“ While irrigation is a solution for those that have it, numerous other tools can be used to enhance summer milk production“
- Murray Lane, Ballance Agri-Nutrients Forage Specialist
Strategic nitrogen (N)
"DairyNZ's More Summer Milk programme in the 1990s showed that applying 30-40 kilogram N/ha to pasture in December promoted new tiller development in ryegrass, leading to more leafy January pastures and more summer milk production."
Plants with more tillers are also more robust to weather summer droughts and associated insect pressures, he says.
"Strategic application of N has proven over the last 20 to 30 years to be a useful tool to lift January pasture and milk production. SustaiN is a helpful product for this purpose, due to reduced N losses from volatilisation."
Summer forage crops
In parallel with N on pasture, summer forage crops are part of the solution.
"Turnips, for example, provide a block of 12-15 tonnes high ME dry matter/ha, with a good balance of protein and carbohydrate to provide 30% of the herd's daily diet from January to early March."
Turnips also offer other benefits, explains Murray.
"A late October sown turnip crop lifts grazing pressure on the rest of the farm in November and December, enabling pasture feed quality to be maintained through this period. Feeding turnips from January to March also alleviates overgrazing of high-value novel endophyte ryegrass. A turnip crop is also a great way of preparing the paddock prior to sowing new perennial pastures in autumn," he says.
Multi-graze crops can also fit in over summer.
"The multi-grazed kale/radish hybrid Pallaton Raphno fits well into this period. Rape is also generally ready to graze to fill the late February/March period. And let's not forget chicory, sown in October and rotationally grazed from late December on."
Planning forage crops
"While strategic N is relatively easy and can be done across large areas of pasture in a timely manner with little fuss, growing a forage crop requires a little more planning," Murray says. "Ideally, forage crops are grown using no-tillage techniques. After 40 years it's a proven technology; in Argentina, most of the 30 million ha of crops are grown without cultivating the soil."
No-tillage leaves the soil structure intact, water infiltration unaffected, worms are left to do their job, and the fertile topsoil is not buried and mixed with low-fertility subsoil.
Murray says the key elements of growing no-till crops are simple and include a good spray out to control existing pasture species and springtails (a seedling pest); apply slug bait, ideally at 80-100 granules per square metre. Slugs wander aimlessly with a poor sense of smell and vision seeking something to eat, so the more bait the better. Finally, drill seed with a starter fertiliser for brassicas; Murray recommends 150kg/ha Cropzeal Boron Boost, which provides the small amount of boron needed in every granule. For other crops, he recommends DAP.
Starter fertiliser is important when soil is not cultivated, as soil mineralisation does not occur to release nutrients, primarily phosphate, into the soil solution for the seedling roots to get a good start, he says.
"I would argue that starter fertiliser should be used when drilling in cultivated soil as well due to the risk of putting the seed into low fertility subsoil cultivated to the surface."
After the seed is drilled, crop management is the same whether cultivated or no-tilled.
"However, don't neglect to apply SustaiN as an N side-dressing to the crop three to five weeks after sowing."
For more information contact your Ballance Nutrients Specialist, talk to your local TSR or visit your Farm Source store.
Article supplied by Ballance Agri-Nutrients.