The Rural Voice, 2004-06, Page 48Advice
Choose pasture seed species carefully
By Jack Kyle
Grazier Specialist, OMAF
It is important to examine your
needs and goals when selecting
pasture species.
Pasture mixes can be very diverse
or very simple. In most cases, there
are positive results with a mixture
that contains 4-6 species. If you are
seeding an area that has two very
distinct soil conditions consider using
a different seed mix for each area
rather than mixing a large number of
species to cover the whole area.
Species need to be matched in
maturity and adaptability to soil
conditions. Also consideration should
be given to how and when you want
to graze. Let's look at a couple of
examples.
Match Legumes and Grasses
Orchardgrass has excellent early
growth and heads early. Once it has
produced a seed head, subsequent
growth remains vegetative. This is a
real advantage in a pasture situation.
In the fall it can be prone to rust.
which makes it unpalatable.
Orchardgrass loses plant structure
after being frozen, so it does not
work well for stockpile grazing. An
orchardgrass field will produce good
quality early -season forage, but is not
as suitable for late -season pasture.
Birdsfoot trefoil is a short-lived
perennial legume that is slow to start
in the spring. Trefoil will be 3-4
weeks later than the early grasses and
needs to have the opportunity to set
seed at some point during the
growing season. Trefoil is excellent
for late season grazing and holds its
quality in the fall better than most
legumes.
Orchardgrass-trefoil is an example
of a missmatch. In the spring.
orchardgrass is early while the trefoil
is late to start growing. In the fall
trefoil holds its quality. while
orchardgrass does not.
Good matches for trefoil would be
meadow brome. reed canary grass or
tall fescue. Tall fescue is not as
palatable as other grasses. but holds
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44 THE RURAL VOICE
its quality well in the late fall. It
works better than any other grass for
late season grazing and stockpiling.
Alfalfa and white clover are
excellent pasture legumes that have
good early growth characteristics and
will match with orchardgrass. With
these two legumes, bloat can be a
concern if they make up more than
60 percent of the diet.
When making your species
selection, consider the purpose and
management you want for the
particular pasture field, then consider
species that best match these
requirements. The forage section of
OMAF Publication 811, "Agronomy
Guide For Field Crops" gives a
number of different species mixtures
that can be used. The Agronomy
Guide is available from OMAF (1-
877-424-1300) or on the web at
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/eng
Iish/crops/pub811/p81 I toc5.htm or
call the Fergus Resource Centre at
(519) 846-0941.0
Farm pesticide use
cut 40% since 1983
I here has been a great deal of
controversy surrounding pesticide
use recently, but very little has been
said about the leadership shown by
Ontario farmers on the issue.
Farmers are responsible pesticide
users. Pesticides are a costly input
into crop production, and therefore
farmers only use these products
when it is necessary. Due to
advancements in education, science,
IPM, and biotechnology, Ontario
farmers have reduced the use of
pesticides, province -wide, by over 40
per cent since 1983.
Farmers in Ontario have long
recognized the importance of safety
training and education when it comes
to pesticide use. In the late 1980s,
farmers asked for this training and on
behalf of farmers. AGCare was
instrumental in developing the
Grower Pesticide Safety Course,
along with the Ontario Ministry of
Environment, Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food and
Ridgetown College.0