Autumn Pasture and Fertiliser 2021

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www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 18, 2021

AUTUMN Pasture& Fertiliser 2021 INSIDE Dry autumn predicted Why you should renew pasture Facial eczema risk high Advice from DairyNZ What a walk around the paddock can tell you

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

AUTUMN Pasture& Fertiliser

2021

Agricultural contractors ready for autumn pastures

UCOL student Teresa Lamont has found herself driving for Thomas Kershaw Contracting in Martinborough PHOTO: JAMES WATTS

After a herculean effort over the summer, it looks like Wairarapa agricultural contractors should be able to handle whatever the autumn throws at them.

started the first course. It was almost too late. But if we continue to run the courses we will have locals ready to go for next season.”

At this stage UCOL will continue to run the introductory course with funding from MPI available through the government’s Covid Relief Scheme, and MPI continues to see value in it.

The beginning of the hay and silage season saw New Zealand ag contractors short of drivers.

UCOL is developing, in conjunction with local contractors, a “next level” course which will prepare participants for more technical machines than those used in the entry level training.

At the last minute the government allowed 210 “mobile plant operators” into the country, while newly minted drivers took up the rest of the slack.

Many of these came from a series of introductory courses run by UCOL and held at Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre and with the support of the local agricultural contracting industry.

UCOL tutor and mentor for the course John Murphy says that while agricultural contractors “could certainly have done with more staff”, with good management and staff effort everything was done to farmers’ satisfaction.

“The majority of farmers have been very happy with the jobs of the contractors

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www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 18, 2021

Despite the challenges, this is a positive outcome for the industry, John believes. under the current, trying, circumstances. It has been a good solid effort.

will have a bit more time up their sleeves to get things done.”

“As far as hay and silage has gone, we have had amazing productivity this spring, with second and even third cuts of silage.”

Wairarapa is extremely well served by good quality contractors, he says.

There won’t be as much pressure on agricultural contractors in the autumn, John believes.

“The work is not so time critical, and they

“I have spoken to contractors all over New Zealand and the guys we have here are at the top of their game.”

By the end of January, 36 students had graduated from the UCOL introductory

course with 20 getting jobs around New Zealand. That is 20 tractors working that otherwise may have been laid up.

Six Taratahi students got jobs in Wairarapa, three of them being retrained pilots.

From anecdotal evidence, John believes a handful of the overseas drivers were employed in Wairarapa as well.

“We were really on the back foot when we

“Something good has come out of it, and we have some people who came into the course who were pretty sad and confused about what lay ahead of them. No one likes losing their job, but this course has given them a chance at a new start.

“A lot of them are enjoying a new lifestyle and for some there is a lot less pressure than what they have been involved in previously, while utilising many of their current skills.”

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Wairarapa can expect an abnormally dry next few months

Dry autumn predicted It is going to be a very dry autumn in Wairarapa, according to NIWA. From February to April 2021 abnormally dry conditions will occur across Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, and Wairarapa, according to its New Zealand Drought Index with meteorological drought occurring in East Cape.

“Temperatures are likely to be above average [45% chance] or near average [40% chance].

“Rainfall totals are about equally likely to be near normal [40% chance] or below normal [35% chance].

“Soil moisture levels and river flows are most likely to be below normal [45% chance],” NIWA says.

“So far this summer, the country’s climate patterns have been influenced by a non-traditional central Pacific La Niña. This is expected to continue over the next three months.”

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

Why you should renew pasture

AUTUMN Pasture& Fertiliser

2021

BECAUSE PASTURES DETERIORATE OVER TIME Most productive pastures deteriorate over time from a combination of natural and induced causes: weed invasion [particularly low quality grasses such as browntop, sweet vernal, crested dogstail, fine fescue, Yorkshire fog, or summer grasses such as paspalum and Mercer grass], dry/drought conditions, wet/flooding, poor fertility, poor drainage, diseases, insects, pugging, soil compaction, overgrazing and poor management.

Over time, the population of desirable, productive plants in a pasture declines, while populations of undesirable or unproductive plants increase, and pastures become ‘runout’.

Typically, old pasture produces less dry matter, is lower in ME and stock preference, and this decline compounds as the pasture ages.

NEW PASTURE IS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE PRODUCTIVE Typically successful pasture renewal will increase dry matter per hectare per year production by around 3 – 6 tonnes [each year]. This is true of all farms whether they are dairy or sheep, intensive or extensive, irrigated or not. Differences between these groups arise, of course, in the extent to which that extra production can be converted into additional income.

CONTROL OVER SEASONALITY

Modern pasture cultivars allow the farmer to choose the periods of the year when a new pasture will be most productive and when it goes to seed.

Cultivars can be chosen to produce more grass in winter, summer and autumn than traditional pastures.

Ryegrasses can be chosen with a more than six week difference between the earliest and latest seeding dates.

Farmers can pick cultivars to achieve the seasonal production peaks that create the best opportunities for them.

Ryegrasses can be chosen with a more than six week difference between the earliest and latest seeding dates.

CONSISTENTLY HIGHER ME Higher ME produces compounding benefit. These attributes make a new pasture sward more attractive to the grazing animal, and thus easier to manage for the control of quality during the late spring and early summer, thereby helping maximise animal intakes and pasture utilisation.

As these pastures are grazed more uniformly, farmers can more easily control the quantity of residual dry matter when the animals are removed.

The optimum post-grazing residual means optimum ME regrowth and, therefore, increased animal performance at the next productive grazing.

ACCESS TO NEW ENDOPHYTES Most new perennial ryegrass cultivars are

“

Modern pasture cultivars allow the farmer to choose the periods of the year when a new pasture will be most productive and when it goes to seed.”

OF PRODUCTION

available with the ‘novel’ [new] endophytes developed to solve particular problems in different regions.

The endophyte occurring naturally in New Zealand ryegrass pastures [variously called ‘standard’ or ‘wild’ endophyte] confers resistance of its host ryegrass plants to some insect pests, but it was found in the 1980s to cause ryegrass staggers and heat stress in animals.

Novel endophytes are continuing to be developed to maintain good animal health while enhancing the grass’ pest resistance characteristics.

As well as Argentine stem weevil, novel endophytes confer resistance to pasture

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www.age.co.nz Thursday, February 18, 2021

Facial eczema risk high This autumn could be a bad one for the incidence of facial eczema with spore counts in some regions particularly high for this time of year.

In Wairarapa the maximum spore count for the first month of 2021 has ranged from 90,000 in Week 3 to under 5000 in Week 5 in the Gribbles Veterinary Facial Eczema Report [labportal.gribbles.co.nz]. Maximum spore counts in the Tararua district have been 40,000 to 45,000.

mealy bug, black beetle and root aphid, with more pests likely to be added to this list.

DairyNZ carried out a three-year study comparing pastures with the novel AR1 and standard endophyte; the former produced nine per cent more milksolids than the latter.

ANIMALS ARE BETTER FED As noted above, animals on new pasture graze more grass, and that grass is leafier, higher in ME and more palatable. This will be reflected in:  More milk production

Gribbles advises that “when local pasture spore counts are trending upwards of 30,000 spores/g and weather conditions look favourable for sporulation, monitor your own farm’s pasture spore counts week to week and implement facial eczema control and prevention strategies”.

Facial Eczema spore counts in some regions are particularly high for this time of year and Beef + Lamb New Zealand is urging farmers to be vigilant.

 Faster liveweight gains  Higher stocking rates  More contented animals

Source: “Turn all your paddock into high producingpasture” [https:// beeflambnz.com/knowledge-hub/ PDF/turn-all-your-paddocks-highproducing-pasture.pdf]

While FE spore monitoring has just begun for the 2021 season, nationally they are nearly twice as high as they were in January in the

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“For every animal with clinical signs of FE – which are obvious skin lesions – there will be many more with sub-clinical disease, which is the invisible on-going liver damage that can cause major productivity losses, especially at mating, lambing and calving.”

Preventative strategies can include avoiding hard grazing, moving stock on to available “clean” forage crops such as chicory or plantain, dosing sheep and cattle with zinc oxide boluses or drenches, or adding zinc oxide to cattle water troughs.

Wairarapa farmer Sam Saunders says a traditional method for reducing the risk of facial eczema locally has been to move lambs from the flats to hill country where that is available on a farm.

DairyNZ says the signs to look for are:  a drop in milk production

 exposed unpigmented or thin skin reddens, thickens and peels Not all animals affected with FE show physical signs [ie clinical FE] although liver damage [ie subclinical FE] has occurred.

It is estimated that for every clinical case there will be 10 cows with subclinical FE. Milk production of animals with subclinical FE can be depressed by up to 50%. Blood tests can be used to monitor the extent of subclinical FE. Badly damaged liver tissue will not regenerate. Chronic wasting and/ or death may occur at the time of damage or months later when the animal is under stress [eg calving].

There is no cure for FE so prevention is the only way of protecting animals. To be effective, preventative measures need to be in place before eczema spores are found.

Preventative measures include monitoring pasture spore count and either dosing animals with zinc or spraying pastures with a fungicide.

Breeding cows that are more tolerant to facial eczema is a solution to reduce the impact from facial eczema in the long term.

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He urges farmers to keep a close eye on stock, looking out for signs of discomfort, photosensitivity and skin lesions.

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previous three years, indicating that if these climatic conditions continue, this could be shaping up for a bad year for FE,” says Will Halliday, B+LNZ’s senior adviser for biosecurity and animal welfare.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

Getting ready for autumn advice from DairyNZ

AUTUMN Pasture& Fertiliser

2021

Summer strategies still apply in late summer. Continue to monitor and evaluate feed demand and have a BCS plan.

It’s important to consider the approaching change in season and have a plan for when it rains; reassess feed demand after January pregnancy testing, evaluate remaining summer crop yields, and think about autumn pasture renewal/or autumn feed crops where applicable.

PASTURE MANAGEMENT Good grazing management is about maximising the pasture you grow and utilise balanced with allowing pastures to recover following any dry periods in the summer. If it’s still dry in late summer, manage for over-grazing. Frequent intense grazing before plants reach the three-leaf stage reduces recovery of tiller numbers and recovery time.

PASTURE RENEWAL Start thinking about pasture renewal early so paddocks can be properly prepared.

Identify reasons for previous poor performance - such as fertility, drainages, and pests Select pasture species - use DairyNZ’s online Forage Value Index Cultivar Selector Tool Sow early - sowing date affects pasture establishment, yield and persistence.

Sowing early is particularly important in summer-dry areas as sowing early allows individual plants more time to develop and reach over twenty tillers in size before the following [potentially dry] summer.

Later sowing in cooler autumn conditions means slower establishment due to cooler temperatures and greater potential to pug and damage new pastures in winter and spring.

HAVE A BCS PLAN

Sowing early after February 25 in dry conditions with treated seed is easier for contractors; it means faster establishment, more yield, and sets up better pasture persistence.

Several strategies will allow you to achieve BCS targets at calving. Drafting cows based on BCS, age and time of calving; milking OAD, and running more than one herd may be appropriate.

BODY CONDITION SCORE

It’s likely that a mix of the strategies will need to be implemented by autumn to ensure all cows achieve BCS targets.

Assessing cows’ BCS in mid-February to mid-March determines if actions are required and helps plan for autumn, eg drying-off decisions, OAD and feeding

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Assessing cows’ BCS in mid-February to mid-March determines if actions are required and helps plan for autumn,

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With the decline in mid-season pasture quality and possibly insufficient quantity, BCS gain slows down or cows lose

BCS once more. In the North Island, in particular, cows lose BCS again in January and February.

This loss of BCS is different to the loss in BCS post-calving and can be minimised by ensuring pasture quality is high or by providing the cow with high-quality supplementary feeds when there is insufficient pasture.

With milder autumn weather, pasture quality improves and cows gain BCS again.

However, BCS gain is limited until the cows are dried off.

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Analysis of your pasture growth data will help you plan the most profitable renewal programme While you may instinctively know your best and worst paddocks, without measuring or assessing pasture growth paddocks cannot be accurately ranked to identify worst performance.

PADDOCK SELECTION STEPS  Identify the poorest producing paddocks.

Clover tells us a lot about nutrient limitations

What a walk around the paddock can tell you Soil and pasture testing is an established and trusted part of our New Zealand farming systems. But do we use it as often and strategically as we should?

So what should you be looking for when wandering out into the paddock?

Fertiliser guru Doug Edmeades explains there are 16 essential nutrients that any plant – including pasture – needs. These can come from the air, water, soil or fertiliser. And a plant only grows as fast as the most limited nutrient allows.

Doug believes most of us can make better use of the tools available. For instance, target productive areas to maximise your return on fertiliser spend. Make use of variable rate applications. Invest in a farm map that shows you different soil types and contours.

Clover tells us a lot about nutrient limitations. We all know that clover equals free nitrogen and great quality stock feed.

It also has a high requirement for all 16 nutrients. So poor clover growth tells us there could be a particular nutrient that’s holding it back.

Don’t think your farm operation is so good that you’re not affected. It’s estimated that 80 per cent of New Zealand farms are deficient in potassium, phosphorus and/or sulphur K, P, S.

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An easy one is prominent urine patches where clover is growing, but has brown margin on the leaves. This can be a potassium deficiency. Lack of potassium in the soil can translate into pasture production losses of up to 40 per cent.

That’s a startling figure.

 Compare those the best performing paddocks to assess potential.  Identify why these paddocks are the lowest producing.

IDENTIFY THE POOREST PADDOCK

The highest producing paddocks on a farm indicate the property’s overall potential. Under-producing paddocks highlight the opportunity for extra pasture growth.

Use grazing and yield records to identify your best and worst paddocks. The more measures and assessments you have to compare the better and easier the decision will be.

If records are unavailable use the Pasture Condition Score Tool available at www.dairynz.co.nz and walk your farm at least six months before sowing date.

Source: www.dairynz.co.nz

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For example, where the yield can be increased by 2t DM/ha the return is around 130kg MS/ha. The return will be greater if the extra growth occurs at a time of the season when animal demand exceeds pasture growth.

The best paddock(s) to renew are the poorest producers as these

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