PERMANENT PASTURES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1940, Page 9

PERMANENT PASTURES

PREPARATION OF SOIL. ESTABLISHMENT OF CLOVERS. In the North Island grass is normally sown down after rape, or after green feed cereals or after oats grown for chaff, of after a summer fallow following a root crop. Occasionally pastures are sown from grass to grass after a fallow period. The summer fallow after a root crop allows ample opportunity for the preparation of the soil and the sowing of the seed at the right time. Under most North Island conditions March sowing gives the best results, the warmth and moisture of the soil being such as to make for the rapid and strong establishment of seedlings.

The sowing of grass after rape frequently involves a later sowing than is desirable. It may be wiser not to wait for a second growth of rape but to prepare the soil for pasture immediately the first crop has been fed off. After rape, discing rather than ploughing gives better results for preparing the soil for grass seed. Whatever the preceding crop or the method of preparation, the objective is to obtain a fine firm seed-bed. Clovers in particular require a firm seedbed as is evidenced by experience in development work in pumice areas. Rolling at time of sowing is advisable under dry conditions, but except on very dry light soil it is advisable if there is a probability of a heavy downpour. After the seed is sown, one stroke cf the tine harrows should be given. The sowing of phosphate fertiliser with the seed is also highly desirable. To obtain a good, well-balanced pasture, the establishment of clovers is essential. In the first place it should not be necessary to emphasise the necessity for sowing clovers, but many farmers rely on “self-sown" clover appearing in the pasture; as a rule the results are poor to indifferent. Certified white clover at the rate of 21b per acre should be sown in all permanentpasture mixtures. Secondy, for the proper establishment of white clover, and of timothy and cocksfoot, the sowing date must be sufficiently early to ensure that these pasture plants are well grown before the frosts and will net be crowded out by the more robust growth of ryegrass. Under normal conditions the sowing of oats or barley with grass seed is not beneficial and may even be harmful. Only in exposed situations or at a late sowing should this method be adopted, when a light sowing of J to J bushel of oats per acre may be added to the seed mixture. The first grazing of pastures newly sown in March may often be obtained in the late autumn but it must be in sufficient time to allow recovery before the frosts. The “topping" of established grassland areas in March, and harrowingas soon as good rains occur, are two methods for fostering the production of leafy feed in late autumn.