Modern grass varieties and high quality mixtures have the potential to deliver superior yields and excellent feed values, but often grassland management and basic nutrition is overlooked, and new leys fail to deliver their full value.
By getting the fundamentals right from the outset and prioritising soil nutrition and pH throughout the year with a targeted approach, it’s possible to see significant returns from reseed investments.
First and foremost, before drilling a new ley, you need to understand the nutritional picture of the field, to ensure there’s the right balance of nutrients to allow the crop to get off to the best possible start.
Ideally the pH should be in the region of 5.0 to 5.5 for peaty soils, and 6.0 to 6.5 for mineral based soils. Lime applications should also be factored into a wider nutrient management plan. Depending on your soil pH, an application of calcium lime should be applied to address acidity.
"Treat your grassland like any arable crop"
Once established, maintenance of nutrition should remain a priority. I always advise farmers consider treating their grassland like any arable crop, with the inputs scrutinised.
Fantastic yields can only be achieved year-on-year if the basic soil nutrition delivers and meets the crop requirements. To understand what you’re working with, soil sampling should be common place on-farm to ensure pH, N, P and K levels aren’t hampering plant growth and development. The balance of these key nutrients is very important.
For example, Nitrogen (N) helps with plant growth, driving production and improving the quality of forage crops, while Phosphate (P) encourages root growth and development, and Potash (K) helps with protein production to maintain healthy plant cells. An ideal testing rotation to maintain the balance, is ensuring each field is sampled at least every four years.
The Wynnstay team of specialists can manage soil sampling on-farm for you, or they can analyse samples you take in store. We can then work with you to create a bespoke fertiliser plan, which fits in with your system and forage needs.
Another factor to be aware of is sulphur deficiency as symptoms can be confused with a lack of nitrogen, as generally you see paling of the young leaves, and crop stunting.
We’re seeing more commonly that grass grown for silage is particularly prone to sulphur deficiency, as the form of sulphur taken up by the crops, SO42-, is not retained in the soil because it’s soluble in water and is easily leached. Grass leaf analysis is the best way to monitor sulphur, and again we can do this analysis for you and build the results into your fertiliser plan.
Once you’ve made the commitment and invested in reseeding grassland, balancing the soil and crop nutrition throughout the season will ensure this basic component doesn’t hamper the sward’s ability to deliver on both the quantity and quality front.
