March 2018 Oxford, North Canterbury

Alternative forages
Agricom’s trial site
“Marshdale”, Alistair and
Genna Bird’s farm “The
Grange”
Alternative forages were the theme
for the day; specifically looking at
pasture species which outperformed
ryegrass in dryland environments. The
first stop was at Agricom’s trial farm
“Marshdale”, the second part of the
day was seeing how Oxford farmers
Alister and Genna Bird use some of
these alternative pasture species in
their hill country farm system.

Marshdale
Agricom’s animal nutritionist Glenn Judson and product development specialist Alister Moorhead
explained that Marshdale is badly named. An old riverbed, the farm has very free-draining soils
which dry out quickly in summer. This is the perfect testing ground for pasture species which are
trialled under different grazing regimes.

“We get a read of the agronomic performance of plants at farm scale,” says Judson.

“This property forces us to walk the walk- it gives us skin in the game.”

One of the plants being trialled is Ecotain. Bred by Agricom, it is described as Environmental
Functional Plantain as it reduces nitrogen leaching from urine patches by up to 90 per cent –
depending on the companion species.
The plant acts as a diuretic in the animal, so a greater volume of dilute urine is produced. Its efficacy
is apparent through the lack of urine patches in stands being grazed by cattle.

In the soil, the plant’s properties slows the conversion of nitrogen to nitrates which slows down
leaching. In essence it creates slow-release urine patches.

Moorhead says they are getting reasonable animal performance from the plant and it is able to be
cut for silage.

It will likely be most used in pasture mixes and trial work is looking at how the plant performs with
Italian ryegrass and other pasture species. On-going work is looking at management strategies to
maintain the content of Ecotain in pastures long-term.

Moorhead says Ecotain does take a long-time to establish- but once it gets going, it is highly
productive. It is a medium-term species- so farmers can look to get up to four years out of the plant.

Fodder beet

Amongst the trial work that is carried out at Marshdale was one looking at different supplement use
with fodder beet being grazed by R1 and R2 cattle. One of the supplements was hay with an ME of
less than 8, the other was high quality baleage.

While there was no difference in growth rates for the first 60 days, after 60 days the younger
animals did better on the high quality supplement while the older cattle did better on the hay.

Judson says this highlighted the different protein requirements of the different classes of cattle. The
young cattle needed the high-protein supplement to meet their growth requirements. The older
animals- with their much lower protein requirements, slept on the hay and ate more fodder beet
than they would if they were offered a high-quality supplement.

Cocksfoot

One of the trial plots viewed on Marshdale was cocksfoot grown under irrigation. Moorhead says
new cultivars of cocksfoot such as Savvy break all the stereotypes of this plant- often associated with
clumpiness and unpalatability.

He says cocksfoot is an important part of the perenniality in long-term pastures.

A three-year pasture mix of ryegrass, cocksfoot, plantain and clovers showed the strength of
cocksfoot. Moorhead says ryegrass was first to establish
and dominated for the first year, but by the second and
third summer cocksfoot came into its own.

Cocksfoot is an ideal cattle grass.

“The Grange” Alistair and Genna Bird
The couple took over the 560ha hill country farm
four years ago and have been carrying out
significant development including building tracks,
fences and renovating pastures.

The farm area includes 50ha of flats, 100ha of

rolling to medium hill country, 100ha of steeper
country and the balance is steep, scrub-covered
country that is under development.

The farm rises from 260m above sea level to

880m.

They run 935 mixed-age and two-tooth Perendale/Texel ewes, 400 hoggets, 62 Angus cows and 48
heifers along with 45-50 Friesian bulls. All the lambs are finished on the farm but in what is a change
of policy, all calves are now sold at weaning. Alister says they used to try and grow steers out to Five
Star weights in Spring, but they have instead chosen to sell calves and focus on finishing lambs and
bull.

“Less winter pressure on myself and the farm

Tall fescue and clovers

Alister says when they took over the farm, the easy country was in older ryegrass grasses and they
jumped straight into a pasture renovation programme growing fodder beet crops. The paddocks go
straight back into new grasses such as tall fescue and red and white clover mix.

“The tall fescue has gone really well,” says Alister.

Sown in spring, once established it responds very quickly to any rainfall.

“It jumps out the ground unlike ryegrass where there is always a lag.”

The couple has found a mix of 22kg Eastern tall fescue, 5kg Relish red clover and 3kg Tribute white
clover is the ideal mix for finishing lambs. At a cost of $384/ha, it is around $50/ha more expensive
than ryegrass but it outperforms ryegrass in their environment.

Tolerant to grass-grub because of its deep and extensive root system, tall fescue is very clover
friendly because it is slower to establish which allows the clover to get going.

It is does go to seed in October, but Alister mows it at this stage and the plant won’t reseed.

It is a plant that responds to daylight hours rather than temperature and the couple finds that it
begins growing in mid- August.

Last year the Birds split their lambing over two months- July and August. They did lamb on the tall
fescue pastures- set-stocking at 12 ewes/ha- and while they initially had to supplement the ewes, by
September the pasture was rocketing away. This allowed the couple to get their first draft of lambs
away in early November and all of their lambs finished by early December.
Over the rest of summer, it was break-fed to bull calves and used to feed ewe lambs after shearing.

Tall fescue is a long-term pasture plant and one of the field day attendees reported that he still had
well-performing tall fescue pasture that was planted in 1976.

But it needs to be managed carefully to allow the plant to rebuild root reserves.

You can hammer it in spring but you need to let it tiller in autumn.

Tall Fescue tolerates both wet and dry soils so can be grown in heavy soils. It does require an Olsen.P
of more than 20 and pH of 5.8.

The plant really thrives where Olsen.Ps are over 30.

Like lucerne and clover, single paddocks of tall fescue are difficult to manage and Alister and Jenna
have found they need a reasonable area to be able to get a grazing rotation going.

Alternative forages

Back in the 1980s and 90s, forages such as tall fescue were very expensive compared to ryegrass.
There is no longer that differential and in dryland environments – such as those found along the east
coasts of the North and South Island, alternative forages can play an important part in a farm
system.

“They have a lot of good things going for them and while they do require different management,
they fit in well.” Tom Fraser

Cocksfoot on hill country

Alister and Jenna have used Savvy cocksfoot

as part of a recently-established pasture mix
on a particularly dry hill country block.

Covered in Browntop, this block was put

through a crop of green-feed oats and
Italian ryegrass and a double spray
treatment before 10kg Savvy cocksfoot, 2kg
white clover, 2kg red clover and 1kg
plantain was direct-drilled into the ground.
Establishment costs were $196/ha.

A capital fertiliser treatment of 3-4t lime and 500kg/ha of Super applied as part of the development
lifted the pH to 5.8, the Olsen P levels to 18-120.
Alister says when the pasture was first established the plantain and clover dominated, but the
slower-establishing cocksfoot came through and is now well established.

This high-quality pasture has been used for ewes and lambs, cows and calves and feeding two-tooths
prior to mating.

The different species come to the fore at different times of the season which ensures there is always
quality feed on offer.

The Birds did apply 100kg of urea (or 40-50kg of nitrogen) to the pasture in summer as a
management tool.

Fodder beet

Another block under development grew a 14t cop of fodder beet last winter (at a cost of $1700/ha).
In spring, the couple broadcast ryegrass into the ground but it died in what was a very dry late spring
early summer. The area was sprayed out and a Diploid and Italian ryegrass sown. This two-year
crop will help them get on top of weeds before a perennial pasture is established.

Phosphorous (P) management on hill country: Anna Belton, Land

Management Advisor for the Waimakariri zone, Environment Canterbury
The greatest sources of P in hill country environments are fertiliser, dung and erosion. While P does
leach through the soil profile, in many areas of North Canterbury this loss is small relative to risk
through run-off. Phosphorus enriches waterways and causes phytoplankton to grow.

Factors that increase the risk of P loss through run-off include infiltration issues such as pugging.

Belton says it is important farmers know their soils and understand how well they handle stocking
pressure and saturated conditions.

“Science is telling us that critical source areas are typically only a small area within a farm – so the
80:20 rule applies.”

She urges farmers to identify that 20% of their farm which are the critical source areas and focus
their energy on managing these areas.

“You want your soil to stay where it is, so you are best to put your money into where you are going
to get the best return on your investment.”

Steep sloping areas tend to be risk areas for P loss through run-off, depending on the soil type.
Direct deposition of P into waterways comes from stocking standing in water.

Belton points out that farmers are dealing with complex biological system on their own farms, but
she urges landowners to also think about the health of the catchment and what collectively the
catchment is trying to achieve with water quality.

Having some knowledge of the catchment will help farmers relate that back to their farm
management.

“We all want catchments to stay healthy.”

Protecting your farm’s waterways and catchment

- Identify high-risk soils. When building a Farm Environment Plan use you own knowledge and
don’t get up on lines on maps.
- Think about fertiliser types and placements. In more sensitive areas or areas close to
waterways use low soluble fertilisers.
- In critical source areas close animals off from waterways. Think about fencing, restrictive
grazing and planting buffer areas.
- Follow best-practice management when grazing winter feed crops
- Stabilise land by planting poles (available from local nurseries)

Belton says the best way to tackle the problem of P is by keeping sediment on the farm and in the
paddock.

“It is the most cost-effective way of dealing with the issue.”

“Ensure you are managing your whole farm system and keeping your soil where you want it to
be.”

There are tools to assist farmers mitigate their risk of P and other nutrient losses. Available through
fertiliser companies, these include modelling tools which identify high risk areas and high loss areas.
They provide farmers with a spatial understanding of what they are doing on-farm.

Hill country development

As well as renovating pastures on the easier country, Alistair and Jenna have begun tackling 260ha of
native, gorse and broom.

They have sprayed 80ha with 10l/ha of Tordon ST mixed with 2L/ha Slicker.

The plan is to apply 1200kg of lime/ha in autumn and split the area into 10ha blocks. They will use
cows to smash down the sprayed scrub and use ewes to control regrowth.

They are retaining large areas of native bush and plan on incorporating tourism into their farm
business. They already have a mobile designer hut which is used for paid accommodation.

Red Meat Profit Partnership Action Networks

James Hoban, who is on the North Canterbury Farming for Profit steering committee as well as being
Chair of the Northern South Island Farmer Council, encouraged farmers to consider joining an Action
Network group.

Comprising seven to nine farm businesses (each farm can have more than one member -so husband
and wife, owner and manager etc) and the group is allocated $4000 per farm for the first year.

The group decides how to spend that money. This could be on a facilitator and or bringing in expert
speakers. RMPP has trained a number of facilitators and these won’t be as costly as using a farm
consultant to facilitate – leaving more money to bring expertise as required. But this is entirely up to
the needs of the group.
Next year participants will be required to pay $800/farm. The programme is being rolled out to
2020.

James says the groups can set their own rules around meeting frequencies and areas they want to
focus on e.g business planning and feed quality.

Each group will have a specific plan about what it wants to do.

Hoban says the group environment means farmers are sharing knowledge with each other and there
is a degree of accountability-farmers checking in with each other to see how progress is going.

For more information go to http://www.rmpp.co.nz/page/actionnetwork/