OVERSOWN GRASSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT ON SOUTHLAND HILL COUNTRY

Abstract

Infertile hill country grasslands are a vastly under-utilised pastoral resource in New Zealand. Three years of trial results on this class of land in eastern Southland are summarised. Five grasses (Grasslands Nui ryegrass, Wana cocksfoot, Matua prairie grass, Roa tall fescue and Maru phalaris) were oversown together with Huia white clover and subterranean clover. These were compared with a resident pasture, all under two fertility levels and two rotational grazing managements, and with unimproved pasture. The use of fertiliser and rotational grazing doubled the productivity of the unimproved rangeland to ca. 10,500 kg DMlhalyear. The addition of white clover increased yield to 12,000 kg, and improved grasses increased this further to 14,000 kg. Keywords: agronomy, fertiliser, grasses, grazing management, hill country, oversowing, pasture composition, pasture yield.