CLOVER CONTENT IN PASTURES

Southland Times, Issue 23682, 3 December 1938, Page 20

CLOVER CONTENT IN PASTURES

GOOD MEASURE OF PRODUCTIVITY EFFECT OF IRRIGATION ON GROWTH The clover content of today’s permanent pasture is the measure of its productivity. Every writer and speaker on pasture improvement and maintenance emphasizes the importance of keeping up the clover content of the sward if high-producing permanent pasture is to result. The reason given for the importance of clover is its ability to supply nitrogen in a readilyavailable form to the grasses of the sward, and nitrogen is the most important factor in the growth of all the grasses, writes W. C. Stafford in The Journal of Agriculture. Throughout New Zealand we have therefore one common objective—that of introducing and maintaining in the pasture sjvard clovers which will live and grow in harmony with the grasses and which are of such a type that they will produce abundantly over the greatest period of the growing season. It is evident from reading and hearing lectures that where the correct strains are sown this desirable result can be brought about in the North Island chiefly by the application of phosphates. There are other factors affecting the result, such as management, and in certain places other fertilizers and lime but the general recommendation for the North Island is phosphates. It would.further appear that the farmers themselves in the North Island have become fully aware of the importance of the clover content of the permanent pasture sward., This consciousness can only have resulted from the farmers seeing for themselves what clovers mean to their pastures, and their consequent returns. CANTERBURY PASTURES In the South Island, especially in the drier areas, such as Canterbury and Marlborough, from where, incidentally, the greater portion of clover seed comes, the importance of the clover content of permanent pasture is not fully recognized by farmers. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that under normal conditions in these areas clovers, because of their short growing season, are unable to exert their full beneficial influence ir. the sward. Canterbury, Otago and Marlborough pastures have not reached the standard of the North Island. To find the reason for this one only has to ask any farmer on these areas, and the reply will be: “You cannot expect to get pasture here like the North Island. We do not get the rain they get there.” If the above remark is right, and assuming that clovers are responsible for the health and strength of permanent pasture, the rainfall is then the i chief limiting factor in clover growth | on the light soils of the South Island. , Two years’ results from irrigated pastures in Canterbury have proved this to be the case. Under proper irrigation, where the manorial requirements have been satisfied, clovers thrive with a vigour equal to that of the North Island, and similar benefit to the associated grasses ensues. ATTENTION TO CLOVER CONTENT In all cases proper irrigation of pasture has resulted in increased clover growth, .and, further.' old, worn-out pastures’which before irrigation, were practically devoid of clover have become well filled with volunteer white clover, thereby rejuvenating the sward. From observation it has become apparent that clovers are the first plants in tKe sward to benefit from irrigation. It is therefore essential that, where pastures are sown with the intention of irrigating, due attention should be given to the clover content of the mixture used, and the farmer should not depend on the fact that “my land is full of clover seed.”

On the demonstration area at Mr W. R. Hammond’s farm on the Winchmore irrigation scheme in Ashburton the value of the good -type white clover is well brought, out. The results obtained from sowing 31b of certified white clover with 301 b certified perennial ryegrass, 21g certified dogstail, and 31b Montgomeryshire red clover show that under irrigation a good-type white clover is probably the best clover that can be used. With adequate moisture, liming, and manuring, this pasture has established quickly and is producing well.

An examination of’ the sward shows that it is the certified white clover which is responsible for the bulk of the clover growth.