Reinvasion by kikuyu grass after regrassing on a dairy farm

Abstract

On a farm at Ruakaka, south of Whangarei, an intensive regrassing programme was begun in 2000 to remove kikuyu grass using glyphosate herbicide, replacing it with ryegrass. The programme reached a peak in 2003 and 2004 when up to 25% of the paddocks were in various stages of regrassing. The standard process was to spray kikuyu pastures with glyphosate in autumn, drill annual ryegrass, crop with turnips in summer and sow a permanent pasture mix in autumn - a three-spray programme. Keywords: kikuyu reinvasion, regrassing, ryegrass, glyphosate herbicide, kikuyu seed