GRASS FARMING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 215, 11 August 1937, Page 6

GRASS FARMING

IMPORTANCE IN ECONOMY. CONFERENCE OF EXPERTS. The overwhelming importance of grassland in the national economy of New Zenland was emphasised by Mr A. H. Cockayne, Director-General of Agriculture, in lus presidential address to the annual conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association at Dunedin last night; Mr Cockayne outlined certain aspects of - New Zealand grassland farming and the general philosophy which underlies New Zealand practices. Ho said that the great importance of grassland in tho Dominion could perhaps best be expressed by the statement that 32,000,000 acres were devoted to tho production of the grass crop, and less than 1,500,000 acres to other classes of crops. The New Zealand grasslands were producing annually about 80,000,000 tons of green herbage, or an average of somewhat under three tons to the acre. The poorest grazing land did not reach one hundredweight to the acre, while the most productive areas exceeded 20 tons per acre. From this 80,000,000 tons of green herbage there were produced annually 265,000 tons of butter and cheese, 375,000 tons of meat, of which lamb was the largest single item, and 100,000 tons of wool. These three commodities represented in an overwhelming degree the Dominion’s international livelihood. “If wool is excluded from these items,” said Mr Cockayne, “we are left with dairy and meat products, which are dependent on the one hand on the cow and on the other hand on the ewe. The point I wish to make is that in New Zealand grassland farming it is the female animal which is the index that must be used to measure production, and it is on an increase in our female live stock that expansion in production comes about. It is essential that female live stock .should be fed with nourishing food of a milk-produc-ing character, irrespective of whether they are cows, ewes, or sows, and, as pur female stock arc in the main fed with grass, it automatically follows that our grasses must be primarily of a milk-producing character. “Broadly, pasture may be either of a milk producing type or it may not. In the former case it is suitable for milking stock, and in the latter for store stock only. Thus we have the terms wet stock pasture and dry stock pasture. Tho essential feature that determines whether a pasture is of a milk-producing nature or not is the actual age of tho herbage itself. In other words vigorously growing or fresh young herbage is suitable for milk production, while old or mature grass is unsuitable. The whole objective of grassland farming in New Zealand is to maintain pasture in a young, vigorously growing condition for as long a period of the year as possible. In other words, to develop conditions and management so that the pasture remains permanently juvenile. THREE GREAT FACTORS.

“The ability of a pasture to remain icrmanently juvenile is influenced by chrce great factors, all capable of skilful manipulation by the grassland farmer. The first is, for want of a more definite term, the fertility of the soil. The second is the type of herbage itself again closely connected with the fertility of the soil, and the third is abilitv to recover rapidly when pruned. This 'again is connected on the one hand with fertility and the type of plant being pruned. The real practical essence of a pasture remainiiig young or becoming old depends on its ability to produce fresh growth after being

pruned, or, to use the farming term, its ability to recover after grazing. “Now let us examine some of the ways in which a permanent juvenile condition in pastures is brought about or pastures that have become old are rejuvenated. In arable districts, of course, tho common . method is to let your pastures become' old within a few years, generally through the plants originally seeded becoming weak, and being replaced by others that are not of a true milk-producing type or remain only in a young condition for n very limited period of the year. IVhen this condition arises the land is cropped for a season or so, and tho pasture is then renewed. It remains young for a year or so, and the process is repeated. This method works quite well ill arable districts, but apart from being expensive, as the objective of the grassland farmer is to have permanent rather, than temporary pastures, tho continuous renewal method is of limited application. “One of the most important methods of developing fresh supplies of young grass is to prune or eat out the growth, and rely on the immediate fresh growth 'response, which occurs when any plant is pruned, provided the pruning is done at the most suitable stage, and the plant is one of a typo capable of growth response after being cut or eaten back. A whole range of grass land farming practices, having as their objective the develonment of fresh growth after a rapid pruning of the pasture, have been developed, but only a few of them need be noted. The crudest form is exemplified by the burning of tussock grassland, or by the burning of got away Danthonia country. The mowing or topping of dairying pastures comes into the same category except that the latter is often necessary, whereas the former ought to be avoided except in certain types of second growth pasture land. The whole theory of subdivision of grassland, bo it extensive or intense, is connected up with the pruning theory of young grass production, as it enables manipulation in stock concentration to be adopted by the farmer. Of course, it is connected up with the better response of young grass growth that follows rapid defoliation. USE OF CATTLE.

“Perhaps the most notable rejuvenation practice by eating out is afforded by the employment of cattlo on lull sheep country for the purpose of making feed suitable for ewes and hoggets. The older and stronger the cattlo are tho better they are suited for the work, and one views rather -with alarm the widespread idea that such cattle, representing as they do the only agricultural implement that tho hill country fanner can possess, should be sold off at an early age and fattened for the chilling trade. It may he, later on, when more of our hill country is tondressed, that the cleaning up of hill country pastures may be successfully performed by young cattle, hut over much of it three to four-year-old cattle are essential.

“The full development of rapid defoliation of grass to provide a further supply of young grass is seen on many intensive sheep and intensive dairy farms where adequate fencing enables a very high stock concentration to be adopted for a limited period on any individual paddock, but such intensive sheep and dairy farms arc on land of the highest fertility, or have been made so over a course of years, and that brings me to the point of the connection between rejuvenation through eating out and the factor of fertility in permanent young grass production. It is the extent of the vigour of growth, coupled, of course, with the type of herbage that to a large extent determines the rapidity and amount oi response that takes place after the grass is fed off, and in general such

vigour is in direct relationship to fertility. “It would appear as if the greatest single applied factor that generally increases vigour of growth on most of our pastures is topdressing with phosphatic fertilisers, or I would rather put it another way and say wherever there is a dis tint clover response through topdressing such topdressing represents the easiest and simplest method whereby increased vigour can come about. New Zealand at tho present time is using somewhat more than 400,000 tons, mainly of phosphatie fertilisers in the topdressing of pastures over a wide variety of soils, and ones that differed enormously in initial fertility. Some without topdressing are incapable of maintaining a permanent sward of any deserption, he it of a milk or store stock type, and others arc of good to high initial fertility. The outstanding feature of the last decade and a-hali of topdressing—prior to that comparatively little was done except in certain districts—has been the fact that, irrespective of the intial fertility of the soil, pastures of very high production permanently producing young vigorously growing herbage have been developed, and this lias lead to the formulation of what one may term the surface fertility theory of nerment young, faco fertility theory of permanent young grass. “Nearly tho whole of tho grasses and clovers that normally remain permanent on the best pastures on initially rich soils have similar root systems, anti develop their root system close to the level of the ground, i.e., all their roots when in a young stage are quite close to ground level,” Mr Cockayne added. “New roots are constantly being developed that pass through the surface layer and spread to lower levels. When topdressing is carried out on soils whose surface fertility is low, a mulch as it were of nutrient material is provided just below ground level into which new roots penetrate at an early stage of growth. It would appear as if when a rich surfaces feeding layer is provided irrespective of wliat may be tho fertility at lower levels, if drainage is adequate, permanent high productive pasture of a milk-produc-lug character can ho developed; nor does there appear to be any great range in tho quantity of fertiliser required, provided the pasture is one that is laid down on cultivated land, treated with two applications of fertiliser within the first few months. It would appear, as I have often stated, that the essential for vigorous permanent young growth is a veneer of fertility, just at ground level, and in most case's this veneer can be provided by phosphatie topdressing provided there- is an adequate rainfall, and provided a clover response is brought about. During the past few years there have been many examples throughout New Zealand where previous experience indicated that only inferior grasses could he established, but- which now after topdressing are carrying swards capable of producing over 200 lb of butterfat per acre. It would, seem, therefore, that tho theory o! the surface fertility requirement for permanent milk-producing pasture is a sound one. Where, however, climatic conditions lead to long and repented drying out of the soil, a thin surface layer of fertility is not sufficient to establish permanently high producing pasture. Let one look for a moment to the position topdressing has reached in New Zealand. EXTENT OF TORDIIESSTNG.

“At present just about three million acres of grassland is topdressed annually, and one would say without hesitation that there is at least another three million acres capable of equal, if not greater, response to that already topdressed. Our present topdressing bill for fertilisers is some where under two million pounds,

and at a moderate estimate it is responsible for an added 10 to VI million pounds worth of production. My suggestion is that the New Zealand farmer should add another two millions to his fertiliser bill and cash in on the result.

“I have in my address endeavoured to emphasise what I view as some of tho guiding principles of grassland philosophy in New Zealand, freely admitting that they are ill the nature of generalisations, and in many eases not of specific application. First and foremost our grassland products arc dependent on the adequate feeding of female Jive stock; female live stock are dependent on adequate supplies of young, vigorously growing herbage, wet stock pasture maintained as such; repeated supplies of young herbage under a permanent pasture system are dependent on renewal following pruning or defoliation: efficient pruning, that is grazing, is dependent on ability to control stock concentration; .stock concentration is dependent on the upkeep or improvement of the surface fertility of grassland, and provided this cycle is not broken, permanent wet stock country results. You may well ask ‘Well have we got any problems left?’ and I have to answer ‘Yes, and in plenty.’ What I think can be viewed as those really important from a long view standpoint apn,y in the main to, those areas of New Zealand where the lie of the land fits in well with wet stock standard ideals ; but where climatic conditions nullify their application, but here such a plant as subterranean clover, when we know more about it, may play an important part. “There is tho great area of 14 million acres of tussock grassland, poorer to-day than it was a generation ago, where the problems are fundamentally different trom those of our lowland or forest-derived grasslands. There is the broken and steep bill country on which millions have been spent in converting from forest into grass, steadily deteriorating, and where subdivision, stock concentration and topdressing are not applicable. I mentioned earlier that we are topdressing three million acres to-day, and we should at least bo doing six, and if we did probably another three million acres would be benefited. Add to this area three million acres of rotation grass in the arable belt, and that makes twelve million acres. Our total grassed area is thirty-two millions, leaving in round figures twenty millions, which represent the real and difficult grassland,!’ problem of the future.

“There are numerous other problems of more immediate significance, but l refer here to general, rather than specific ones. Standing out prominently is the question of ragwort control, wlicrO the judicious combination of sheep with cattle at present offers the best solution, but where are the sheep coming from for the purpose? And with the real extension of topdressing as taking place at the present, large numbers of additional sheep and cuttle will bo required. Tho conversion of sheep breeding country into fattening country—another feature that topdressing brings about—is tending to force breeding on to unsuitable country, but you will notice that all these problems are connected up with a really adequate supply of live stock, and in this connection a diminution of the live stock losses, especially with regard to hoggets and a diminution of the high rate of cow replacements, would be most valuable. Our grassland development work has, I feel, rather got ahead of our live stock development work, and that cries aloud for research,” Mr Cockayne concluded.