SHUT UP EARLY

Waikato Independent, Volume XLI, Issue 3891, 13 August 1941, Page 2

SHUT UP EARLY

FIELDS FOR ENSILAGE UTILISING PASTURES An ample supply of hay or of silage or of crops allows a better utilisation of pasture. In those periods of the year when growth is slight or negligible, the farmer with inadequate reserves of feed has to punish his pasture severely to the particular detriment of the better species of grasses and clovers. The severe grazing in turn causes a later growth of grass in the spring. Consequently, less paddocks are shut up for hay and silage in that season, or paddocks are shut up and cut at a later date, resulting in inferior quality hay or silage and a smaller aftermath. In other words, an insufficient reserve of feed tends to perpetuate itself and to cause inferior farm management! Late Silage Undesirable

In order to obtain the best silage from the best material, early closing and early cutting of the paddocks is essential. Late ensilage is an undesirable practice. The paddecks to be used for haymaking should also be shut up before the end of October ready for cutting in November or December. For both hay and silage, the cured material should be made from leafy growth. Hay of silage made from woody or fibrous material is of value only as a roughage or as a maintenance ration for dry stock, whereas leafy hay or silage may be used with good results as a production ration for milking cows and for breeding ewes.

An area of grass should be shut up for hay or silage that is sufficient to prevent the remaining pastures in use for grazing purposes from becoming too rank and mature for their best utilisation. It is better to save such grass as hay or silage rather than to let it go to waste as roughage.

It is profitable to make the first cut of lucerne into silage. The weather is usually more uncertain at this period of the year and the first cut contains a bigger proportion of weeds. If a paddock of grass is available at the same time for ensilage, this could be ensiled in conjunction with the lucerne.