Poster 8
Title: Alternative forage systems for marginal land
Authors: C. Duller
Organisation: Independant grassland consultant
For the pdf version of the poster (click here).
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Hi,
(1) What was the sward height when the farmers started grazing at the start of the season?
(2) Please could you explain a bit “under-grazing in spring may have contributed to the decline in diversity”?
Hi Rebecca – the planned protocol was for stock to come off in mid to late November – with last grazing leaving a sward height of around 4.5cm – and then to go back in early March as they lambed – hopefully to a sward of between 6 and 8 cm. So I was just being on the cautious side..trying to keep as many of the goodies in my sward as possible.
In reality two of the farms were turning into swards closer to 10-12cm (delays to turnout being wet ground conditions on one and exposure/lack of shelter on the other). There was then a bit of a battle to get swards back down to target – and i do wonder if the extra sward cover (mostly the dominant grasses – ryegrass and festulolium) didn’t slightly check the early season growth of the clovers and herbs – particularly in their 1st year when they were quite small plants.