Farm Practice and Management

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 62, Issue 2, 15 February 1941, Page 110

Farm Practice and Management

Contributed by Officers of the Fields Division

Selection of Seed Mixture For Autumn-sown Pasture

WITH the approach of autumn, many farmers will be thinking of ordering the grass seed mixture for their new pastures. From the number of inquiries received from farmers, it is evident that opinions vary greatly as to what is the ideal seed mixture, and these remarks are intended as a guide to assist farmers in solving this problem. On the light soils of the Bay of Plenty, as on all other types of soil, satisfactory clover establishment is essential to the success of the pasture. Some farmers do not include. white clover in their seed mixture, claiming that it will eventually come into the sward of its own account, but the entry v of such volunteer clover is usually slow, and in the meantime the ryegrass will have suffered severely through the deficiency of nitrogen normally supplied by the clover. Volunteer white clover is almost invariably of a poor, low-producing type, and certified white clover should always be included in the seed mixture. Red clover, too, is of value, as it yields much valuable feed during the earlier years of a pasture, and helps to provide the grasses with much-needed nitrogen. . , ... Perennial ryegrass is also essential, as it produces the bulk of the early spring flush, together with valuable feed in the late autumn. Paspalum is also a grass of great value in the Bay of Plenty. Some farmers fear it will get out of hand and assume such dominance in a sward that all other species will be subdued or even choked right out, but under a proper system of grazing management, together with adequate topdressing and the use of

the mower for topping where necessary, paspalum may be controlled just as readily as any other species of pasture plant. The wealth of feed it will produce during the summer and early autumn periods when white clover and ryegrass are relatively dormant make it a grass of great value, and it should be included in a few paddocks on every farm. Cocksfoot is also valuable, particularly on the high country, and is well worthy of inclusion, for it will produce good feed later in the season than ryegrass. Crested dogstair is also a very useful species, and its low, dense growth habit makes it worth while for filling up any thin places in the sward. Timothy is well worthy of consideration. Its exceptional palatability makes it greedily eaten by stock, so that it does not always show up in a pasture, but it is surprising how much timothy is to be seen in many of the later hay crops in the Bay of Plenty. It should certainly be sown on the peaty silts, and many experienced farmers make a practice of including lib or 21b per acre in the seed mixture sown on the lighter country. A satisfactory seeding, then, would include most of these species, and the following seed mixture is generally recommended in the Western Bay of Plenty, being, of course, modified to suit local conditions. Lb. per acre. Certified perennial ryegrass . . . . . 20 Certified white clover . . . . 2 Certified cocksfoot . . . . ... 6-8 Red clover . . . . . . ... 3 Crested dogstail . . . . . . 2 Paspalum (where desired) . . . . 6-8 The quality of seed used is of great importance. There has been a great deal of so-called “cheap” seed sown in

■ By

A. V. ALLO,

Instructor in Agriculture, Tauranga.

the Bay. Such seed is not satisfactory. In every district there are farmers who have sown . down paddocks in cheap 4|d per lb seed, and in few, if any, cases has even a moderately good sward resulted.

Certified seed obtained from a reputable dealer should be sown wherever possible. The extra initial cost of such seed will be repaid to the farmer by the increased production during the first year, and he will have a lasting asset instead of an increasing liability. This point cannot be over-emphasised—a farmer cannot expect to get a high quality pasture unless he sows high quality seeds.

Another important point is the rate of seeding per acre. Many farmers sow only a very light seeding per acre, far less than the standard seeding recommended by .. the Department of Agriculture. . Such light seedings are not satisfactory, as it takes too long to obtain a good, dense sward, and the pasture plants are spaced so far apart during the first year or two that weeds find it very easy to gain a foothold. It will pay a farmer handsomely to sow from 35 to 401 b of seed per acre, for by doing so he will obtain in the shortest possible time a dense sward of grasses and clovers.