Taking some extra time to improve grassland this year
Lack of time is one of the commonest reasons cited as to why grassland doesn’t get the attention it needs to realise its full potential. So although grazed grass is widely acknowledged as the cheapest source of energy for livestock, many swards fall short of their promise.
That’s the view of the Grassright Group, a collaboration of four companies, all with an interest in grassland: OPICO, Limagrain UK, Dow Agrosciences and GrowHow.
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With the aim of helping livestock farmers re-direct some of their time and efforts into their grassland, the Grassright Group has produced a booklet on ‘best practice’. It outlines the key factors which impact on performance and provides some practical advice to help farmers boost their grassland returns.
Limagrain UK’s Ian Misselbrook explains: “Through the booklet, we are challenging farmers to select some fields and really focus on improving them. Or at the very least, just to do one thing extra, in addition to their normal grassland practices, and see how much can be gained.”
There are plenty of areas on which to put extra attention. Sward performance is affected by many factors - soil structure and condition, nutrient levels, re-seeding frequency and method, seed mixture choice, and the appropriate and timely application of fertilisers and herbicides.
Dow AgroScience’s Duncan Connabeer adds: “Practically, it’s never easy to measure the actual DM yields actually achieved from a field. In fact, it’s easier to calculate the loss of potential yield.
“For instance, for every one percent of weed infestation, that’s one percent less grassland productivity. As a general rule of thumb if you can visualise an area measuring 5m x 7m (35 sq metres), and count the docks in that, it will approximately equate to the overall weed percentage in the sward. If you estimate you’ve lost say 10%, and then take the time to get rid of these weeds, perhaps oversowing to fill the gaps, then you’ve re-gained 10% of production.”
Limagrain’s Mr Misselbrook adds: “The dry matter yields from a sward will gradually deteriorate as it gets older. By carrying out a full reseed, you’ll get at least 25% more DM yield in the first year than from a 5-year ley.
“Similarly, new leys will be better quality and so have a higher D value. And every one point increase in D value is the equivalent to having an extra 5% of DM yield, or to improving liveweight gains by around 0.15kg/week in lambs and 0.25kg/week in beef cattle.”
OPICO’s James Woolway continues: “Getting the grass right is dependent not just on what you do to the sward – it’s important to look at soil structure and ensure that it is well aerated to allow the essential inter-change of nutrients and water.
“There’s been such a lot of wet weather this last six months or so, many fields have been badly poached by livestock and wet ground will have created further soil compaction. It’s worth digging up a clod of earth and taking a closer look, to see whether subsoiling with a sward-lifter to break up the mineral pan could be beneficial.”
Make Savings
GrowHow’s Elaine Jewkes points out there are often opportunities for farmers to make savings on fertiliser purchases: “By soil testing and assessing what further nutrients are required for a ley - after deducting the nutrients applied in slurry and FYM – money can be saved by just topping up with a fertiliser which supplies the nutrients which are lacking.
“Another area where farmers could be unnecessarily wasting money is by over-supply of inputs when spreading equipment isn’t calibrated correctly. In fact, whether it’s a fertiliser spreader, chemical sprayer or seeder – accurate calibration is a key element of best practice.”