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August 2010 edition

What to do with underperforming paddocks coming into spring

Tom Farran, Dairy Extension Officer, DPI Tatura

On many farms as we begin to come into spring, there will be paddocks that are performing badly. To work out the most profitable option for these paddocks for the rest of the season a number of questions need to answered and a number of factors need to be considered.

Firstly, there are two critical questions that need to be answered:

1. What is causing the paddocks to be performing badly? For example:

  • Weeds
  • Poor density of desired species
  • Poor establishment of new crop/pasture
  • Poor soil fertility
  • Soil structure issues e.g. compaction
  • Poor grazing management
  • Insect attack
  • A mystery?

The most important thing to consider before deciding what action should be taken is to work out what is causing the poor crop/pasture performance. It pays to get a second opinion – so don’t put off getting your agronomist out or doing a soil test. Unless the reason for the poor result can be addressed it is likely the same result will be achieved again.

2. What do you want out of the paddock?
The realistic options that you might have are to:

  • Grow a summer crop, use the area to fill a late season feed gap
  • Complement the pastures and crops we already have established
  • Establish a perennial in it (now or next year?)
  • Get it fixed so you can grow a good crop/pasture next year.

Factors that need to be considered are:

  • How reliant are you on needing the paddock to produce feed for you?
  • Do you already have good fodder (hay/silage) reserves from previous years on hand that needs to be fed out?
  • Is the paddock able to be irrigated?
  • How much water are you likely to have? Are you likely to need to be irrigating this paddock in the spring anyway or are you going to have insufficient water available to irrigate all paddocks?
  • What is the long range forecast predicting might happen to seasonal conditions.

Sowing a perennial pasture in the spring requires more skilled management than autumn sowing and is generally not considered to be best management practice. It will produce less feed over its first spring/summer compared to an established or autumn sown perennial pasture. It is also very important to make sure you have the paddock correctly prepared and all potential weed issues under control first. With this said it is possible to get a good pasture established in the spring.

Another option is to sow a summer crop and then sow the perennial pasture or annual crop/pasture in the autumn. The summer crop, if managed well, will provide a lot more feed per mega litre (ML) of water (including rainfall) than a newly sown perennial pasture over the summer. Often the major advantage of this option is that the chances of a successful establishment of the perennial pasture or annual crop/pasture the following autumn is much more likely. If thinking of this option consideration also needs to be given to capitalising on this year’s spring growth period.

A summer crop isn’t going to provide any feed over the spring peak growth period, so consideration could be given to a silage/hay crop over the spring as well. Most summer crop options (e.g. millet and sorghum) can’t be sown until soil temperatures are warm enough. This normally doesn’t happen until late October at the earliest, meaning feed won’t be available from them until around Christmas.

If you are not considering irrigating a particular paddock over the summer then there are options to sow crops for grazing and/or silage/hay in spring. Consideration needs to be given to the cost and risk of undertaking one of these options compared to sourcing the feed from some where else (e.g. grain, hay or nitrogen) These areas may still be able to be sown to a summer crop if water is available and can also be sown down to an annual or perennial crop during the following autumn period. Some of the spring options are:

  • Italian ryegrass
  • annual ryegrass
  • forage brassica
  • cereals (including mixes with legumes such as peas/vetch)

There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these options and finding out correct information on each option is important.

OPTION

When Option Would Be Suitable

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

OVERSOWING RYEGRASS
Perennial/Hybrid/ Italian
(August/September sowing)
  • Current pasture is sparse (large bare areas or areas of weeds that can be removed prior to sowing)
  • When sowing a species with a vigorous seedling like ryegrass
  • When good grazing management can be employed
  • Cheaper than re-sowing
  • Better production over this coming spring and summer than re-sowing (if a good establishment is achieved)
  • Needs careful management to make it work
  • Harder to get a good response from over sowing in the spring compared to the autumn due to increased competition
  • Needs good grazing management

RESOWING PERENNIAL PASTURE
(August/September sowing)
  • Competition is high from existing pasture and weeds
  • If there are hard to kill weeds
  • If sowing tall fescue or lucerne (if a good preparation has already been achieved by providing a very well prepared, weed free seedbed)

 
  • Good establishment is likely
  • The following year the pasture should perform very well, particularly through early autumn when most farms are very short of feed
  • Many believe spring sowing is the best time for tall fescue and lucerne
  • Re-sowing in spring will mean that spring/summer production won’t be as high compared to an autumn sowing or over sowing or a summer crop
  • More expensive than over sowing
  • Early hot temperatures can compromise establishment
  • Being that it needs to be done in August/early September water availability might still not be guaranteed

SOWING A SUMMER CROP E.G. MILLET Or SORGHUM
(sow when soil is 15 degrees and rising for millet, 16 degrees and rising for sorghum, normally late October onwards)
  • To renovate a poor performing paddock
  • Set up the paddock for next autumn
  • Feed required over summer (this should be costed against other feed options)
  • Wanting to have a better idea of water allocations/ seasonal conditions before committing to an option.
  • Good way of renovating a paddock
  • Can provide a grazing option over summer
  • Later sowing period giving more time to:
  • Find out water allocations
  • Observe response of spring pasture
  • Sow after calving has finished
  • Generally poorer quality than the likes of ryegrass
  • Can be expensive to grow (mostly depends on water price and yield)
  • Can be difficult to get right and manage well
  • Will need different grazing management
  • Low protein content

ANNUAL RYEGRASS
(Sow by end of August)
  • A cheaper hay/silage/grazing short term crop is required
  • Relatively cheap to sow
  • Will provide more spring production and quality than a sparse, weedy paddock
  • Quality of the grazing or hay may be a problem if the ryegrass goes straight into a reproductive phase
  • May require irrigating if sown late

ITALIAN RYEGRASS
(Sow August/early September)
  • A higher quality hay/silage/grazing crop is required
  • If wanting good quality feed into late spring/early summer
  • Will stay mostly vegetative and not go reproductive as long as it is a true bi-annual Italian
  • Given sufficient moisture it will stay alive and maintain quality into summer
  • Possible to get grazings as well as hay or silage cuts
  • Would most likely require water if sowing from mid august onwards
  • Seed is more expensive than for annual ryegrass
  • Is a risk if stressed during establishment that a poor result could be achieved.

CEREAL
(Sow August/early September)
Very important to use a cultivar that will stay vegetative well into spring

 
  • A bulk of feed is required as silage or hay.
  • Peas or vetch could be added to improve the protein content at harvest slightly
  • Can be easier to establish than ryegrass or a forage brassica
  • Can produce large amounts of hay
  • Most varieties will want to go reproductive straight away and won’t tiller much
  • Unlikely that a grazing can be achieved if you are wanting good hay/silage yields
  • May require irrigating to get a reasonable hay cut
  • Higher seeding rate (80+kg/ha) would be necessary
  • Peas may be hard to dry out for hay in mild spring

FORAGE BRASSICA
(sow August-October)
  • A dry land option is wanted
  • A cheap option is wanted
  • A high quality grazing option wanted

 
  • Low seed costs
  • About 8-12 weeks until maturity
  • Growth rates depend on moisture but could be expected to be in the range of 3 - 6t DM/ha for the first grazing
  • High quality feed, 25 per cent crude protein and 11-13MJ of energy per kg
  • Re-growth possible following good summer rain
  • Regularly stays alive over summer and will begin to grow again after the autumn break to provide good amounts of autumn winter feed
  • Can drill pasture or winter forage crops straight into the brassica the following autumn
  • A good weed management option
  • Requires skilled grazing management
  • Performs poorly in very hot conditions
  • Flood irrigation can cause it to die or grow poorly due to it not liking water logging
  • Poor response to irrigation in hot weather
  • Insects can be a big issue particularly for late spring sown brassicas.
  • Cows will normally take a couple of days to begin to graze it properly
  • Can only make up a limited amount of their diets (about 5kg DM/day per cow)

TURNIPS
(sow mid Sept)
  • When complete paddock renovation and cultivation is required i.e. After severe winter/spring pugging damage
  • High quality forage is required in late spring/early summer
  • Single grazing option is preferred
  • Relatively low cost
  • 12 weeks to maturity, so graze mid December
  • Leaves a very good seed bed in the autumn for winter crop or perennial pasture establishment
  • High quality forage
  • Potential for high yields 10tDM/Ha
  • Single grazing only option
  • Well drained soil required, not flood irrigated, does not like to be water logged
  • Critical stage of yield development at 6-8 weeks after emergence as the bulb develops; a dry period here can restrict yields significantly
  • Success more variable than brassicas or summer crops

 

If you do not plan to spring sow underperforming paddocks then the following points may at least help improve their performance:

  • control weeds to give desired species the best possible chance and/or to reduce the weed burden for the following season;
  • fertiliser like nitrogen may be able to give pastures a boost if there are enough desirable species there to get an economical response. Alternatively Nitrogen (and irrigation water) may be better put on the more productive paddocks to try to grow more feed;
  • good grazing management is important to give desired species the best chance of optimal performance; and
  • start planning now how to get the paddock back to performing well, you have a lot of money invested in land, make sure it is working hard for you.

The key message is that there are several different options you have to improve the poorer performing paddocks on your farm. Each situation will be different, consider what is causing the problem, what the future plans for the paddock are, and do you need more feed through late spring and summer as each option will have costs and a risk of failure.

For more information please contact your local agronomist or dairy extension officer.