Making the most of paspalum at Fairy Hill
From the February 2007 edition of Agriculture Today.
Since first propagated by Edwin Seccombe at “Bau Farm”, Wollongbar, in 1892, common paspalum has been a steadfast producer of milk and livestock products in coastal and inland irrigation districts of NSW and northern Victoria.
As soil fertility declined on the North Coast, carpet grass invaded paspalum pastures and dairy farmers turned to other warm-season perennial grasses.
Kikuyu, rhodes and setaria found their niches – but well managed paspalum prevailed as an unsurpassed forage from spring to early summer on moist alluvial soils.
Following perseverance, and finally dissatisfaction, with kikuyu and Callide rhodes, modern dairy farmers, Sieghardt and Terry Blasche, Fairy Hill, north of Casino, decided to make the most of paspalum.
“Kikuyu was difficult to establish on our heavy black cracking clay soils – and Callide was not suited to intensive grazing and close mowing,” Sieghardt said.
“Kikuyu yellows disease was another issue.”
Sieghardt’s son, Terry, instigated a management strategy aimed at lifting quality and yield for their irrigated paspalum/ white clover pastures.
The white clovers Will Ladino and Haifa with Italian ryegrass are direct-drilled into hardgrazed and mulch-mown paspalum in autumn.
A basal dressing of Sulfur Fortified Super is applied to promote clover growth.
During winter, spring and summer, strip grazing provides daily forage allocations for the Blasches’ Aussie Red dairy cows.
“The grazing interval is presently 16 days (late December), but, based on plant development rates, it will be cut back to 14 days,” Terry said.
“After each grazing, paspalum is mulch mown to five to six centimetres to remove seed heads, stimulate tillering and keep regrowth leafy.”
Post-grazed paspalum residue should be kept at five to eight centimetres height.
Research has shown that seasonal yields can be reduced by two-thirds when paspalum is repeatedly grazed below five centimetres.
Hard grazed paspalum develops tillers with a procumbent growth habit. Although white clover doesn’t mind this treatment, cow intake and paspalum growth rates suffer.
Terry manages his densely tillered paspalum sward to maintain a predominantly erect growth habit.
Nitrogen is applied at 30 kilograms a hectare after each grazing and pastures irrigated when necessary.
“Paspalum does not usually have more than three green leaves. Unlike ryegrass, we don’t precisely know the best growth stage to graze common paspalum. We think it could be around 1½-leaf stage in midsummer and perhaps two to 2¼- leaf stage for spring to early summer,” Terry said.
Beyond 2⅓-leaf stage, digestibility drops below 58 per cent as sheath and stem increases relative to leaf. Seed-heads in the pasture slow growth rates.
“When the paspalum gets thick and matty we will go over it with the chised plough and harrows to open up spaces for ryegrass and white clover -paspalum requires an occasional renovation,” Sieghardt said.
He said Terry’s paspalum management had reduced carpet grass and couch in the pasture while favouring white clover contribution to production.
Average daily cow production for the Blasche herd during December 2006 was 21 litres.
Pasture was paspalum/white clover and cows received 4.5kg grain a day.
