Revive high quality pasture growth before winter

Fast, cost-effective and efficient, undersowing is a useful technique to extend the life of pastures that may be thinning out but are not yet ready for full renewal. It also offers a good opportunity to eliminate costly broadleaf weeds that will compromise the quality of your grazing next spring.

Appropriate weed control gives undersown pastures the best chance to grow to their potential in future weeks and months, and protects the time and money you invest in drilling new seed.

A key outcome with any pasture repair effort in autumn is to revive poor dry matter growth as soon as possible, so any damage or deterioration that has occurred over the past season does not go on to compromise your home-grown feed in the season ahead. Hybrid, Italian and perennial ryegrass seed can be used for undersowing, depending on your requirements.

Following up with 2,4-D amine herbicides such as Baton®800WSG or Sprinter®700DS tank mixed with Valdo®800WG can help control broadleaf weeds such as chickweed and stinking mayweed. If clovers are included in the undersowing seed mix, it is critical to allow the pasture to be fully grazed once before spraying to ensure clover safety. However, most undersowing is done with ryegrass seed only. In such cases, correctly timed weed control can enhance establishment by removing competition for young ryegrass plants. It also helps to prolong the pasture yield gains undersowing sets out to achieve in the first place.

Recommended rates are Baton®800WSG at 2kg/ha or Sprinter®700DSat 2.3L/ha in tank mix with Valdo®800WG at 65g/ha. Such applications will not be too tough on existing clover and offer broad spectrum control for the range of weed species likely to be present, including thistles and buttercups.

The best timing for herbicide application is after undersown grasses are grazed for the first time so that weeds are exposed and existing clover plants have less leaf area.

Do you have established pastures that don’t need undersowing, but still need a clean-up before winter? Thistles, pennyroyal, water pepper, willow weed, ragwort, buttercup and other weeds will germinate under existing pasture covers in autumn, and once paddocks are grazed, they will take off. This is a good time to kill them, because they’re small and susceptible to herbicides. Options include Baton®, Sprinter®, Valdo®, or Tribal®Gold.

For more tips on getting thin, poor performing pastures back up to speed this autumn, have a word with your local TSR or visit your Farm Source Store.

Baton®, Valdo®, Tribal®Gold and Sprinter®are registered trademarks of Nufarm Limited.

Article supplied by Nufarm.