PASTURE ESTABLISHMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21531, 31 December 1931, Page 2

PASTURE ESTABLISHMENT

SEASONAL DIFFICULTIES MAINTENANCE AND TOPDRESSING 11 is seldom easy, even if possible, to remove from pastures weaknesses which creep into them during establishment. Hence the task of pasture establishment is a critically important one. At times the principal cause of poor pasture establishment is sowing of the seed on poorly tilled ground—ground consisting of material in a loose luinpy condition rather than line, mellow, and firm. At other times the principal cause is late sowing of the seed. Both of these causes may usually be traced to the starting of preparatory cultivation at too late a date. This cultivation of land which is to be sown in permanent pasture in the autumn should now be kept in view. Hurried tillage eliminates the action of natural weathering agencies, which practice has shown to be of great value in producing the fine, firm seed-bed that favours successful pasture establishment. The particular need that exists for a fine, firm seed-bed arises from the truly minute nature of the vital parts of the seeds hf some of the more important pasture plants. It takes about 300,000 seeds of some of the kinds generally used in pasture mixtures to weigh one pound. It is easy to realise that when such small seeds are sown on uneven, lumpy ground any process of covering them must necessarily bury many so deeply that they are quite unable to send their shoots up into the light if they attempt to do so. The firmness of seedbed that comes with fineness also favours even covering of the seeds, together with a vigorous root-development. Such, consideration show that it is clearly advisable for preparation of land for new pastures to be commenced at least a few weeks before sowing. Jf pasture is to follow an -arable crop eaten oil by sheep it is often sound practice, provided the land is reasonably clean, to disk rather than to plough; the additional firmness of seed-bed given by the disking may readily be an advantage, and extra fertility provided if the animal manure is retained at the surface, where it readily benefits the young pasture plants. At times there are serious weaknesses in the seed mixtures used for permanent pastures. Such weaknesses may be avoided by seeking advice from the district Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture. Advice of this nature should be obtained in good time. Oceu.sionally what is recommended in advice cannot be properly done at short notice. Practices which have come into prominence relatively recently, such as topdressing and the use ot superior strains of certain permanent species, have given greater prospective profitable life to newly-sown pastures. Hence the advisability of good pasture establishment becomes increasingly greater—the influence of a weakness which creeps in at time of establishment is likely to be felt for a longer period of years than when the life of pastures tended to be shorter. At times the swards of weak, open pastures may advantageously be thickened naturally by allowing them to seed in the summer. Satisfactory renovation of swards by this method can take place only if an appreciable number of useful pasture species is present. When the seed lias ripened on such pasture, drastic harrowing is advisable for the purpose of covering the seed, but such harrowing should not be done until autumn rain sufficient to establish the seedlings safely may reasonably be expected. The building-up of pastures by natural reseeding in the way just mentioned usually should not be followed when the renewal of such pastures by ploughing and resowing can be done without undue detriment to other farm work. Generally, it is particularly desirable to avoid the development of stemmy rank growth of young permanent pastures during the first summer. Such development may lead to the weakening or destroying of certain species which, though relatively slow in growth in their early stages, are nevertheless of distinct value, especially on permanent pastures. Winn young pastures cannot be controlled adequately by the stock available, topping with a mower should he employed. Pastures from which hay or silage has been saved may be expected to respond profitably to a dressing of superphosphate applied as soon as the mown material has been removed. The greater aftermath of fresh feed which can at times be removed by the use - of super in this manner is especially valuable, because it becomes available at a period when such feed is frequently needed urgently and is not provided readily by other means. This is the period between the going-off of the pasture and the becoming available of such crops as soft turnips. Such topdressing is likely to be useful irrespective of the stage of maturity at which the pastures were mown; pastures mown at a somewhat immature stage as a rule have more vigorous aftermaths than similar ones mown at a later stage. The former generally give the greatest direct return from such top-dressing, but pastures mown at an over-mature stage are frequently weakened, and so are in particular need of the stimulation provided by the top-dressing.