new varieties to re-seed- grass and cereals

[Kiwi Pete]

intresting thing don't see alot of ryegrass growing on roadsides around here clovers more near road edge were topped and higher water due to run off
any areas fenced off from stock tends to revert to cocksfoot and acid loveing grasses with some clovers in more open areas
weeds and road sides can tell alot about what type of plants will live in the area fenced off areas will show what plants animals will eat
dogs tail etc etc are in both areas grazed and fenced off so shows it lasts but animals don't graze it

Soil biology doesn't really mind the taste of dogstail nor cocksfoot nor much anything else - that's what a topper is for in my opinion. It's all biomass..
Give the stock what they want out of it and mow the rest back in (believe me when I say that I didn't always think that way)

Depends a lot on how you look at what you have, some will only see grass as food for stock, others will say even weed grasses have a purpose in the grand scheme of life.

I'm in the middle, cover is cover when push comes to shove, but nutrition is what we aim to provide of course.

One thing I do see a lot of this summer on roadsides is vetch and lotus, cocksfoot and fescue.
Next year it will be different

 

[Treg]

Soil biology doesn't really mind the taste of dogstail nor cocksfoot nor much anything else - that's what a topper is for in my opinion. It's all biomass..
Give the stock what they want out of it and mow the rest back in (believe me when I say that I didn't always think that way)

Depends a lot on how you look at what you have, some will only see grass as food for stock, others will say even weed grasses have a purpose in the grand scheme of life.

I'm in the middle, cover is cover when push comes to shove, but nutrition is what we aim to provide of course.

One thing I do see a lot of this summer on roadsides is vetch and lotus, cocksfoot and fescue.
Next year it will be different

It's about finding the right balance between feeding your stock & the soil.
Every farm is different, soil type, climate &what the farm wants out of it.
Newman Turner wrote about trying all breeds of cow on a farm to see which fits it best , I think this applies to all aspects of farming.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It's about finding the right balance between feeding your stock & the soil.
Every farm is different, soil type, climate &what the farm wants out of it.
Newman Turner wrote about trying all breeds of cow on a farm to see which fits it best , I think this applies to all aspects of farming.

Too true.
Many farms are geared into the "utilisation paradigm" which is fine, if you put ALL my grass into the throat of a baler it would definitely be of lesser value than the same acreage of newer pasture.
Then you'd likely have to be feeding it back out a few months later most years and the stock still wouldn't appreciate it...
Hence my "different" view on it all, the soil is the best carbon storage system designed to date, easy on plastic and R&M

BUT it's no better than anyone else's system, just reliably profitable, which is what we want from the land we've got.

My old man would just about have bought the N. Turner boxed set and tee shirt there was very little in the way of artificialdom in his day.

Strange how almost a century later we find they had the answers right there, with modern breeding and cultivars, agriculture is in a prime place to be successful.

 

[Treg]

Strange how almost a century later we find they had the answers right there, with modern breeding and cultivars, agriculture is in a prime place to be successful.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes you have to make a few mistakes to find out you was doing it right in the first place

 

[Treg]

BUT it's no better than anyone else's system, just reliably profitable, which is what we want from the land we've got.

Spot on Kp , I love being Organic & think it's the best I can do with this farm for now & future generations, I try not to preach it to other farmers, just hopefully give them new ideas but it works vice versa. I want to improve all the time so have to look at / compare to conventional farmers & try find ways of doing things Organically & then read Newman Turner book to remember what I'm trying to achieve!

 

[JD-Kid]

Strange how almost a century later we find they had the answers right there, with modern breeding and cultivars, agriculture is in a prime place to be successful.

my view is the wheel of agri is a coil spring we go round and round same ideas but on a higher level will not be long and the plow will be king again and we will all be singing ryegrass is the queen then the systems will change again once we get there it will be the same but more advanced

 

[Kevtherev]

Yes the wheel of Agriculture is round and keeps turning.

 

[JD-Kid]

Yes the wheel of Agriculture is round and keeps turning.

yes but i think higher level as newer ideas geans etc etc come in to play
they may be what fixes why the idea failed the last time around
li

 

[Kevtherev]

yes but i think higher level as newer ideas geans etc etc come in to play
they may be what fixes why the idea failed the last time around
li

Yes you are right the advances made in plant breeding and livestock have come a long way.
Better disease resistance and knowledge plus more tools in the box.

 

[JD-Kid]

Yes you are right the advances made in plant breeding and livestock have come a long way.
Better disease resistance and knowledge plus more tools in the box.

yea there have been a lot of gains in areas were plants failed in the past from disease or feed values