Spring Oversowing with Clover on Raetihi Hill Country

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 84, Issue 4, 15 April 1952, Page 290

Spring Oversowing with Clover on Raetihi Hill Country

By

A. A. DUNCAN,

Instructor in Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Wanganui

OVERSOWING with clover in spring on the Raetihi hill country is good practice if Certified white clover is used and 2 to 3cwt. of phosphate is applied with the oversowing. Lotus major can be added with advantage to the white clover on the damper and shadier locations.

THESE recommendations arise from trials put down in the Pipiriki road district on an area typical of the moderately steep ash-covered hill country immediately west of Raetihi. This country has an elevation of 1600 ft. and an annual rainfall of 63in. The pasture is dominantly browntop but includes danthonia, Yorkshire fog, sweet vernal, flat weeds, suckling clover, some crested dogstail, and a trace of white clover. Phosphate the Dominant Factor Topdressing with phosphate was by far the more dominant factor in the promotion of a higher-producing sward and even when oversowing was not carried out application of phosphate brought about a useful measure of improvement. The clovers and seeding rates used were:— ' lb. per acre Subterranean clover .. 3 Certified white clover . . 2 Kentish white clover . . 2 Montgomery red clover . . 3 Lotus major .. ;. .. • ■ 4 ’■'■ The subterranean clover was a 50-50 . mixture of the Tallarook and Mt. Barker strains, Kentish white. clover is a less vigorous type than Certified white clover and it was included to see whether it would establish better than white clover under relatively hard conditions. The . clovers were oversown in September and October on both sunny and shady hill slopes with and without phosphate and with and without lime. A further series of plots had an identical manurial treatment, but were; not oversown with clover. This gave the following combinations: — Oversown clover, Oversown clover plus 3cwt. of phosphate, Oversown clover plus scwt. of lime, Oversown clover plus 3cwt. of phosphate and scwt. of lime, Phosphate (3cwt.) without oversown clover, Lime (scwt.) without oversown clover, and Phosphate (3cwt.) plus scwt. of lime (without oversown clover). Indications from Trials •The results from the trials indicated that: — Establishment of subterranean clover from September and October sowings

was poor and did not warrant the cost of the seed. This pertained to both shady and sunny faces. Certified white clover gave the best results over all plots. It produced good leaf and root development on both shady and sunny aspects.' - - Kentish white clover gave as good an establishment as Certified white clover but did not subsequently play as valuable a part in the pasture. Montgomery red * clover established quite well, but at no stage did the individual plants display vigour comparable to that of white clover. Lotus major germinated well on the shady faces, where it continued to play a useful part in the sward. It was not a success on the drier, sunny slopes. Application of phosphate was essential for the successful establishment of the oversown clovers. The plots where clovers were oversown without phosphate were essentially identical with the surrounding untreated pasture. Topdressing with phosphate, without oversowing, markedly increased the suckling clover content and brought in a useful amount of volunteer : white clover. Application of lime did not result in any better establishment of the oversown clovers. ■ s;: . ■

New Bulletin on Sheep Feeding in Canterbury

Canterbury has a balanced and welldeveloped sheep industry based on store-sheep production on the hill country and fat-lamb production on the plains. More than 5,000,000 sheep are carried, producing about 000,00010. of wool and 2,500,000 fat lambs a year. In this state of high productivity feeding is the most important factor, and that is why every sheep farmer in the province will find much to interest and enlighten him, and perhaps to surprise him, in a new Department of Agriculture bulletin, “Sheep Feeding in Canterbury”. The authority is I. E. Coop, Professor of Animal Husbandry at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln. A century of farming in Canterbury has been responsible for an accumulation of practical knowledge on sheep feeding, and to this knowledge has been added the results of experimental work carried out during the past 10 years by the Department of Agriculture and Lincoln College at the Kirwee experimental farm and at the college. In its three sections dealing with the feeding of breeding ewes, the fattening of weaned lambs, and the rearing ot ewe hoggets, this bulletin represents an attempt to weld together information from the two sources. : ■■■■■ ' Bulletin No.' 355, “Sheep Feeding..in Canterbury”, is obtainable free from. any: office of the Department of Agriculture.