Pasture improvement

3 posts
Tue, 04/07/2015 - 15:46 #1

Member for

11 years 7 months
kyle
Last seen: 04/21/2018 - 14:29
Joined: 05/10/2013 - 20:18

Pasture improvement

Hi- I am rotating my cows through a few different areas to improve the pasture. Its only a small area - 5 acres divided up. After much research ,some to let grass go to seed then feed and rest- others say never let it get to seed stage ??  Bit confused- dont you need seeds to grow the next lots of grass or will they form better through spreading under the ground when the top third is eaten ??  Should i run the mower over when they have moved on to get more much layer build up ?

thanks

Kyle

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Farming Help
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Wed, 04/08/2015 - 10:19 #2
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

Hi Kyle,

Excellent question and welcome to the forum.

If the pasture species you are grazing are annual (grow, set seed and die each year) you will need to allow them to set seed to allow regeneration of the next years plants. That said, it may not be necessary or possible due to seasonal conditions to allow them to set seed every year. Most annual species will have a built up seed bank (hard seeds in the soil) which will still enable them to regrow each year. You can probably get away without the plants setting seed for a few years until the seed bank is reduced.

If the pasture species are perennial (grow year on year) allowing them to set seed every year will not be necessary. A good idea thou is to allow them to flower and form some seeds every second year. During the flowering and seed setting process perennial plants increase root reserves which enable them to perist through tough dry periods. 

In regards to the mowing this will speed up the decomposition process by getting plant material onto the ground. Anything you do to reduce dead or undigestible material in the pasture will increase overall pasture quality and livestock performance.

Hope this all makes sense and if you have any questions please reply.

Regards,

Charlie

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Thu, 04/09/2015 - 05:23 #3
jolls
Last seen: 01/12/2020 - 21:19
Joined: 09/23/2011 - 16:27
G'day Kyle, I'm glad you asked this question it is something I have been pondering too. Only real difference is that I have sheep as opposed to cattle. I was concerned about not having enough pasture over summer so didn't want to slash the paddocks when we had some good rain late spring; however, I was concerned that one paddock was a potential fire risk. After slashing it, I managed it with very short grazing periods. It is greener and seems to recover quicker than my other four paddocks. So there is something to the mulching theory. I'm sure there is a balance though. If I had slashed all of the paddocks I probably wouldn't have had enough feed. So I intend to rotate the paddock I slash next year and see if I can repeat the success. I don't know my soil well enough yet so my next step is to do some soil analysis over winter and see if I can't improve the soil condition. I don't particularly want to plough the paddocks but I would like to change the characteristics of one paddock in particular. What to sow and what method to use is bewildering. There are so many options it is hard to know where to start. If anyone has advice I would certainly like to jump on the back of Kyle's question. Cheers Jolls
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