TARANAKI PASTURES

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1934, Page 13

TARANAKI PASTURES

WORK FOR COMING MONTH COMPOSITION OF SEED SOWN. ♦ OBJECT A DECIDING FACTOR. “While generally spring sowing of permanent pastures is not recommended for Taranaki there are certain districts inland where spring sowing is still favoured, and there are circumstances met with occasionally on our coastal land where we have little option but to spring sow,” stated Mr. J. M. Smith, of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, in an address from 2YB, New Plymouth, last night. “One of the most important matters that has to be decided upon is the composition of seed mixtures for the sowing down of land in grass. Fortunately, developments in our knowledge during recent years have simplified rather than complicated the task of fixing the details of a pasture seed mixture. One result of this is that three seed mixtures prove sufficient to cover the requirements of the great majority of farmers who will be sowing pasture seed at this season.

“First of all there is a seed mixture for a temporary pasture of one or two years’ duration. Such pastures are at times of considerable value because they can be used either to spell and to build up the fertility of land which has been regularly under the plough or to clear land of weeds, such as blackberry, prior to the sowing of a permanent pasture. A mixture which has been used with success for the sowing down of temporary pasture consists of 251 b Italian ryegrass and 41b to 61b of red clover to an acre.

“For what are called short-rotation pastures a somewhat different mixture has been found advisable. A shortrotation pasture is intended to have a life of two or three years. Such pastures serve a useful purpose mainly on those farms on which, principally because of climatic conditions, cereals and other arable crops rather than pastures are the main considerations. On such farms short-rotation pastures give the land a beneficial rest, produce heavily during their short life, and fit in well witbr management requirements. “In special cases they may be well justified under conditions which ordinarily call for the use of a permanent pasture mixture. For instance, if land is known to be incompletely cleared of tall fescue infestation, it is usually good practice to sow it down on a shortrotation pasture rather than a permanent pasture. The short-rotation pasture may be ploughed down when the secondary invasion of fescue becomes serious enough to justify this course, and eventually the land when cleared of the fescue may be sown in permanent pasture. SUITABLE SEED MIXTURE. “A suitable seed mixture for the establishment of short-rotation pastures consists of Italian ryegrass, 151 b; perennial ryegrass, 151 b; red clover, 41b; white clover, 21b. Naturally the permanent pasture mixture for a district like Taranaki will vary'somewhat oil account of various differences in local conditions. Nevertheless it is possible to lay down a standard mixture to which can be added those species which local conditions demand. A standard mixture for permanent pastures comprises: 201 b to 251 b certified perennial rye, 101 b to 151 b Akaroa cocksfoot, 21b crested dogstail, 31b Timothy, 21b certified New Zealand white clover, 31b coWgrass, 401 b to 501 b per acre.

“Most unsuitable seed mixtures are at times recommended for use by farmers. Sometimes unsuitable mixtures are recommended honestly by persons who have not kept in touch with the development of the past several years in grassland work. At other times unsuitable mixtures seem to be recommended because they suit the business of the person giving the advice. While the origin of unsuitable mixtures is interesting it is not of so much importance as the fact that unsuitable mixtures may be fruitful of loss over many years, and in any case it is a costly matter to rectify a pasture weakness arising from the use of an unsatisfactory mixture.

“Another important matter that at times comes up for consideration at this' season is the treatment of pastures of doubtful worth. Farmers generally should now be planting the grassland work for the coming year. In such planning it is often difficult to decide what should be done in regard to pastures which are too open or on which the composition of the sward has deteriorated unduly because of bad treatment. The use of fertilisers on such pastures suggests itself immediately to some, but there are definite limitations to the sound use of fertilisers in such a connection. Fertilisers have at times given almost magical effects in increasing the proportion of herbage from good species in a pasture; one or two dressings of phosphates have on many occasions brought clover, ryegrass, cocksfoot and dogstail into prominence in swards in which these species, prior to the topdressing, were faring so poorly that it was easy to overlook their presence. But that the species named were really in the sward, though faring poorly, is the point of moment; without them there would be no worth-while basis upon which to build up a sward by topdressing. When a worn-out pasture is so deficient in desirable pasture plants as to render quite ineffective the ordinary methods of improvement such as top-dressing and harrowing, then as a rule the obvious and standard course is to plough and reseed. The reseeding usually is done after a course of cropping which has tended to increase rather than to decrease soil fertility, although in some districts there is a tendency to favour resowing of the pasture without any intervening crop and this practice has been found to give good results. GRASS GRUB INVASION. “Occasionally, however, the sowing down from lea to permanent pasture results in failure as a result of grass grub invasion. If during the ploughing of the lea, particularly if this is done in the autumn, grass grubs are noticed in large numbers, the land should be cropped for at least a season to clean these up as much as possible. To sow down to permanent pasture with grubs present in large numbers would only result in the young seedling grass plants being wiped out in a wholesale manner. This by the way is one of the drawbacks to sowing down after oats. In certain circumstances the standard course just mentioned may not be practicable because of labour or cost considerations, or because of the nature of the land—it may be hilly or unduly sandy or both. When this is the case the alternative course is to renovate the pasture by surface sowing of seed. Under average conditions autumn is as a rule the best time to attempt improvement by surface sowing of seed. It is well to remember that surface sowing is attended by risks and is not always successful, and in respect to any future improvement that is being planned now it should be kept in mind that the ploughed and cultivated surface is the most certain and speedy way to an improved sward. Hence, if at all practicable, it should be adopted. There has probably been at times too great an inclination to effect sward improvement by slower and sometimes uncertain means such as topdressing and surface sowing of seed.

The advisability of improving worn-out pastures by ploughing and reseeding has been greatly intensified by the advent of reliable supplies of superior and lasting strains of species such as ryegrass. “In the past there was some ground for hesitation about the ploughing up of a pasture, for there was always the possibility that the one sown to replace it would rapidly deteriorate even though it received all attention that could be given. It is now known that this rapid deterioration was often due to the use of inferior strains of ryegrass and that there was no sure way of guarding against the chance of using such inferior strains. The later knowledge about the various strains of ryegrass and the advent of certified seed has removed the necessity of risking the rapid disappearance of ryegrass from land of even average fertility. Hence, provided suitable seed is used and other factors are given proper attention, there is no reason to doubt the possibility of replacing worn-out swards by much improved permanent ones on land with which we have been inclined to be content with production which must be considered low in the light of latest knowledge. The key to the permanent improved higher level of production is the sowing of a suitable mixture which as a rule must be supplemented by top-dressing fitted to provide the standard of fertility necessary to maintain the improved sward, “The giving of due consideration to the matters just mentioned may advantageously lead at times to inferior pastures being broken up during the coming few weeks in order that they may be put under spring crops as a first step towards eventual reseeding and production of a good sward on which expenditure on manures, etc., may much more satisfactorily be made than would have been the case had the inferior sward been persisted with. GRASS HARROWING. “Grass harrowing particularly calls for mention. Grass harrowing very generally calls for attention during the JulySeptember period and frequently at this stage it should be severe enough not

only' to spread droppings which have accumulated during winter grazing but also to exert a cultivating effect which may usefully strengthen desirable plants which hitherto have been relatively puny. At times the opening up of matted turfs, the injury of inferior species, and the provision of footholds for the establishment of better species are features of the general beneficial, effect of drastic harrowing. From this it follows that the most striking effects from drastic harrowing may be expected from swards which have deteriorated becauseof bad management. CARE IN GRAZING. “Young pastures, and particularly those in which permanency- is desired, should be treated with special care at this season. “Poaching” or “pugging” is an obvious danger which leads to bare patches by means of which weeds gain access. Sheep, if they are not allowed to crop too closely, will, in comparison with cattle, lessen the danger of “pugging” young pastures at this season. Injurious poaching due to stocking ground when it is too wet and soft to carry stock is by no means confined to young pastures, and is at times a primary cause of the sudden and wholesale appearance of such weeds as docks, buttercups, daisies and thistles. “In trying to avoid poaching of young pastures one may be led into another fault—undergrazing. Undergrazing will readily bring about weakening of valuable species such as clovers and crested dogstail. Young permanent pastures containing a considerable proportion of Italian ryegrass are particularly prone to suffer from undergrazing because of the shading effect of the Italian ryegrass on the more slowly developing species. The other extreme—overgrazing of young pastures—is in August-September the more prevalent fault and may lead to a set-back of valuable species from which they do not readily recover. “It is opportune at this season to give some consideration to the fundamental weakness of the grass crop. This weakness is due to two facts. One is that approximately 70 per cent, of the year’s

total grass growth occurs in a period of four months: the other is that the stock feed requirements do not coincide with grass growth in quantity and season—as a rule 70 per cent, of the feed is not required in the four months during which it is produced. In brief, the feed supply from graSs does not coincide with the feed demand. Good management will remedy this position.. Some of the best means of remedying it call for attention at this season. “One of the available economical means which is not utilised as much as it should be is ensilage. Another is the growing of special crops which in many districts should be receiving attention from now onwards. Among the crops to which labour should first be devoted are mangolds and lucerne, but apart from these crops the whole programme of special cropping for the year should be decided upon.. In respect to supplementary feed provision by special crops, two facts stand out. In the first place often the supply of supplementary feed is inadequate. In the second place it is at times inadequate not because of insufficient acreage in special crops but because of unduly low yields per acre and a frequent cause of these low yields is inadequate. preparatory cultivation. This latter point is of particular moment at this season when so much preparatory cultivation should be under way.”