BEST PRACTICE - GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

The GrassRight group has just published a new booklet which provides livestock farmers with an opportunity to review the performance of their current ley mixtures and then, if appropriate, to take steps to boost the future potential of their grazing and silage production.

The GrassRight group comprises 4 leading companies all with an interest in good grassland – Opico (grassland machinery), Dow AgroSciences (herbicides and pesticides), GrowHow (fertilisers) and Limagrain (grass and forage seeds). In this new, 12 page booklet, each company brings its technical expertise into play to ensure that the information provided will help grassland farmers to identify and then eliminate any factors which are currently hindering the performance of their grass.

The booklet, which is called ‘Best Practice – Grassland Management’, sets the scene by advising that all farmers appraise their grass fields so that a clear picture can be built up in terms of what action needs to be taken. In some cases the action needed may be quite simple such as sward lifting (subsoiling) to counteract the detrimental effects of soil compaction which are typically found in silage fields.

Some other fields may be improved by an overseeding operation – and the booklet provides tips on how to go about this to get the maximum benefits. It may be that some very old leys (which now contain a low percentage of productive grass species) will need to be completely re-seeded and again you will find valuable information in the booklet on how best to approach this particular option.

The first step though is to do the grass field ‘appraisals’ and to help you undertake this we can supply a ready-made Inspection Sheet. If you e-mail us (info@limagrain.co.uk) we will send you a pdf file which you can download and then print as many copies as you need.

The 12 page technical booklet can be downloaded from the Limagrain website using the following address: www.limagrain.co.uk/grass  and clicking on the appropriate pdf file at the top of the page.

April 2009