sour paddock

case 956

hi all have a paddock that got tested and is fine for p and k and lime but cows still wont eat grass, got slurry in oct last any suggestions what I can do

funny man

have you tasted it case? why do you say it's sour would it be fair to say there is a heavy cover on it with perhaps some dead material. this weather leaves utilisation of these covers harder.

case 956

no not great heavy cover, they never liked it and yes got it tested and it was perfect and reseeded 2 yr ago in may

Brown Podzol

case 956 wrote: »

no not great heavy cover, they never liked it and yes got it tested and it was perfect and reseeded 2 yr ago in may

Sodium or salt is supposed to sweeten the grass.

49801

Brown Podzol wrote: »

Sodium or salt is supposed to sweeten the grass.

Supposed to be a good job alright. Never used it though

jt65

49801 wrote: »

Supposed to be a good job alright. Never used it though

we use gouldings sweet grass on some rough paddocks, contains sodium & magnesium

seems to help & think it helps milk yield

blue5000

Ya was going to say try salt on half of it and see does it make any difference. A 25kg bag is only about 4 or 5 yoyo.

sandydan

why not try granulated slag, if near coast would go easy on salt , it could tie up p&k and make straight N less effective

Harrier1980

Do you know what mixture or variety it is seeded with?

joejobrien

Had that proplem before and is a right pain in the behind. Looked at all minerals, p and k and n, ph both in soils and herbage. Cows would drop in milk when they go into it. Had a good few people looking at it and NO ONE came up with an answer. The only thing was one variety was not very sweet can t remember the name but was about the only issue that the "smart" boys could come up with. Advised to use sweetgrass, sodium, holywater!!etc etc but a complete was of money it remained sour.
However 2013 july onwards it seem to get better and cows were much more content in grazing this pasture. Fingers crossed for 2014. I know you want a solution but perhaps time is what it might need. It took 3 yrs for our paddocks.
The scary thing is if one does reseeding now, is this what the outcome could be?????

just do it

Joe
Did plough when reseeded? Wondering didyou turn up something in the soil?

mikeoh

Let a few sheep skin it asap

joejobrien

just do it wrote: »

Joe
Did plough when reseeded? Wondering didyou turn up something in the soil?

No , didnt plough , just power harrowed

sandydan

would getting a grass sample tested as distinct from soil sample help? they can tell if any particular trace elements are higher than recommended, which could cause problems both for palatibility and even other issues. had same problem. field ok for lime so didn't apply any when reseeding and sprayed & disc harrowed and reseeded, was told afterwards rotting grass turns soil surface acidic and some lime should have been applied,so got bullocks to graze it tightly.I applied slag at rate of 150 kg/acre, still took some time.
sheep as mikeoh suggested now and in between cows grazing or horses would help (i didn't have either).one light fert application and take silage-bales during year might help.keeping grass grazed tightly and short is definitely a help.one long interval can lead to tougher outer layer of skin on grass that grows higher with growth during season .
would only apply well diluted slurry if any for a while ,or pig slurry.all you can do is apply a mixture of remedies to different parts of field and check for improvement if any.sorry cant come with any better solution,best of luck.

gozunda

What's the pH of the soil?

This can have a big impact on the palability of grazing..