It has been a rainy year, with the average annual rainfall achieved by August.
We are still battling the elements, with the annual average rainfall already achieved by early August.
By my measurements, we are currently 35 per cent up on annual rainfall and we still have three months of the year to go.
No doubt there are a few paddocks on your farm that are in need of repair. This is especially so on the heavier soil types.
Here are a few options to consider to get these paddocks back into shape.
Rolling
When the soil conditions allow, some paddocks will only need a roll. A Cambridge roller (with a few concrete posts added on) or a heavier roller like a Taupo tire roller will do what is needed.
This is best done before silage paddocks are closed up or you will get dirt mixed into the silage, making some poorer quality silage.
Under sowing
Under sowing paddocks that are open or currently full of winter weeds like poa annua can ensure these paddocks recover for a productive late spring and summer. Many of the paddocks I am seeing at present can look okay, but on closer inspection a quarter of the plants in there are actually poa or other weeds which will start to die out soon. In two months' time this opens up space for the summer weeds to take over, like yellow bristle grass (YBG).
The action of the drill coulters will help smooth the paddocks out, but you will have fewer seeds germinate if you have not rolled first. Assess the paddocks on a score of 1-5. 1 is really open, and 5 is excellent density with no weeds. That will help you prioritise where to drill and where to stop.
If you plan to crop these paddocks in the next year, just sow an Italian ryegrass at about 10-12kgs/ha. If the paddock will be cropped in two or three years, use a Hybrid like Shogun at 15 kgs/ha.
Or, if the paddock won't be cropped at all, use a perennial ryegrass at 10kgs/ha. Usually no clovers will be needed in the seed.
Cropping
Summer crops planted from October through November have the effect of pushing feed from a time of surplus to a time of deficit, while also repairing the damage.
There are lots of crop options, but the main ones in the Waikato to consider are maize, chicory, turnips and winter crops. Fodder beet needs to be well planned and pH level >6.0, so best to plan that option further out than as a paddock repair remedy.
Maize looks like it will be around 25c/kg of DM standing to buy this year.
Growing your own crop can be done for 12 cents standing (full fertiliser programme), plus 7 cents for harvesting, and 5 cents for loss of grazing's from a poorer performing paddock. So all up, the cost will be 24 cents per kg of DM to grow your own compared with buying in at 33 cents landed on farm. Choose shorter maturity hybrids on wetter soils.
Chicory is a good, easy-to-manage option with good grazing flexibility for a quick six-month crop to repair damaged paddocks. On heavier silts and clays cultivation can work well, and will aid in smoothing out the surface.
On ash soils it is safer to not cultivate (destroys soil structure too much), and just direct drill. Chicory is useful for allowing selective grass sprays to reduce summer weeds like YBG. Chicory is good in that it does not have to be strip grazed each day by the herd, but simply grazed when it is the next longest paddock.
This means that location over the farm can get chicory, and does not have to be close to the cowshed for daily feeding.
Turnips can provide certainty of a bulk high quality feed for mid-January to March. If you have paddocks close to the cowshed and want certainty of feed for that time of year, then turnips can work well. I have observed that mixed-aged cows do better on turnips than the two and three year olds, so consider how the mobs might be split and managed.
Winter brassicas like Swedes and Kale need to be planted by early to mid-November, and need to be planned into your farm system.
If you are repairing a damaged paddock, then it is safer to cultivate the paddocks to create a fine and firm seed bed for accurate depth control and weed control.
Direct drilling can work, but you need a smooth paddock to start with.
So have a think about what crop might work for you to repair your winter damaged paddocks and get some advice on options that suit your farm and system the best.