PASTURE PRODUCTION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 79, 15 March 1934, Page 11

PASTURE PRODUCTION

Influence of Grazing RESULTS OF N.Z. RESEARCH An exhaustive treatise on the investigations into pasture production in New’ Zealand, ahowing the effect of fertilisers, etc., on the yield and chemical composition of herbage, has been issued by the Department of Scientific and industrial Research, over the names of Messrs. A. W. Hudson, B W. Doak, and G. K. McPherson. The whole subject of the book is dealt with 'authoritatively and in detail, a number of graphs and tables amplifying the text. Certain aspects of the results of grassland investigations in Britain and their bearing on the pasture management of New Zealand farms and on the technique adopted in certain grassland investigations, are discussed. A generalisation is drawn from a consideration of the points brought forward. This is: “Under a system of rotational grazing, the pasture should be spelled for a» long as possible between grazings, commensurate with good utilisation by the stock employed, and care should be taken not to graze the pasture too closely when it can be avoided.” It is pointed out that, desirable as it may be from the point of view of production of herbage, it is hot practicable to allow such a long period between grazings when sheep are being used as it is when cattle are used if good utilisation is desired. Reference is made to the inadvisability of the present method of grazing sheep pastures in the spring in. New Zealand. Sound common sense and a knowledge of local conditions are necessary for the effective application of the principles, embodied in good pasture-management. Points affecting technique are discussed. The disadvantages of “mowing only” are indicated, and photographs ate shown to demonstrate these disadvantages. The amounts of limo, phosphate, potash, a.nd nitrogen, and their equivalents in common fertilisers, removed under a system of mowing only, are given for a pasture Of average chemical composition and producing 50001 b. of dry matter an acre per annum. The technique adopted to permit the mower to be used as a measuring agent, and at the same time allow stock to be introduced to maintain the pasture in a condition comparable to that resulting from intensive rotational grazing, from the point of view of botani- ' cal composition and return of stock | excrement, is discussed. The method of collecting samples of herbage for drymatter determinations and chemical analysis is also described.