LIGHT LAND PASTURE TRIALS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27470, 2 October 1954, Page 5

LIGHT LAND PASTURE TRIALS

Yields From Lucerne-Cocksfoot Mixtures HIGH PRODUCTION DURING SUMMER In their second year, the lucerne and cocksfoot pastures sown in alternate drills on the light land special-purpose pasture trial area established by the Department of Agriculture at Eyrewell, have given astonishing results. In six weeks in the height of summer, the mixture produced a little more dry matter to the acre than a straight cocksfoot pasture, and a straight lucerne stand did together. Production of the mixture over a year was exceeded by only one pasture, a standard mixture of .Hl, perennial, sub and white clovers which produced big figures from the white clover in the spring, and tailed off steeply thereafter.

The trial was established in February, 1951, to measure the performance of a number of standard mixtures through the seasons under normal grazing on light land, and to. try to deduce from these figures the value of different mixtures at different times, and the possibilities of their use as special * purpose pastures. The Rangiora office of the Department, which is conducting the trials, has for a number of years taken a special interest in cocksfootlucerne mixtures, and in October, 1952, this mixture, sown in alternate drills, and also a pure lucerne stand, were introduced into the trial. The table printed below shows graphically the big contribution made to summer grazing by the mixture, and suggests strongly that it has a valuable place in Canterbury light land farming. The trial area is of about 22£ acres, divided up into of 2.8 acres each. The lancris typical of the light, stony loam of the district, and varies a little over the area in depth of soil, but is light to very light. The trial plots have carried 3| ewes, and their lambs in season, for the last 12 months, and among them provided enough grazing and hay to keep the stock in excellent condition. It was a dry and rather hard autumn in the district, but the winter was favourable. This spring, growth has been slow as it

has been everywhere, so that conditions all round have not been specially good. The plots received lewt of superphosphate a year, and the equivalent of scwt of lime. Pasture No. 1, a stand of Phalaris, sub, and white, produced well in its first winter, but did npt give the autumn and winter feed expected in following years, and has been ploughed out. The Phalaris retired, and latterly production was almost all from the clovers and from hairgrass and other low producing species. The mixture of perennial, sub, and white (No. 2) is still a very good pasture. It is at present a little patchy because of grass grub, which seems to have come in as a result of faulty mixing of DDT with the super. It carries a very strong growth of clover, probably because of the close grazing it was given in the autumn. Pasture No. 3 is a mixture of lucerne, perennial, cocksfoot, Montgomery red clover, sub and white, and is known to the department as the “shandy” mixture. It is quite a good pasture, and produces steadily rather than spectacularly over a long seasonal spread. It has had grub, which has possibly helped to bring about a steady increase in the amount of cocksfoot in the sward. Plenty of Hl

The mixture of Hl, perennial, sub and white in pasture No. 4 is remarkable for the amount of Hl still left on this light land after nearly four years. Most of the Hl plants are still in the drills, which suggests that they have persisted, and have * not arisen from reseeding. This pasture is very heavy in clover, perhaps not as heavy as the perennial pasture, but still very heavy. Pasture No. 5 was sown to cocksfoot, perennial, sub and white, but the perennial has slipped back and the cocksfoot is now heavily dominant. Clover is prominent in this sward, but not as much as in most of the others, perhaps because the cocksfoot stands over more ground. Pastures 6 and 8 are lucerne-cocks-foot mixtures sown in alternate rows, and pasture 7 is a pure lucern stand. One of the mixtures is on slightly better land than the other, and the lucerne is partly on light land and partly on land slightly better. Cocksfoot is not usually regarded as

a particularly palatable feed for sheep, but the grazing behaviour of the ewes and lambs on the mixed lucerne-cocks-foot paddocks at present seems to make this a debatable point. When the sheep were put on to the paddocks a fortnight ago, they went almost exclusively for the cocksfoot. It was common to find stems of lucerne nipped off apparently by mistake and rejected by the grazing sheep. The cocksfoot has been eaten well down now, and on Thursday the sheep were making a start on the lucerne. There appeared to be rather more favouring of the lucerne on the mixture on the slightly better land, but even here, there seems to be a marked preference for cocksfoot. To deepen the mystery, it should be recorded that lambs put on to the mixture last autumn for finishing, went for the lucerne with relish, but left the cocksfoot.

Both these pastures are in excellent heart at present, and are giving a lot of feed . The cages used to keep stock off small areas used for measuring show that there was very useful growth from the end of April, when they were shut up. Experience with the plots so far indicates that the mixtures are a good source of early spring feed if they are

shut up in the autumn. They give excellent early spring feed until the standard mixtures reach full growth. It appears that when stock are shifted to the standard mixtures, the lucernecocksoot paddocks should not be forgotten entirely. Probably the best solution would lie to save the later spring growth in the form of silage, and then bring them into grazing again after Christmas when the ryegrass paddodks are packing up for the summer.

Heavy Stocking The plots have been carrying a lot of stock since the beginning of October last year. At that time, there were 85 ewes and 90 lambs on the plots. They were taken off at the end of December, and 75 ewes, with 85 replacement ewe lambs put on in their place. The ewe lambs were taken off in March this year, and the ewes flushed, tupped and lambed on the plots, which also provided 350 bales of hay, enough for supplementary feed during the winter.. The 75 ewes were all old, and were put to Down rams. They have given ? this year 120 per cent, of lambs, reckoned as lambs docked to ewes put to the ram. It is intended to draft as many of the lambs off the mothers as possible, in December, and to finish the rest off on the cocksfoot-lucerne paddocks. The ewes may also be finished off and sold fat.

It is intended at present to keep the trials going for a number of years yet. Already very significant figures of seasonal production have been obtained from the trial, but so far there is no indication of the useful life of the different mixtures. The department hopes to be able to discover what area of each of the special purpose pastures is best on a farm scale, and to discover the management techniques required to get the best out of them. At this stage the trials indicate that there are very important possibilities m lucerne-cocksfoot pastures sown in alternate drills. The balance of the two species in both of the plots remains good, and it seems a reasonable nope that the alternate drilling may be the answer to the successful establishment of these two species together. The white clover with them produces well, and appears to be covering enough ground to keep weeds under control.