42 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 380 



lem of weather can be largely solved. This management program may call for a 

 large semi-permanent pasture acreage which would supply most of the normal 

 grazing requirements. Any excess could be used for the production of hay or 

 grass silage. It might involve the normal cutting of the first crop for hay or silage 

 with grazing of the regrowth or aftermath during midsummer. This practice 

 appears now to be particularly promising. During protracted dry summer 

 periods the hay or silage previously harvested can be used as supplementary 

 feed and thereby lighten the grazing load of the suffering pastures. All these 

 suggestions, of course, imply carefully controlled grazing, since controlled grazing 

 is necessary in achieving maximum performance from a good pasture. 



To most effectively reduce the fluctuation in pasture yields due to weather, 

 one must fertilize his soil adequately, select and manage his pasture plants judi- 

 ciously, and plan farming operations carefulh'. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



In the foregoing treatment of pastures an attempt has been made first to 

 review the historical background of pastures in Massachusetts and second to 

 analyze the principal agronomic factors involved in their present day culture and 

 management. In actual practice of course, other factors, principally economic, 

 must be taken into consideration, but many of these vary in importance from time 

 to time and so are difficult to discuss or evaluate. Taking into account the soil, 

 the plant, and the weather, the following conclusions seem justified concerning 

 the production of pasture forage in Massachusetts. 



Permanent Pastures 



It seems likely that permanent pastures will never again occup>- the position 

 of prominence they once held. The limited reserve of soil fertility which carried 

 them through many productive years of existence has long since been exhausted. 

 If these "run-out" pasture soils could be restored to their original state of fertility 

 by the superficial use cf fertilizers, this condition would not be so serious; but 

 such is not the case. The gradual depletion of these old sods meant not only the 

 loss of mineral nutrient elements alone; it meant the destruction of the virgin 

 accumulation of organic matter and a degradation of the soil's physical condition. 

 Surface-applied fertilizers are fairly effective in correcting soil mineral deficiencies, 

 but they accomplish little toward improving the physical condition of the soil. 

 In many permanent pastures the slopes are either so steep or rocky or already 

 so encumbered by brush growth that it is practically impossible to make fertilizer 

 treatments. Permanent pastures also present a difficult problem with respect 

 to organic matter because, while a sod may build up organic matter in the soil, 

 this material is not effectively utilized unless it is turned under and allowed to 

 decay. As a final consideration it must be pointed out that pasture standards 

 have probably risen in recent years. A permanent pasture which may have been 

 wholly satisfactory for beef cattle or sheep one hundred years ago is quite in- 

 adequate for the average dairy herd of today. 



What place, therefore, will the permanent pasture have in present-day pasture 

 systems? This question cannot be answered definitely because conditions will 

 vary from farm to farm, but certain generalizations can be made. In pastures 

 where the soil is retentive of moisture and where moderate regular applications 

 of fertilizers will maintain a good bluegrass-white clover sod, much good economi- 

 cal grazing ma\' be had during the spring and fall months and, depending on the 



