Importance of Pasture Production in New Zealand

Venence Correia 1099302

Summary: Pasture production is important factor for New Zealand economy. Pasture growth and consumption is illustrated with the comparison between different regions like WestportManutuke, Dargaville- Winton; which ultimately give the comparison between N- Island and S- Island pasture production in different seasons. Rye grass/white clover is preferred to grow in warm summer moist environment at N- Island; at S- Island cold summer is suitable. At extreme temperatures (<5C and >30C) pasture growth ceased especially in winter and autumn pasture production is highly affected by temperature and light. Altitude and temperature are inversely proportional (about 2C/300 m) as for improved hill country in Central Otago resulted in 450 kg DM/ha/yr yield of pasture is reduction per 100 m increase in altitude. N application during regrowth of pasture is useful to maintain DM yield and protein but excess dosages are harmful. White clover is nutritionally better than ryegrass, and cows produce up to 30% more milk solids when clover is readily available. Different pasture types (grass + clover, mix, grass alone) are introduced to cows which gives some different results for milk production. The relative yield of dry matter (DM)/ha, milk solid (MS)/cow and MS/ha are observed for the proportion of clover offered (0: all grass to 100: all clover) to cow showing 60- 70% of clover can be consumed with grass after that diminishing returns are resulted.

1.0 Introduction: Ryegrass (Lolium perenne) Research reflects the importance of ryegrass to New Zealand pastoral farming. Also, white clover (Trifolium repens L.) is recognised as perhaps the most important forage legume in New Zealand pasture system (Brock & Caradus, 1989; Hunt & Easton, 1989). Ryegrass and white clover dominate most seed mixes. These species are complementary to each other in many attributes and growing them together in a mixture should be an effective way to use them (Cosgrove, n.d.). New Zealands intensive pastoral systems are mainly based on rotational grazing of ryegrass and white clover (Valentine & Kemp2007). Ryegrass is long lived perennial, hairless plant typically with flattened tillers bearing dark green leaves ribbed above and very shiny on lower surface. The flat seed 4-6 mm in length consists of a caryopsis surrounded by a lemma and palea. It has high content of soluble carbohydrate and fibre which are associated with improved palatability and intake by animals. White clover is the most important and widely grown hairless pasture legume with wide spread adventitious roots and dense cover of leaves. The 1000 seeds weight of white clover is

0.5 gm. White clover content high percent of protein and nitrogen which is important factor in milk yield (R.H.M. Langer, 1990, pp 48, 63). The New Zealand economy is dominated by the success or failure of its pastoral industries. Annual pasture production in intensive pastoral system ranges from 9 to 18 t DM / ha. Increases in pastoral production will come from intensification of land which is currently in pasture. Intensification is on-going with increasing areas under irrigation and the conversion of sheep and beef farms to dairy production. The major land used in New Zealand is by pastoral agriculture, with 52% of land i.e. approximately 14 million ha sown in pastures production (Valentine et.al, 2007). This review compares annual pasture productions on South Island & North Island dairy farms with potential pasture production where requirements for ryegrass and white clover growth are non-limiting. Secondly it will quantify the factors that affect pasture growth. Finally the nutritional properties and dominance of ryegrass and white clover pasture in New Zealand are described. On the other hand dry land pasture, cultivation and establishment are not reviewed.

2.0 Pasture production:

Nationally, mean annual pasture production from perennial ryegrass/white clover based pastures was reported as 10.0-12.0 t DM/ha/yr. And regionally, perennial ryegrass based pasture yields ranged from 5.2 to 17.2 t DM/ha/yr (Holmes & Roche 2007).

Figure 1: An illustration of the pasture growth and consumption, & key action, on an intensive pastoral dairy farm ( Pasture growth). (Holmes et. al. 2007)
Figure 1 illustrates the situation for a farm stocked at 4 cows/ha, pasture production of 16-18 tonne DM /ha/yr, also the calving is in July/August, and drying off in April. During spring some silage can be conserved from temporary surplus which can be fed during the temporary feed deficits in duration of autumn at the same time nitrogen is applied to pasture to grow adequate amount of pasture before stating of calving. -

Feed demand,

The herds feed demand and pasture growth is attempted to be synchronised and balanced. The three main determinants of pasture demand are stocking rate, calving and dry off dates and finally feed demand during regular and critical times of year.

Figure 2: Monthly mean daily growth rates (kg DM/ha/d) of perennial ryegrass/white clover based pastures at Dargaville (northern North Island) and Winton (south ern South Island) in NZ. (Derrick Moot Annamaria Mills, Dick Lucas and Warwick Scott, 2009 )

The figure 2 elaborates the annual yield in Dargaville (northern North Island) i.e. (17.23.6 t DM/ha/yr) which was 40% more than from Winton in the southern part of the South Island (12.02.3 t DM/ha/yr). The main cause of the difference was higher winter production in Dargaville also the spring production was almost 50- 60% higher than in Winton.

(a)
Langer, p. 199)

(b)

Figure 3: Pasture growth rate through the year at (a) West port (b) Manutuke (R.H.M.

The major reason of unsteadiness in pasture growth rate is change in climate so the pasture growth is varied month by month. Figure 3 illustrates the clear picture. Generally, maximum growth in pasture is observed in late spring up to mid-summer and comparatively less in winter. In Westport annual pasture yield nearly 10.3 t (SE 2 t) DM/ha/yr which is nearly 10% lesser than Manutuke i.e. nearly 12 t (SE 1) DM/ha/yr. It can be seen that during winter season pasture yield is decreasing at Westport.

2.1 Seasonal pattern of production:

There is contrast in pasture production for different seasonal production patterns. 2.1.1 Warm, summer moisture region (Warm Moist): Perennial ryegrass/white clover pastures combination is the preferred in warm, summer moist environments in New Zealand e.g. moist law land areas at North Island. These pastures can be easily established and are tolerant of a wide range of management practices. They can be set stocked in spring during calving and then rotationally grazed throughout the remainder of the year. Generally these pastures are spring or autumn sown into a firm and fine seedbed with 10-20 kg/ha of perennial ryegrass and 1-3 kg/ha of white clover seed (Derrick Moot et.al 2009).

2.1.2 Cool, summer moist regions (Cold Moist): The Southland district, in the south of the South Island, has the best examples of perennial ryegrass/white clover pastures in cool summer moist environments. Pasture insect pests

develop more slowly in this cooler environment and their populations seldom reach pest proportions. Nil endophyte ryegrass can thus be sown with relative safety. Timothy is well adapted to the climate and is more sociable with clovers than the more competitive ryegrass. White and red clovers are productive during summer months. (Derrick Moot et.al 2009)

3.0 Factors Affecting Pasture Production:

General studies of pasture growth show it is controlled by the aspect, water and nutrients (especially nitrogen, N), air temperature.

3.1 Climate:
Climate is an important factor to be considered for pasture production; these include Temperature, Moisture.

3.1.1 Temperature: Pasture growth is strongly temperature dependent. Also it impacts on plant growth since, ryegrass growth is maximised at 15-20C, with growth ceasing at the extremes (<5C and >30C). In northern areas of North Island temperature are sufficiently high in winter for grass growth to continue all year particularly ryegrass with a minimum temperature requirement of only 6-7C. On the other hand pasture in low altitude South Island hill country is dormant for 3-4 months in winter( Pasture: their eco. & management by R.H.M. Langer). So the statement made by Mitchell 1963 The potential pasture production going from Northland to Southland is strongly affected by differences in light and temperature in autumn and especially in winter is undoubtedly appropriate. For example, Gore is much colder than Keri Keri in winter (5 versus 11rC) and it receives 40% less light (Thom, n.d.). 3.1.2 Moisture: An inadequate supply of irrigation water in years with low rainfall and/or inefficient use of water can limit pasture production on dairy farms in Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury and North Otago. (Thom, n.d.) 3.2 Nitrogen: Severely N- deficient plants are yellow or light green, particularly in older leaves. Moderately deficient plants look healthy but have decreased growth rate where as leaf area increases which leads to cell elongation resulting in longer but thinner leaves when N fertiliser is applied (White & Hodgson, 1999 p.79).

The consequence of N fertilizer use is a reduction in clover content of pastures. Dairy pastures may receive up to 200 kg N/ha/yr applied in split applications of 25-50 kg N/ha. Intensively managed, high fertility pastures are expected to produce about 10 kg DM/kg N applied, while on less intensive pastures responses up to 30 kg DM/kg N applied have been reported. (Moot et.al, 2009)

Figure 4: Response of pasture dry matter production (kg DM / ha) (o), nitrogen yield of pasture (kg N/ha) ( ) and percent nitrogen in pasture (x) after application of 50 kg N/ha. (White and Hodgson, p.79) Figure 4 shows after N fertiliser application the pasture dry matter production gradually increased nearly 6 weeks of regrowth i.e. 3t DM/ha. Protein and nitrogen content which is increases in pasture then slowly decreases i.e. up to 6 weeks N yield is 55 kg N/ha and protein is less than 2% in the eight week of pasture regrowth. Plants respond quickly for N fertiliser as N is mobile in both soil and plants.

3.3 Topography: Because a large proportion of intensive pastoral production is conducted on hill country (slopes >16) in New Zealand the effects of altitude and aspect on pasture production have been quantified in several studies (Moot et.al, 2009).

3.3.1 Altitude Altitude & temperature are inversely connected to each other. As altitude increases (about 2C/300 m) Temperature decreases while rainfall may increase. For improved hill country in Central Otago, this resulted in a 450 kg DM/ha/yr yield of pasture reduction per 100 m increase in altitude. Because of low temperatures constraining production in winter months, the majority of production in pasture systems is limited to spring months before water stress develops and limits production in summer. At Poolburn (430 m) annual pasture production was 2.8 t DM/ha from a mean annual rainfall of 400 mm. The growing season (Sept-May) accumulates 1500Cd above a base temperature of 5C. At an adjacent irrigated site annual production was 8.7 t DM/ha. During the cold five- month winters growth is negligible. Farmers in the Poolburn district (South Island High country) therefore found it essential to conserved feed from any irrigated pastures (Moot et.al, 2009).

3.3.2 Aspect and slope:

Figure 5: Effect of aspect on seasonal pasture production. X- axis: Time (Months); Yaxis Pasture production (kg/DM/ha/day) (R.H.M. Langer, 1990, p.303) Differences in total annual production between sunny and shady slopes vary from site to site depending on whether temperature or soil moisture is the major constraint to production. At a high rainfall North Island site, reported yields on N facing slopes were 10% higher than from S facing slopes, also showed that slope accounted for 22% of the observed variation in pasture growth rates. Annually yield decreased by 10926 kg DM/ha/yr for every degree increase in slope. The remaining variability was attributed to differences in microclimate, soil fertility and pasture utilisation. In Canterbury hill country where summer soil moisture deficits are common. There is greater pasture growth on north slopes in winter and spring while in summer and autumn south slopes produce more and may remain dormant in winter.

4.0 Nutritional properties of Ryegrass and White Clover:

White clover has a higher nutritive value than ryegrass. Many studies clearly demonstrate that animals grow faster and produce more meat and milk when they eat diets containing a high proportion of legume. Often, 60-70% clover in the diet (the balance being grass) is sufficient to reach maximum production. Most of these studies show that cows freely choose

approximately 70-80% clover and 20-30% ryegrass which is the reason of great interest in white clover in recent years has been observed in Europe (Gerald Cosgrove, n.d.). One reason for this is that the grass/clover mixtures have a high nutritional value and allow quality milk and meat production from grassland. White clover, in comparison with grasses, contains more protein and macro and micro nutrients. It is also characterised by high digestibility and palatability where grass has fibre content (Litherland & Lambert 2007).

Table1: The comparison of chemical composition of white clover, grasses and grass/clover mixtures. Means from the years 1987- 1991 (P. Stypiski, n.d.)
Crude protein Pure Protein Crude fibre Ash DOM Energy %DM White clover Grasses Mixture 26.6 %DM 19.6 %DM 19.9 %DM 8.5 75.5 MJ/kg P K Ca Mg Na in % of DM

10.38 0.49 2.6 0.9 0.2 0.30

16.1 21.4

10.6 13.6

28.2 25.7

7.4 7.7

62.9 67.4

8.52 9.19

0.46 3.1 0.4 0.1 0.21 0.46 2.7 0.6 0.2 0.26

White clover contains highest amount of crude protein 26.6% and pure protein 19.6% where as grass has highest amount of crude fibre 28.2%. But chemical composition of mixture i.e. grass/clover shows results in between white clover and grass. The examinations confirmed that the grass/clover mixtures have better chemical composition, higher digestibility, energy concentration and higher nutritional value in comparison with pure grasses.

Table 2: The influence of white clover on crude protein and crude fibre content in companion grasses in grass/clover mixtures (P. Stypiski n.d.) Year Crude protein % of DM Grasses growing without clover 1990 1991 Mean (Annual) Grasses growing with clover 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 Mean (Annual) 13.8 13.3 14.3 13.9 18.4 16.8 16.9 16.9 16.6 8.8 9.3 9.3 9.3 12.1 8.7 10.4 11.0 10.5 1987 1988 1989 13.7 16.3 14.3 Pure protein % of DM 9.2 10.9 8.3

The chemical analysis also demonstrated the positive influence of white clover on its companion grasses. The grasses growing with clover contained on average 2.3% crude protein and 1.2% pure protein more than the same grasses growing without clover (Table 2).

5.0 WHY ITS DOMINANT:

Figure 6: Nitrogen yield of grass shoots in monoculture and in mixture with clover at three harvest dates (Cosgrove, n.d.)

white

Figure 6 shows that grass monoculture yields 3gm-2 shoot nitrogen which is the maximum where as with grass mix shoot nitrogen yield is 6 - 6.5. White clover fixes atmospheric N and supplies N to the grass. Ryegrass and clover have complementary patterns of seasonal growth with grasses being more productive during autumn, winter and spring, and clover is potentially (given adequate water) more productive during summer. They are also complementary in nutritional attributes. For example, clover has a high concentration of protein, which is rapidly degraded in the rumen. Grass by comparison has a higher concentration of fibre. Theoretically at least, a combination of the two species should match the nutritional requirements of the cow more closely than either species alone.

Perennial ryegrass pastures are one of the best lower maintenance pastures of the cool season grasses. Ryegrass is noted for quick germination, grows prolifically, and can be grazed heavily, fine texture and dense forming sod, high disease and insect resistance. Also they are highly digestible and a favourite of all animals. A valuable winter and spring grazing crop that can be overseeded onto additional forages or used alone lengthening the pasture season. A fast growing multi-use forage crop requiring minimal tillage and competitive enough to make a place for itself.

5.1 Benefits to milk production

Studies in progress in the Manawatu demonstrate that cows offered grass and clover growing separately, side-by-side and able to choose freely from both of them produce up to 30% more milk. Figure 7 shows that mixed pastures cannot achieve, let alone sustain, that high proportion of clover.

Figure 7: Milk yield of cows offered contrasting pasture types: continuous free choice of ryegrass and white clover growing separately, side-by-side (G+C), a mixed ryegrass-white clover pastures (Mix) or ryegrass only (Grass). (Cosgrove, n.d.)

Figure illustrate that milk yield obtained by G+C side by side is comparatively more i.e. 23 kg/cow/day; rather followed by mix type i.e. nearly 17 kg/cow/day and only grass which is 15.5 kg/cow/day.

The figure 8 gives the clear idea of relationship between the total dry matter production, the yield of milk solids per cow and the yield of milk solids per ha, for proportions of clover ranging from zero (all grass) to 100% (all clover).

Figure 8: The relative yields (grass=100) of dry matter (DM) per hectare, milksolids (MS) per cow and milk solids per hectare as the proportion of clover offered to cows increases from 0 (i.e. all grass) to 100% (i.e. all clover) ( Cosgrove, n.d.)

Figure 8 describes the relationship between the total dry matter production, the yield of milk solids per cow and the yield of milk solids per ha, for proportions of clover ranging from zero (all grass) to 100% (all clover). The milk yield per cow (dotted line in Figure 8) is determined primarily by the digestion and metabolism of nutrients and the physiology of milk production in the cow. It is difficult to influence. Cows produce extra milk in response to an increasing proportion of clover, up to approximately 60-70% beyond which there is diminishing return.

Annual Ryegrass & White clover pastures are used for stocker cattle, replacement heifers and lactating dairy cows. Its strong seedling vigour, high yield and high quality also make it valued for temporary pastures in the coastal Northwest (Cosgrove, n.d.).

6.0 Conclusion:
y

Calving and dry off dates, stocking rate, and feed demand throughout the year are the three main factors influencing pasture demand.

In winter season despite having same rainfall conditions in both South Island and North Island; South Island yields less pasture.

The potential pasture production is strongly affected by extreme temperatures (<5C and >30C).

y y

Excess dosage of N- fertilizer application declines protein and N yield in pasture. Temperature and altitude are inversely connected (about 2C/300 m) which leads to reduction in pasture yield by 450 kg DM/ha/yr at improved hill country in Central Otago.

Pasture yield on N- slope is greater in winter and spring; Whereas S- slope produces more in summer and autumn.

Grass/Clover mix pasture is better than pure grass in many nutritional attributes like protein, macro nutrients also higher digestibility and energy concentration.

References:
Brook, J.L., Caradus, J.R., Hay, M.J.M. (1989). Fifty years of white clover research in New Zealand. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 50: (25- 39). Cosgrove, G. (n.d.), Novel grazing management: making better use of white clover. Retrieved from www.side.org.nz/IM.../Novel%20grazing%20management%20options.pdf Holmes, C.W., and Roche, J.R., Pasture and supplement in dairy production system. Pasture and supplement for grazing animals, 14(13), 221-241. Hunt, W.F. Easton H.S. (1989). Fifty years of rye grass research in New Zealand. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 50: 1 (1- 23). Langer R.H.M. (Ed.). (1990). Pasture their ecology and management. Auckland, Newzealand. Litherland, A.J., and Lambert, M.G., Factors affecting pasture and supplement produced on farms. Pasture and supplement for grazing animals, 14(6), 81-96. Mitchell K J. (1963). Production potential of New Zealand pastures land. Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science, pp. 80-96. Moot, D., Mills, A., Lucas, D. and Scott, W. (2009). New Zealand Part-3. Retrieved from http://www.agresearch.co.nz/ Stypiski, P. (n.d.). The effect of white clover on chemical composition and nutritive value of companion grasses in grass/clover mixture. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/v2350e/v2350e00.htm#Contents Thom E. (n.d.). How much pasture can we really grow?, Dairy research corporation. Retrievedfrom http://side.org.nz/IM_Custom/ContentStore/Assets/5/66/8217dc8b9d89a1266cf316 e2d28eaecc/FFSDTHOM.doc Valentine, and Kemp, P.D., (2007). Pasture and supplement resources. Pasture and supplement for grazing animals, 14(1), 3-11. White J. and Hodgson J. (Ed.). (2009). New Zealand pasture and crop science. Melbourne, Australia.