PASTURE SEED

Grey River Argus, 14 August 1937, Page 5

PASTURE SEED

1 DUNEDIN, August 12. The question of pasture seed mix- ? tures for high rainfall districts, with 5 particular . reference to the coastal ; parts of Southland and South Otago, was discussed by Mr. A. Stuart, of the i Department of Agriculture in a paper 1 before the annual conference of the ; New Zealand Grassland Association at Dunedin yesterday. ■ Mr. Stuart said that the notable [ features of the general pasture seed 1 mixtures used by well-known South- ' land farmers were liberal seeding, an • absence of Italian ryegrass and the ’ inclusion of timothy in most mixtures. 1 A heavy seeding was employed to en- ’ sure a more reliable germination on a seed-bed, which was often coarser than that obtained following a fed-off crop of turnips, swedes, or chou moellier, consumed under adverse weather conditions. Again heavy ram falling after sowing might expose seed which would later be consumed by birds. Another factor was that most grass mixtures were sown with nurse- ' crops, and as there must of necessity be some competition between the grass and the nursecrop, an ample grass seeding was provided. The absence of Italian Ryegrass was really bound up with the last mentioned practice, as the advantage of the Italian in providing early feed and quick cover was lost, when the farmer had first to wait for his nurse crop to mature. In fact the presence of Italian might be a' distinct disadvantage in that it might provide unnecessary competition where competition was already sufficiently intense. The nurse-crops were practically are spring sown and consisted chiefly of (1) cereals, mainly oats, (2) lambfeed, mainly rape, or occasionally broadcast turnips. Generally speaking, better establishment of grass was obtained with the oat crop, and cases were often seen where better pastures followed this practice than where grass was sown alone. The additional shelter provided and the greater length of time elapsing before grazing allowed more successful clover establishment, and a combination of these factors proved of decided advantage under Southland’s climatic conditions. In fact, in no other district could nurse-crops be actually recommended. The growth was not so rapid as to interfere with the harvesting of the oat crop, and consequently the smothering effects of the more quickly establishing grasses were nftt pronounced. In the case of rape tne grass establishment was more risky, as growth of this crop could be too prolific, and where this happened the chances of a good grass establishment were poor. Rape was often sown through every second or third coulter of the drill in order to minimise this risk. On the other hand where clubroot might be expected, the rape might be a failure, and the grass successful. The inclusion of timothy in mixtures was not unexpected, and there was much evidence to justify the almost universal support it was accorded. It would appear that timothy was being used to a large extent to replace cocksfoot, the value of which could be summarised as follows:— , (1) The inclusion of cocksfoot was ■justified in those districts where it was naturally suited, e.g. on welldrained land with gravel subsoil to be found mainly on the banks of such rivers as the Waiau, Oreti, and the Matura above Gore, although in the last named case the rainfall recorded was below 35 inches. In addition there were generally one or more paddocks on the majority of farms where cocksfoot had a place. (2) Those farmers not sowing true perennial ryegrass in their mixtures and those not prepared to topdress annually, derived great benefit from the inclusion of cocksfoot. It would appear that cocksfoot was favoured mainly by the dairy-farmer, and when one considered the overwhelming number of sheep-farmers who included cocksfoot at the rate of a few pounds only in their mixture, the inclusion of cocksfoot at all might be of doubtful value. One must bear in mind that the most inimical factor in its establishment in a permanent pasture sward, apart from the light seeding, was the method of | grazing employed on the sheep farm, j and that was the set rate of stock- , ing, by which immediately before or just after lambing a certain number , of ewes were drafted into each paddock, and were allowed to remain ( there until the first draft of lambs j was secured. (

The fact that the crown of cocksfoot was at or above ground level and therefore was in serious danger, of elimination by close and continuous grazing further reduced its value. On the other hand timothy was better able to withstand these conditions. If was realised that there was room tor definite experimental work to determine if the total replacement of cocksfoot by timothy for these coastal districts was economically sound either under set stocking or intermittent grazing. The inclusion of crested dogstail was certainly justified in all cases where cocksfoot was justified. Its earliness in the spring was of decided benefit to those farms which could not hold ryegrass, but in the area under discussion the benefits of crested dogstail could be largely discounted, pride of place from any point of view, Of the clovers, white clover held and there was little difficulty with its establishment, in fact many farmers! sowed a reduced seeding as they considered volunteer white clover gave satisfactory results. However, the life of a pasture should not be prejudicial by the lack of 2-3 lb. of a certified type of white clover. The inclusion of Montgomery Red Clover had been tried with fairly satisfactory results up to the third year, but this clover persisted much better when hayed in successive years. Alsike had all the advantages of Montgomery Red and in addition greater persistency under grazing, whereas Lotus major was included by those farmers who had the idea of securing a seed crop at some favourable later period. . . A valuable grass for rich alluvial soils subject to periodic flooding was meadow foxtail, which had been used with great success at Mataura Island and on the banks of the Mataura river as far south as Gorge Road in Southland, and notably at Inchclutha in South Otago. Complete success and by this was meant complete dominance of this grass in the spring, had been secured by including a light seeding of a 1 lb per acre in the mixture at Mataura Island, although naturally the transition would take longer than where heavier seedings were initially used.

It should be clearly understood that the bulk of the area under discussion would naturally revert to browntop if left to itself, and that the natural high acidity of the soil had to be corrected by liberal applications of lime.