What Really Needs Renewing Your Pastures, or Your Focus on Grazing Management?
David wilson bought his original property in the 70s and has added to it over time. Although there are some areas he regrassed over 10 years ago, much of the original property has pastures over 30 years old. Currently he has 180 ha and a herd of 300 Friesians.
He has renewed some pastures, but while there is some short-term benefit he isnt convinced it is worthwhile in the longer term. The new pastures may be superior for 4 5 years but that means you need to regrass about 20% of your farm each year to keep up that high production and its not economic to do that in his situation.
From a production point of view, he says, a high clover content is more important than the grass content, and despite clover root weevil his clover content is quite high.
A new pasture would require a lot more fertiliser, especially if the renewal process involved an intermediate crop. His view is that if you put that same amount of fertiliser on an old pasture you would just about get the same production.
The key to keeping an old pasture going, he says, is management. In particular, that involves:
Keeping the pasture leafy in the spring
Avoiding overgrazing in the summer as this devastates clover
Adequate subdivision to allow good grazing control
A stocking rate that suits the property and the pastures ie. avoids overgrazing in summer and excessive pugging in winter.
His stocking rate may be a little lower than others in his area, which means that he gets more of a spring surplus that he puts into silage. Despite this possibly because of it his EFS with a $4.50 payout is $2600/ha, and $2200 with a $4 payout.
Because of clover root weevil he needs to topdress with N, a little and often, somewhere between 150 and 200 units/ha/yr put on 20kg at a time.
The longevity of the pasture has a number of benefits:
A dense root mass means less winter damage
A variety of species including herbs provides better nutrition for the stock
Pasture plants that have survived droughts and insect attacks for 30 years have evolved into ecotypes that suit his farm, microclimate and management.
A dense pasture that doesnt allow weeds to establish
David believes that the amount and type of fertiliser has an impact on the amount of clover in the pasture. AgResearch is conducting trials on the farm looking at soil nutrients and their impact on clover root weevil. David is not keen on acid fertilisers, and so at present he is trying RPR and believes it is beneficial but doesnt have hard result data yet.
He says he has tried most things in his farming career and has discovered that some of the old ways arent so bad after all.
Its interesting that there are trials going on at present where they are talking about not grazing below 1500kgDM/ha and keeping pastures leafy all year. That was the way things were done back 30 years ago, its really nothing new, he says.
But I think farmers are getting more into supplements and giving up pasture management. If they get short of feed they just buy some maize without looking at the true costs so I think there needs to be a renewed focus on pasture management.
Bruce Willoughby, AgResearch entomologist, has been studying clover root weevil on the farm, and noticed that Davids pastures were in some ways different to the younger pastures around him. He says that by digging up some turf and handling the soil you see:
Highly tillered plants that are well anchored to the soil
A dense root mass that acts like a high quality carpet and resists pugging
Well structured soil
Plenty of earthworms and soil organisms
Plants varieties and ecotypes have selected themselves over decades and are very robust. The soil and pasture ecology that has developed is stable and very productive, says Bruce.
David has developed pasture management practices that have made him a top producer. Essentially what he has done is reduce stress on his pastures, and the result is reduced stress on his stock and on himself.
He has renewed some pastures, but while there is some short-term benefit he isnt convinced it is worthwhile in the longer term. The new pastures may be superior for 4 5 years but that means you need to regrass about 20% of your farm each year to keep up that high production and its not economic to do that in his situation.
From a production point of view, he says, a high clover content is more important than the grass content, and despite clover root weevil his clover content is quite high.
A new pasture would require a lot more fertiliser, especially if the renewal process involved an intermediate crop. His view is that if you put that same amount of fertiliser on an old pasture you would just about get the same production.
The key to keeping an old pasture going, he says, is management. In particular, that involves:
Keeping the pasture leafy in the spring
Avoiding overgrazing in the summer as this devastates clover
Adequate subdivision to allow good grazing control
A stocking rate that suits the property and the pastures ie. avoids overgrazing in summer and excessive pugging in winter.
His stocking rate may be a little lower than others in his area, which means that he gets more of a spring surplus that he puts into silage. Despite this possibly because of it his EFS with a $4.50 payout is $2600/ha, and $2200 with a $4 payout.
Because of clover root weevil he needs to topdress with N, a little and often, somewhere between 150 and 200 units/ha/yr put on 20kg at a time.
The longevity of the pasture has a number of benefits:
A dense root mass means less winter damage
A variety of species including herbs provides better nutrition for the stock
Pasture plants that have survived droughts and insect attacks for 30 years have evolved into ecotypes that suit his farm, microclimate and management.
A dense pasture that doesnt allow weeds to establish
David believes that the amount and type of fertiliser has an impact on the amount of clover in the pasture. AgResearch is conducting trials on the farm looking at soil nutrients and their impact on clover root weevil. David is not keen on acid fertilisers, and so at present he is trying RPR and believes it is beneficial but doesnt have hard result data yet.
He says he has tried most things in his farming career and has discovered that some of the old ways arent so bad after all.
Its interesting that there are trials going on at present where they are talking about not grazing below 1500kgDM/ha and keeping pastures leafy all year. That was the way things were done back 30 years ago, its really nothing new, he says.
But I think farmers are getting more into supplements and giving up pasture management. If they get short of feed they just buy some maize without looking at the true costs so I think there needs to be a renewed focus on pasture management.
Bruce Willoughby, AgResearch entomologist, has been studying clover root weevil on the farm, and noticed that Davids pastures were in some ways different to the younger pastures around him. He says that by digging up some turf and handling the soil you see:
Highly tillered plants that are well anchored to the soil
A dense root mass that acts like a high quality carpet and resists pugging
Well structured soil
Plenty of earthworms and soil organisms
Plants varieties and ecotypes have selected themselves over decades and are very robust. The soil and pasture ecology that has developed is stable and very productive, says Bruce.
David has developed pasture management practices that have made him a top producer. Essentially what he has done is reduce stress on his pastures, and the result is reduced stress on his stock and on himself.