MANAGING GRASSLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 82, 6 April 1929, Page 22 (Supplement)

MANAGING GRASSLAND

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY E X PER IM EN TS IN GEKM A N Y An interesting articl c on recent developments in grassland management by bir A. D. Hall and Mrs J. G. Gtewart appears in a recent number of tue British Ministry of Agriculture Journal. “Of late years,” says this article, “considerable interest lias been aroused in a method lor increasing the productivity of grassland by the use of repeated dressings of nitrogenous manures, a method which had originated in Germany during th e war peiliod. Thc employment of nitrogenous ‘fertilisers on grazing land was con ( trary to usual British practice, which ,had grown up round the experimen• i:I pvork initiated by Hir William •Sonier villc at Uoekle Park. The BriE-di 'practice was founded upon the duve «»]»- Iment of white clover in the past jits, {which follows the applicauon of !>.;<c slag or eflii-r phusphi.iir manures. Since the white clover g Chers nitrogen from the atmosphere ;.n 1 accumulates combined nitrogen in th 6 soil, the paslur'.* was enriched for the grasses as well ns the clovers, and a marked improve meat in thc gtazing value of the herbage followed. The British experiments also seemed to show that nitrogenous fertilisers, or even dung, < eteriorated rather than improved the quality of the herbage, and resulted in no increase but even a diniinuation in the amount, of meat or milk yielded bv the pasture. Speaking' broadly, the British principle wn • jto stimulate the growth of clover by (the fertilisers, and to trust to tb.e clover alon e to bring in the essential [nitrogen. Without doubt it has proved jto be a cheap and effective wav of improving the class of pasture with which | thc experiments wore chiefly concerned, :i.e., the poorer hill pastures on heavy [Or sour land. More Direct Attack. if "ir direct atta'*k upon ihe prob! n of production. They were concerm d v. ith grassland of perhaps more then ayerag,. quality, already useful for inilcli cows, and were direi.led tu utak- | ing the grass do more toward furnb.’i ■ ing the food required for milk proIductioD, having regard tu the fact that [supplies of cake and similar coneenitrated nitrogenous foods were lacking. whil e synthetic nitrogen fertilisers were available. Professor Warmbol I. to whom the conception of the sys’eni is due, began with a basal manuring with phosphates and potash, and fol lowed it up with rep<*ated dressings d sulphate of ammonia. amounting on the whole to three or four times the amount a British farmer would evey employ. By this means he obtaire 1 a very rapid growth of grass, rich :n the proteins which are so essential to nutrition, and it was an essential .’c.tture of his system that Ihe stork should always have the young lea.'y grass that is characteristic of a good jiastin’e in its spring flush of growth. To this end he divided tho grassland into a series of small paddocks which I were heavily stocked in succession, sn as to he grazed down in a short time. |As one enclosure was eaten off. the | stock were moved on to an adjoining fresh pasture, and a dressing of nitro[gen was given to tho grazed area in | order to start it into growth again. Comparison of Methods. There is no essential discrepancy between the British ami the German systems, contradictory as th ( » methods may seem to be; the one is a cheap means of effecting a slow reform of poor land, tin* other an intensive method of rapidly converting fertiliser into cattle food of high productive value. When the Ministry was first led to examine Professor Warmboll’s results it was clear that considerable increase in the output of milk from the given area of laud had been attained, and particularly that the high feeling value of the grass was maintained much later in the season. It was impossible to assess with any exactitude the financial results of the system, but there was evidence that it waj being considerably taken up by progressive farmers in Germany, accustomed to intensive methods calling for a good deal of skill in the handling. Tho limited area of grass land is as a rule divided into small paddocks, and any further division required wag usually effected by a light fence of a couple of strands of barbed wire held by posts driven in at wide intervals. Again, as thc cows were milked at home, often three times daily, they could then be watered without bringing a supply to the fields. Governed by Conditions. The question as to whether the German or the British system of grass management should b e followed in New Zealand depends altogether on conditions. In highly farmed districts where land is costly and pasture already of a good character, there is little doubt but what the German system of applying frequent dressings of readily soluble nitrogenous and potash manures in conjunction with small paddocks and close grazing would give excellent results, and in fact, is already being carried on by some p f our most progressive farmers. Where th e pasture is not high class and where small paddocks are not suitable, the British method, or, indeed, as one might well call it. the Now Zealand method of top-dressing with phosphatic manures and lime for the encouragement of clovers has undoubtedly led to a vast improvement of pasture.

Since New Zealand possesses 16.871,530 acres of artificially made pastivas, largely consisting of English grasses, it is quite evident that to adopt the Gorman plan for all this immense area would be impossible. But it is *:bsolntoly certain that while tho application of phosphates and lime and ihe growth of legumes will increase the nitrogen and the phosphoric acid in the soil and thus stimulate the growth of grasses, a time will surely come in many districts when potash manures

will have to bo applied and probablj other elements lik e sulphur, magnesisE iron etc. ~ With regard to the 14,091,717 acre< of native grasses which represent s« much of tho South Island there seems every reason to suppose that great increases in feeding value could be obtained by tho introduction of hardy legumes among the. tussocks, which, il top-dressed with phosphates should, besides providing directly a more •Virulent and nutritive food supply at the same time stimulate the growth of tho native grasses and encoursgu the liner varieties to once more find their place among tho stronger growing varieties.