Around mid April we decided to lock up our worst performing paddock and sow some Gippy Dryland from Graham’s seeds. Our aim is to improve the persistance of the more palatable species of grass into this area of Willarah Farm. Gippy dryland contains Perennial Ryegrass, Clover and Cocksfoot, these species are early maturing and will set seed next spring creating a persistent cover of palatable pasture into the future.
After seeding the paddock will be removed from rotation until the pasture has matured enough to allow a light graze then removed from rotation again to allow the seed to set during late spring.
At Willarah Farm we use no herbicides and limit the amount of tillage, this promotes biodiversity and soil structure which will grow healthier plants and as a result tastier beef. It’s a real balancing act as you can see in the first photo, a week later the less palatable grass has come back fairly strong and could potentially impact germination of the seed. To minimise the recovery as much as possible we allowed the cows to graze this paddock fairly low then harrowed twice to knock back the persistent bent grass, we then direct drilled the seed the same day just before rain.
The second photo was taken last week and you can see a fairly good strike emerging. This weekend we will apply Seasol's PastureMasta in the hope that it speeds up the establishment before we get into the colder months of winter. PastureMasta is a blend of Seasol with fish, liquid humate and added Nitrogen, developed specifically for optimum effectiveness on pasture. The benefits are;
Improved pasture regrowth and palatability
Increased pasture growth in early Autumn and late Spring
Enhanced pasture nutrition with essential trace elements
Boosts soil biological activity
Keep an eye our for the next update in a few weeks time!