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XtraBlatt Issue 01-2018

  • Text
  • Machinery
  • Krone
  • Forage
  • Silage
  • Maize
  • Menschen
  • Farmers
  • Contractor
  • Agricultural
  • Dairy

MENSCHEN TITLE RUBRIK

MENSCHEN TITLE RUBRIK THEME Grassland management INTENSIVE GROOMING! 6

When farmers and contractors discuss best possible forage quality, the themes often concentrate on ideal cutting time, mower adjustments, length of wilting period or chop length with silage harvester or forage wagon. But what role here has grassland husbandry? We discuss this with Heinz-Günter Gerighausen. He lectures at the College of Agriculture in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, instructing future agricultural contractor managers and is one of the best-respected grassland experts in Germany. XtraBlatt: Heinz-Günter Gerighausen, does grassland get the respect it deserves in farming practice? Farmers pull out all the stops to get optimum yields through best possible crop husbandry. However, permanent pasture has “aye been with us” and is often still treated as second class crop. But if a good harvest is the aim, then this crop must be well treated too, says grassland expert Heinz-Günter Gerighausen. Gerighausen: The only answer to this direct question is “No”! Unfortunately, many farmers still do not realise the value that their grassland has. Out on the fields, they put a lot of effort into really optimising their crop management. But when it comes to grass, I get the impression this is nothing more than a “Cinderella” crop. In other words, “aye with us” and therefore hardly noticed. But we must realise that grass is really more than a boring presence in the forage ration. In fact, it is a central component with outstanding performance potential. However, this can only be fully exploited when one dedicates fullest attention to the crop and pulls out all stops to get the best from it. But what happens instead? Grassland unfortunately serves us as a dumping ground for slurry manure because the common belief is that pasture can be driven-on earlier than arable fields. This is fatal because, on grassland too, the damaging results of tracking have long lasting negative effects! This is why here on our Haus Riswick college farm we have consistently applied the umbilical slurry spreading system for four years now in order to help these scars recover – with the best of results! XtraBlatt: From your point of view, what does “pulling out all the stops” really mean? Gerighausen: This begins as early as precise evaluation of the respective areas, a procedure that, in my experience, occurs very seldom, if at all. I get this impression, for instance, from discussions with students here at Haus Riswick. Where a real evaluation takes place, it can be very rapidly determined that 50% of the crop, or sometimes even more, com- 7