FOR THE FARMER

Opunake Times, 26 January 1934, Page 4

FOR THE FARMER

AOTUMN TOP-DRESSING FEED PRODUCTION. The case for autumn top-dioss ing of grass lias been soundly established throughout the North, and no doubt as lime goes on the South will be less satisfied tin*. autumn top-dressing is the i,orreel practice. Looking backwards over the history of top-dressing grassland we find that in the beginning the objective aimed at was heavier hay and ensn.ig-' crops. To attain this objective >t seemed quite the right ilung to 'treat the pasture with an application of" fertiliser just when Uie paddock was closed to stock. A.s a matter of fact in so far as Iciy and ensilage are concerned, we have not improved on chid tice even now. Encourag-ei by resuits secured on hay field.*, farmers tried out top-dressing on land that was to be grazad ;ill the season and here again r\-e results were more than satisi'.icf. >ry In fact, the effect of top-dresauift grass that was to be grazed, in many cases, embarrassed the far* mer who attempted it as It was no longer possible to keep pastures at their maximum feeding value without greatly increasing the live stock.. No doubt the factor most responsible for the ultimate change over from spring to autumn topdressing was the large growth of grass following a spring application of fertilisers and the consequent difficulty in controlling such growth. Autumn top-dress-ing must have been under consideration long before it became general practice. One calls to ruina even yet the old idea that it was uo use putting fertilisers into the land just before the winter, as they would all be washed out before the spring l growth started — it was looked upon as essential to the success of top-dressing that fertilisers should be applied just as growth was starting away in spring, as the plants were in position to make immediate use of the additional plant food and there would be no waste. Now Autumn. As a matter of fact it is still considered important to the success of top-dressing that there should be some growth in the grass when the top-dressing fertilisers are applied, but the growth looked for now is that which invariably appears in the autumn and not the spring. By carrying the top-dressing programme back into the autumn fanners have found that there is a substantial improvement in the feed position throughout the succeeding winter and a correspondingly lessened danger of pastures bolting away from stock in the spring. In other words an autumn application of top-dressing- fertilisers will level up grass production over a considerabe portion of the year. There is no portion of New Zealand, no matter how favourably situated climatically, where the late autumn and winter growth is anything like equal to that of the spring and summer, consequently the same old winter feeding problems exist throughout the Dominion. We cannot alter the climatic conditions to the end that they will give us anjjven growth over the twelve months of the year, but we can use modern artificial fertilisers in such a way that nature is assisted during those periods of dormancy. The system adopted almost universally in the North is to do the major portion of the top-dressing between the months of February and May, the actual time of application varying according to individual ch cum stances or local conditions. If t~he autumn continues dry until April and even May, top-dressing is usually delayed until then as farmers like to have some moisture in the land when the super goes on. If the weather breaks early in the New Year — say the end of January or early February—then the work starts early so that the fullest use of the fertiliser may be made before the season is over. Super Has A Punch. Usually the autumn top-dress-ing consists of a dressing of phosphates—principally super and given reaonably good conditions of soil and pasture—it is not long before the grass shows a very marked response. The better quality grasses, such as rye, timothy and white clover come away boldly and provide a generous bite of excellent quality feed. This aut-

unm flush of feed is just what la wanted to carry dairy cuttle right through into the winter and keep them up to their job as well. There is nothing suggestive of low quality watery teed in this superproduced autumn grass; it has all the attributes of the best spring grasses pins the added advantage of covering l a critical period. Autumn top-dressing with super has a powerful effect in making pastures more resistant to frost and adverse weather conditions. In the North whore winter temperatures frequently show ten or twelve degrees of frost, top-dress-ed giass remains green an 1 even continues to grow where pastures not top-dressed would burn off.

It has been demonstrated very clearly at the Marion Experimental Area that superphosphate can be used to level up seasonal production by making what is known as the "low production" period produce a greater percentage of the annual yield from any given area. For instance where no manure of anv sort was used there was a daily winter growth of just over 201bs of green herbage per acre; where super had been applied this growth was increased to about 401bs per acre per day—a vast difference when worked out on a percentage basis.