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Managing Native
Grasses
How can
farmers work
more effectively with native pastures?
The distinct wet and dry seasons experienced on the east
coast of both islands does not
suit the grazing practices most farmers use. This
is evident by the eroding, bare soil,
scrub invasion, and generally unproductive landscapes, despite the best
technologies money can buy.
The
basic paradigm is that you must replace
existing native species with high performing ones yet these high
performing
varieties constantly need water and fertiliser to sustain themselves. I’ve heard visiting Australians comment
during times of drought, why is it that the New Zealand pastoral
industry
cannot develop cultivars that can thrive without fertiliser and water? Why isn’t the pastoral industry helping
farmers work more effectively with native pastures?
The
problem for many farmers is
that the grazing advice they are getting from the service industries
has a
short term focus. Around the world
intensive grazing practices have consistently had shortcomings in
seasonal
environments whether the great plains of the North America, the high
veld of
South Africa, the savannah of Zimbabwe, the outback of Australia, or
the pampas
of Argentina.
When
people compare seasonal environments
around the world to the east coast of New Zealand and the rain shadow
areas of
the high country, they see many similarities in climatic behaviour. Whether the rain falls as metres or
millimetres, it tends to be erratic throughout the year.
When scientists look closer at how grasslands
co-evolved in such environments with grazing animals around the world
they find
plants get plenty of time to recover from severe grazing.
This does not happen under set stocking, nor
does it happen under most rotational grazing regimes.
This is
where an understanding of plant
population management is important. If
there is a shift to annual species that are less productive there also
needs to
be a shift in how to graze those pastures.
With native pastures there tends to be a huge growth spurt
in the spring
and the plants lie dormant the rest of the year. Confining
grazing to certain paddocks during
the growing period allows plants elsewhere get the maximum opportunity
to
develop stronger roots systems. Plants
with strong root systems grow into the dry for longer and respond to
rain with
greater vigour because of improved water absorption.
Focusing
on plant survival during dry times
often boosts pastures once rain arrives.
Instead of eating pastures out during the drought, farmers
should be
preparing their land for when rain does eventually arrive.
This means using their animals to trample
litter to the soil surface to help prevent soil erosion, improve soil
aeration
and drainage, and enhance seed to surface contact for pastures to
recover with
greater vigour. These ideas are where
planned
grazing out performs conventional rotational grazing over the longer
term by
reducing pasture renovation and fertiliser costs and increasing the
flexibility
to be profitable.
John King from Succession
coaches farming
families to make decisions that are profitable, regenerative, and bring
enjoyment to land stewardship.
More? Visit www.succession.co.nz or phone
025 6737
885.
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