Farmer Writes: damaged sward returns to life

I usually try to accommodate farmer groups that want to come and have a look around my farm.

Some people ask me why I bother, but I actually enjoy having visitors. There is always someone with a suggestion about different ways that I could be doing things.

I am not stuck with my head in the clouds; I’m very open to trying something new and I value all input of knowledge.

An example of that is a recent suggestion I got from an adviser who had come with a group of farmers.

The suggestion was to over-seed paddocks that were tramped or damaged using a single grass seed variety that was good at filling out gaps (Copeland – an intermediate diploid variety). He also recommended that I just sow it on top of the ground with no harrowing, rolling or direct drilling.

It was a little different to other advice that I have heard down the years, but I bought a couple of bags and decided I would give it a go.

Destroyed

Early in June, we hit some very difficult weather when ground got very wet and the cattle started to do a lot of damage. I was constantly moving them off paddocks that looked completely destroyed.

A lot of farmers (here in the west) put cattle back into the house. But I don’t like rehousing cattle in the middle of the breeding season, so I suffered on.

I was moving cattle before they got paddocks cleaned out and I was putting them into paddocks that should have been cut for bales. It was going against best practice, but my back was to the wall.

Given the damage that was done, I thought this would be an ideal time to try overseeding.

The paddocks were wet and tramped, so there was no chance that I could take a tractor or a quad out. So off I went on foot, with a bucket of grass seed.

I just sprinkled some here and there in places that were trampled on, or places where there didn’t seem to be much grass. Whether I was putting it on too heavy or too light I hadn’t a clue. It was just trial and error.

There was enough moisture to get the seed started, but my instinct would have been to harrow or roll it as well. However, it was simply too wet at the time.

After a week or so the weather started to improve and I got out with some fertiliser. I kept checking on the grass regularly and I’m astonished by the progress. Within a week the new grass started to appear and it progressed well every week after that. When I was back with cattle in the next rotation, I decided to skip the paddock that had been trampled on the most and to cut it instead. I was afraid the cattle would damage the young seedlings, plus cutting it would remove the taller, competing grasses.

It looks like it has been a massive success and I will be able to prolong the lifespan of this particular sward. For a very small amount of money I have turned a disaster into a success just by taking some advice and using it.

Fair enough I probably hit an ideal time to do it; Mother nature certainly gave me a helping hand.

But sometimes it’s the simplest pieces of advice that can yield the best return.

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