AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH L\ NEW HAMPSHIRE 43 



The Production of Full Roughage Requirements on 

 Dairy Farms (with Special Reference to Pastures) 



This experiment was outlined in 1942 as a continuation of, and sup- 

 plement to, a pasture top-dressing experiment which for many years had 

 engaged our attention. The new project embraces in its scope the forage 

 needs for the whole farm, but deals in some of its phases with the use of 

 larger grasses and legumes for permanent pasture. It involves plowing, 

 working the land with a bush and bog harrow, reseeding at various rates 

 and with various kinds of fertihzers in different amounts, and other phases 

 of the pasture program. 



One of the chief objectives is to determine how much more produc- 

 tive are the hay grasses such as timothy, orchard, smooth brome, peren- 

 nial rye. Reed canary grass, and tall fescue than are the properly treated 

 permanent pastures during the hot summer period. It is conceded that 

 even with optimum fertilizers the permanent pastures of New Hampshire 

 are not adequate to keep high-producing cows in flush milk production 

 during July and August. The objective here is to determine whether one 

 or more of these perennial grasses, carefully seeded and managed in asso- 

 ciation with Ladino clover, will meet this midsummer pasture shortage. 

 This slump is now being supplemented in a variety of ways: by produ- 

 cing and carrying green feed, by pasturing annual crops such as oats or 

 millet, by feeding summer silage, or by heavy barn feeding. 



Tests are supervised on 15 farms, at least one in each of the 10 coun- 

 ties. It is proposed to supplement the more technical observations with 

 those of the respective farmer cooperators. In some instances, a whole 

 field is seeded to a single mixture, whereas in others the field is divided 

 into large plots of about one acre to provide for variable seedings. These 

 areas are all being pastured during the 1943 season. Many tests are caged 

 in order to determine variations in vield due to seeding^ mixtures and fer- 

 tilizer applications. 



When feasible, some seed beds are plowed and others are prepared by 

 the bush and bog harrow in order to contrast these two methods of 

 preparation. Farmers report that the bush and bog harrow when operated 

 with a tractor reduces the necessary time for seed bed preparation about 

 one-third. Furthermore, this method had a distinct advantage on rough 

 or rocky land. 



Inasmuch as this experiment was not introduced until the summer of 

 1942, definite conclusions are somewhat premature. However, a few ob- 

 servations are perceptible from the seedings made in the spring of 1943. 

 Tall fescue is proving to be coarse, hard, and apparently unpalatable, 

 whereas orchard grass is reported by farmers as being very palatable, but 

 tends to crowd out Ladino clover when used at the rate of more than four 

 pounds per acre. Italian rye grass tends to form a dense sod and to crowd 

 out everything except orchard grass. Perennial rye grass establishes itself 

 quickly and crow ds out Ladino clover, and is not as palatable as timothy 

 orchard grass. 



The department of Agricultural and Biological Chemistry is cooper- 

 ating on this project by determining the nitrate levels in the respective 

 soils. 



F. S. Prince, P. T. Blood, M. F. Abell, T. G. Phillips, K. S. Morrow 



