PASTURE MANAGEMENTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 12 January 1929, Page 14

PASTURE MANAGEMENTS.

SPRING AND WINTER FEED

“Although it is probable that the heavier manuring of pasture land will do something to- lengthen the effective grazing season,'it is obvious that early spring and late autumn shortage can only very partially be met by this means. It ihust also be borne in mind that , the higher the stocking on the farm the more difficult it is to meet the sudden termination of the grazing season,” says Professor Stapledon, the noted agrostologist, in a paper on pasture management. “It is of great importance to provide special pasturage during the non-growing season, and especially for the late winter and early spring months. The longer the hard grazing is deferred the greater will be the bulk of herbage later in the season, and reasonable productivity will also be maintained longer into the winter. In the case of drought intervening, it is always the sward most severely grazed early in the year which suffers the greatest ill-effect. The outstanding grass for providing special feed during late winter and early spring is undoubtedly Italian rye-grass. Trials at the Aberystwyth Station showed that this grass produced over a ton per acre of dry matter in green leaf from September to the end of March. The seedlings should be up to 30lb to the acre for this grass. Bromus umoloides ("prairie grass) is another grass which makes very early growth in the early spring, and which may be expected to* respond freely to high manuring.