Making upland grassland more productive

WITH upland farms balancing production with the environment, it is important to make pastures with less environmental restriction as productive as possible.

And as grass is four times cheaper than concentrates, making the most use of your grass makes financial sense.

Tuesday's upland management event started with an excellent presentation from grassland specialist Charlie Morgan on the principles and financial benefits of improving hill pasture.

Compaction

Check for soil compaction and remedy if needed. You will get less water logging, an extended grazing period and better grass growth if your soil is well aerated and not compacted.

Soil Testing

Test your soils. Use the result to correct ph to 6/6.5, P to 2 and K to 2. If these are correct the grass will grow better and weeds will be less likely to compete.

Liming

Choose your liming product wisely. Slag should not be used as it contains a lot of iron and does not break down well any way. If you use prilled lime note that it will only last for about 18 months Ground limestone is the recommended option, providing the supplier is a good one.

Over-seeding

Consider overseeding old leys. It is important to select good seed that suits your requirement, from recommended grass and clover lists. These booklets were available on the day. Include clover to reduce your nitrogen fertilizer needs.

There were then practical demonstrations of some of the things to do to improve production from grass/clover.

These included:

• How you can use a spade to dig a few squares of soil up to assess your fields for the extent and depth of soil compaction.
• A slit aerator in use to alleviate a compaction problem and an explanation of how it worked.  It is best used for compaction when the soil has enough moisture to allow the spikes into the soil but not so wet that the soil smears. Usually these conditions are in spring and autumn, but this year it was wet enough in late June!

• A harrow and over-seeding machine and a presentation on how to manage the land to get the most successful over-seeding. It is good to do this after taking a crop. Harrow until 25% of the cover is soil. Over-seed and either roll or put in ewes for a week.  Rest the ground for a month before grazing for another week to reduce the competing established grass.

Assessing sward height

Farmers were given sward measuring sticks and used them to assess the field. Sheep grazing only needs to be a maximum of 4cm and cows 8cm. Assessing your fields regularly and adjusting the grazing will optimise grass utilisation.

The feedback from the 43 farmers in attendance was very positive, with most planning to put some of what they had learnt on the day into practice on their farm.

The event was held at Nook Farm, Borrowdale, Keswick by kind permission of Stanley and Carol Jackson

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