Lift pasture quality to raise production, U.K. farmers told

Press, 26 June 1987, Page 19

Lift pasture quality to raise production, U.K. farmers told

British livestock farmers have been told that new pasture varie J ties from New Zealand will help them maintain profit margins if proposed E.C. Commission restrictions on nitrate pollution cut their nitrogen fertiliser use and stocking rates. A scientist with the Grasslands Division of the D.S.I.R. in New Zealand, Mr Tom Fraser, told farmers attending the big UKF Grasslands Show in May that the answer is to lift production from each unit of land, by using higher quality pasture. Mr Fraser was one of a strong New Zealand team on a Seeds Promotion Council and Grasslands Division site at the U.K. National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, for the twoday show. Others who were on hand to field farmers’ inquiries were the chairman of the Herbage Seed subsection of Federated Farmers, Mr Alex Wright; the New Zealand manager of Wrightson Grain and Seed, Mr Bob Mather; two New Zealand grasslands Ph.D students working in the United Kingdom, Dave Chapman and Bruce Campbell; and a former New Zealand journalist now working in the United Kingdom in public relations, Mrs Elizabeth Harrison.

Mr Chapman sowed plots of New Zealand pasture varieties on site at Stoneleigh last August, helped by' a Gallagher United Kingdom representative, Mr Ray Chilcott.

These plots were grazed with sheep behind electric fencing during the Grasslands show.

Despite being much further out than New Zealand grasslands stands at recent United Kingdom shows, the site drew many visitors and Mr Fraser gave them a strong message about more white clover and improved grasses. The European Commission is proposing tougher controls on the level of

nitrates in water which in Britain would restrict the application of nitrogen fertiliser and put ceilings on stocking rates.

The New Zealand answer is a higher quality pasture that will lift animal production without increasing stocking or demanding more fertiliser.

New Grasslands white clovers are being trialled in the United Kingdom to supplement Hula, which is still our major export. Mr Wright reported a considerable interest from United Kingdom farmers and seed trade people in Matua prairie grass.

The site also promoted Roa tall fescue, Puna -chicory, several other perennial grasses and a range of clovers. “Farmers seem to accept that massive subsidies for most primary products cannot continue forever,” said Mr Mather, “and they are looking around for lowercost production options..”