several ways in which pasture production could be more efficiently used. Mr Whatman advocated for larger farms a more complex mixture than rye-white, designed for grazing rather than for seed and grazing. He also spoke enthusiastically of the possibilities of the forage harvester. Mr McPherson, who also spoke of the possibilities of forage harvesters, mentioned also such things as subdivision, and the use of cattle to improve pasture for sheep, and to control grass growth. “One of the major problems is to find a method of efficiently using the growth, particularly the spring flush,” said Mr McPherson. “During the judging, the impression I gained was that the growth in many of the pastures was too rank for ideal sheep feed. It seems logical to assume that if more of this surplus spring growth could be converted into winter feed, then the carrying capacity of most farms could be substantially increased. i “Several ways to obtain better use of the spring flush of feed suggest themselves. It was hoticeable that where irrigation is being practised, the farmer was making an endeavour to reduce the size of his paddocks. This is a step in the right direction, but subdivision has its problems. There is the cost of fencing materials, the provision of labour for fencing, and the alteration to water races, and so on. Nevertheless if carrying capacity is to be increased, and the feed produced efficiently consumed, then subdivision is a problem which will have to be faced.

Hay Balers With the introduction of the pick-up hay baler some years ago the making of hay has become popular and this undoubtedly has proved one means of coping with some of the spring flush of xeed. Many of our irrigated farms possess a stand of lucerne and this crop produces the best quality hay but well saved grass and clover hay’is a suitable winter feed for sheep, and somewhere approaching one and a half to two bales of hay for each ewe should be saved where lucerne hay is not available. Perhaps the limiting factor to the production of hay on some farms at least is lack of shed room to stove the hay. “A few farmers have already commenced to make silage. Whether this method of converting surplus spring § r °wth will become popular will no doubt depend on the extent to which the making and the feeding out of silage can be mechanised. Should full mechanisation be possible then it will certainly open up a new means of coping with surplus growth, and at «he same time provide a useful winter fodder. On irrigation farms, in particular, growth could be made available irrespective of the weather. Silage is an excellent fodder for sheep. . ‘I was interested to see the increase in the number of cattle being carried the . irri gate<ji areas, because from the point of view of stock health cattle may play an important part. It is possible that irrigated pastures can be built up to the stage where it is not desirable that all the growth should be consumed by sheep alone. Cattle are being run with the sheep under set stocking, and also behind the sheep where rotational grazing is practised, to consume any rank growth and improve the ground for the sheep when grazing again takes place. Experience at the Winchmore Irrigation Dairy Farm certainly indicates that cattle will do very well when fed in irrigated grass, and also that it is possible to rear young cattle on irrigated grass.

“Experience on some of the trials at Winchmore has also demonstrated the value of autumn saved grass for wintering ewes. The growth of March and April is reserved and rationed to the ewes in the winter, and last winter one acre provided sufficient growth to winter approximately 10 ewes. It has been found that a pasture containing a fair proportion of short rotation ryegrass gives the best bulk of feed. It is not suggested that farmers should rely on autumn saved grass for wintering their ewe flock, but results have been sufficiently incouraging to suggest to farmers that they should try a small area and thus further explore its possibilities.” Mr Whatman said that admittedly the last two seasons had been growthy and the picture could and would be entirely different in a dry spring. Nevertheless, there was in say, three years out of four, a tremendous wastage of growth on most farms in the county. “Not only would our carrying capacity and our production be vastly increased if this growth could be eaten by stock, but also our farms would benefit by this extra stock return,”, he said.

Silage and Sheep Farming “It is in this respect that I am intensely interested in the application of silage making to sheep farming. Hay making has been of considerable help but is not the whole answer. There are a number of points against it. Weather in a growthy season is against conservation of hay in good order. There is a limit to the amount of hay that can be used on the average farm, a limit set by the production of succulent fodder in the winter. Deterioration in paddocks under dry farming takes place when grass is allowed to get to the hay stage. A hay paddock is actually withdrawn from grazing for an entire .season if dry weather comes from the time of cutting until the autumn.

“Silage making, on the sheep farm carrying over 1000 ewes, seems to me to solve many if not all of the problems. I like it particularly from the following points of view: topping of paddocks, with complete use of the toppings, can be done at an early stage when this growth has maximum quality and before growth has ceased, so that the ordinary grazing of the paddock is interrupted for a short time only. Pasture will be improved by this and growth will be prolonged into thfc summer. Weed control, particularly of sweet vernal, will be assisted. Silage will keep almost indefinitely in the pit. and once sheen are accustomed to it they will eat it and do well on it at any time of the year. Silage is cheaper than hay. Though it will not replace hay, it will supplement hay and make for better use of the hay. “Getting silage into pits is easy. Getting silage out of the pit is another problem, but one which I am sure will be solved within a short time. The use of the front end loader on the hydraulic tractor is a good approach at least to the problem. “If silage making develops as I see that it might, it obviously throws still more importance on the permanent pasture. It could mean the adoption of an' all-grass policy—combined with porina and grass grub control by means of D.D.T. I hope that this does not happen, as I feel that on the vast majority of farms the renewel of grass is very important in keeping vigour and production at a peak, and also in spelling- for control of disease. Nevertheless, I think that the tendency will be to lengthen the rotation from, say, four years in grass to six years. Obviously, if this is the case, the type of pasture that we have, and the care and skill used in laying it down, become of paramount importance. Silage making, I feel, has in it seeds which may revolutionise farm management in Canterbury.”