The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Sow far, so good for grass scheme
A project to improve grass production has delivered strong results in its first year for Scottish participants.
Grasscheck GB has been running since 1999 and aims to deliver grassland management efficiency – a key driver of profitability on beef, sheep and dairy farms across the UK, with each additional one tonne DM utilised per hectare worth £334 and £204 per annum to dairy and beef farms respectively.
The project has also seen a reduction in fertiliser use.
Pilot farmers are required to measure grass each week throughout the growing season, with regular grass samples taken for quality analysis.
Each farmer has an electronic plate meter to measure grass yield on their farm and an automatic weather station to record key meteorological data such as temperature, rainfall and sunlight levels.
The recent end of year report has highlighted Scottish on-farm grassland production averaged 11.298 t DM/ha.
Through rotational grazing and measuring grass weekly, Scottish farms managed to utilise more than 80% of the grass grown.
One of the pilot farmers, John Ritchie of Montalt near Perth, said he has seen the benefits of being part of the project.
He said: “The output at Montalt farm has increased from 380kg to 540kg of live weight sold per hectare over the last five years because we’ve learned how to utilise our grass better by rotating stock and measuring.
“As a business, we are now looking to grow an average of 9,000kg of dry matter per hectare on our improved ground.”
Mr Ritchie added that paddock grazing has also helped him reduce fertiliser use significantly.
“In 2019, we didn’t use any fertiliser on our grazing fields and hope this will continue due to better understanding of grass management,” he said.
“Only 75 units of nitrogen has been used on the ground set aside for silage and we are looking to reduce this further in the future.”
Pilot farms participate in Grasscheck GB for between three and five years and provide a range of data to the project, including milk production and animal performance.