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6 THE RURAL VOICE
Scrap Book
Complex variety mix key to pasture success
Complex mixtures of species, not
the usual simple one -to -three -species
mixes used in pasture, are the key to
keeping weeds out of pastures and
promoting productivity and
profitability, says University of
Guelph researcher Prof. Ann Clark.
Clark has been keeping an eye on
the 50 -acre Northfork research pasture
at the Elora Research Station for 13
years and says pasture is an econom-
ically competitive and environment-
ally friendly alternative to arable
cropping, but proper management —
including the composition of the sown
mixture — is essential.
"Complex mixtures are necessary
to occupy the range of niches that
exist in commercial -scale fields," says
Clark. "Simple mixtures do not have
enough breadth to retard the encroach-
ment of undesirable weeds, which
often reduces producer satisfaction
and encourages frequent reseeding to
maintain productivity."
The cost of "establishment' —
seed, fertilizer, herbicide, land work-
ing and seedbed preparation as well as
seeding — is high in perennial past-
ures so extending the productive
lifespan allows establishment costs to
be spread over many years instead of
just a few. The key to profitability on
pasture, says Clark, is not just
productivity, but longevity.
The Northfork pasture was orig-
inally sown to complex mixtures of
either six grasses (orchard grass,
timothy, meadow brome, meadow
foxtail and Kentucky bluegrass) or the
same six grasses plus alfalfa, birdsfoot
trefoil and white clover.
Since 1985 the swards have been
managed under intensive rotational
grazing by beef cattle, with annual
fertilization with phosphorus and
potassium to soil test. Animal
performance has remained high and
swards continue to be productive.
After 13 years of grazing, weeds
still make up only 10 per cent of
sward composition with most of the
sown species remaining. But different
combinations of three to five species
remain in different places in the same
field. Even on tile -drained land, soil
features or use history are sufficiently
different to select for different
combinations of sown species.
"Had a single simple mixture been
sown, it's likely that weed content
would have increased and gain would
have decreased over years," says
Clark.
Can pasture really compete econ-
omically with grain crops? A study
conducted at the Northfork facility
compared the potential profitability of
stocker beef on high-value land with
that of corn silage, corn, soybeans,
winter wheat and alfalfa. Based on
actual costs for the beef and the
provincial average figures for
everything else, pasture averaged
$136 per acre in net profit, while all
competing alternatives lost money.0
—Source: University of Guelph
Research magazine
High CO2 stimulates soil -building `glue'
Scientists with the United States Department of Agriculture have found that
high levels of carbon dioxide alter biological activity in the soil, causing it to
store more carbon and help to clean the air.
Sara Wright, one of the authors of a study reported in Nature magazine, said
carbon dioxide stimulates soil -dwelling fungi to produce more of a unique pro-
tein she named "glomalin". She suspects it may be the primary glue that holds
soil together. It appears this glue helps soils keep carbon out of the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas contributing to possible global warning.
The researchers studied three ecosystems in California. In all three they found
that as more carbon dioxide was pumped into open -top chambers placed over
grassland plants growing outdoors, or in a greenhouse built around shrubs,
glomalin levels rose, along with soil stability. The high carbon dioxide levels in
the air increase the amount of carbon taken into the root systems which gives
fungi more food and enables them to produce more glomalin.0
—Source: U.S.D.A. Research Service Press Release