Pasture grass -seed

 I was on about discarding olde tomes: one in particular Freams Elements of Agriculture (1918) which gives an inviting view of the state of the art of modern Ag 100 years ago. hint: the are no fuck-off big tractors status symbols / icons of conspicuous consumption, diesel division. Carbon hoof-print of a pair of clydesdale plough-horses is much less than our Yaris run-about. Gotta add, though, that when a tractor is not working it is inert, while horses need calories 24/7/52 whether they are working or not.

A bonus in this copy of Fream's Elt Agri is hand-written notes by the owner in the 1930s.

"Hold heads horizontally and dose slowly", indeed. For this purpose, rain water is fit for purpose, and a mix of copper and nicotine is supposed to be an effective anthelminthic.

Student of Fream 1930s also records a suitable mix for re-seeding to permanent pasture.

Then as now, Lolium perenne is recognised and the queen of pasture grass, but an ecosystem of other species is thrown into the mix

• Perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne 14lb
• Italian ryegrass Lolium multiflorum 6lb
• Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata 4lb
• Meadow fescue  Lolium [was Festuca] pratensis 4lb
• Crested dogtail Cynosurus cristatus 2lb
• English cowgrass Trifolium pratensis1lb
• Late red clover Trifolium pratensis 1lb
• Trefoil Trifolium ? prolly repens1lb
• Wild white clover Trifolium repens ½lb

Curiously the ratio lb/kg = 0.45 is close enough to the ratio acre/hectare = 0.40. 

As part of the current government funded Agri-Environment Scheme, Teagaschas been herding  Knowledge Transfer Groups KTG across the country. Farmers I know [!not all farmers!] are a) conservative, b) work 24/7 at least for some weeks during the farming year c) get very little money for their efforts. KTG would never reach a quorum without some sort of douc€ur to pay for the time and diesel. So the hierarchy of outcomes for a typical meeting are a) got to hang-out with peers and discuss mart-prices > b) got a chunk of ready money >>> c) learnt something new.

We hosted KTG two years ago to show off our traditional haymeadow. The participants spent the whole time in the nearest corner of the meadow chatting - quite possibly slaggin' us off for hosting a lot of "dirt" the tech.term for anything not perennial ryegrass. We were too busy showing the Teagasc-peeps the orchids and bedstraws to ear-wig on the neighbours. For sure the high point of the visit was the home-made brack;  a slab of flapjacks and an enormous kettle of builder's tea which I laid on in the yard after the visit to the meadow.

Last Thursday we went on an outing with the KTG to the extreme other side of our [tiny] county. The agenda was a) weaned grass-fed calves b) a newly re-seeded pasture c) a new slatted shed d) something something climate change. We went for the climate change but that never happened. After an introduction to mistakes made when designing slatted sheds, we strode out across the pasture towards the fenced of section that was home to ~50 calves. One of our neighbours could be heard criticizing the pasture for being right bocketty: we could feel the clods and divots under our boots. "A nightmare to cut" concluded Neighbour. The calves were curious and not too frisky. "Not like my basstids" commented one of the visitors. It was clear that our host had had a terrible year: the extended drought nearly killed is nursery pasture, the calves had picked up lung-worm from somewhere and some were still coughing, That's what it's like farming: shit happens and you just have to suck it up and/or go bust.

But there was some interesting talk about Best seed mix for (as in that location) heavy soil. The choices seemed to be a smidge of clover Trifolium repens and a selection of varieties of ryegrass Lolium perenne! No other grasses need apply. There is a list of available L.perenne varieties as long as your arm but all the native species sold and used in the 1930s - they're all gone with haywains and scythes. Here's one widely available mix: Aberchoice? Meiduno? they're all ryegrass!

Tirlán Permanent Pasture Formulation:

• 3.0 Kgs Aberchoice
• 3.0 Kgs Meiduno (T)
• 2.0 Kgs Glenfield (T)
• 2.9 Kgs Astonking
• 0.6 Kgs Med Leaf white Clover

The icing on the cake of day [note: there was no cake, not even a rich tea biscuit, and no tea: like I said it had been a bleak year] was a view of our hill ⬇ as others see it from afar. Yes, yes, I agree it's hard to tell where the hill ends and the clouds begin - but that's our Satori.