FARMING NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 50, 7 February 1949, Page 3

FARMING NOTES

SAYING GRASS IN THE AUTUMN FOR WINTER FEEDING.

Now An Accepted Practice In N e Z. (Prepared by E. R. Marryatt, Fields Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Whakatane) During the last decade the saving of autumn-grown grass for winter and early spring feeding to dairy cows has become established as a farm practice in New Zealand. This saved grass appears to be called “foggage” in Britain, which term, rightly or wrongly, conveys to the writer at least, the impression of unattractive, clov-er-deficient, rank herbage, mainly Yorkshire fog. Saved autumn grass of this kind is sometimes seen in New Zealand and “foggage” is not a bad name for it, but it is not the desirable type of herbage for winter and spring feeding to early-calving cows and generally is a result of unsuitable pasture management. Avoid Foggy Pastures A little more than ten years ago the writer did some fundamental research work on pasture management at Ruakura and part of this work was done on a small dairy farm made out of a large'field which contained much Yorkshire fog, cocksfoot and perennial ryegrass as well as some white clover. Lenient grazing, particularly lenient grazing in the autumn and winter, encouraged and strengthened these wintergrowing grasses on this experimental farmlet and this has also been the experience for many farmers. Admittedly much butterfat has been produced from Yorkshire fog, and when it is young and vigorous it is a useful species in many pastures and to be preferred to others such as sweet vernal, and goosegrass, but when fog is encouraged and strengthened it usually forms a matted undergrowth, which is very bad for pasture production and of little value for milk production. Foggy pastures should therefore be avoided when selecting the fields from which to save autumn-grown grass for the winter, and these pastures should rather be hard-grazed to suppress fog and to clean up the matted growth. Selecting The Sward The most suitable type of sward to select for saving grass for winter feeding is a rye-white pasture with little or no fog. To have some too much cocksfoot in the wintergrass pasture is not bad for cocksfoot grows quite well in the winter though it may be “burnt” by severe frosts. After ryegrass the most valuable species to have in the winter-grass pasture is prairie grass, which produces a large amount of feed during the late autumn, winter and early spring. Where grazing is lenient there may be quite a considerable amount of prairie grass in dairying pastures particularly where the.farmer realises the value of this species in his swards, sows prairie grass when laying down and subsequently manages his pastures to keep prairie grass in. Contrary to popular opinion, this can be done under the right conditions without difficulty. One farmer near Thornton has a useful amount of prairie grass in every pasture although he sows only 31b to the acre discing it in at the final workingdown prior to sowing a normal pasture mixture. As a special-purpose crop on good soils (where there is an abundant supply of . nitrogen) prairie grass properly managed is ideal for winter grass. Proper management of a prairie grass pasture includes lenient grazing (from about 12in to about 3in) and occasional haying. White Clover Essential For several reasons plenty of white clover is essential in a pasture to be used for winter grass. First, unless there is plenty of white clover in the pasture there is probably an inadequate supply of nitrogen in the soil and the grasses simply will not be able to produce much leafage. Secondly, long spells between lenient grazings in the winter and early spring will weaken what clover there is and therefore it is desirable to have more than enough to begin with. Drainage And Shelter The field selected for winter grass should be well drained and well

, sheltered so that the soil will remain as warm as possible. Meadow soils or sons which are badly drained, low-lying and subject to hooding should be avoided. Early Topdressing Early topdressing with phosphates and with lime and .potash where' they are used is necessary prior to closing the selected pastures to stock in the autumn. This topdressing should be done preferably in late February or early March and should not be done later than March or early April. Topdressing with nitrogenous fertilisers is not usual but will definitely give winter grass when properly used on the right kind of pasture. Whether it will pay to buy nitrogen in the bag for this purpose is not definite, but it is mainly a shortage of nitrogen which prevents much growth of ryegrass in the winter. Early Feeding Out Autumn grass can be saved for winter use u and winter grass can be grown only when the pastures have been leniently grazed during the autumn and are shut up after the last grazing in the late autumn with several inches of leafage still ungrazed. This can be done only when the feeding out of hay and other supplements has been commenced earlier than seems to be necessary. INCREASED PRODUCTION Cows in Denmark have so benefited by the increased supplies of fodder that they are now producing 201 b more butter a year, states a Danish Agricultural expert. The yield per cow has risen from 3251 b in 1947 to 3451 b last year.