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The Irish Grassland Association held a reseeding demonstration on Donald Bateman’s farm in Ballylooby, Co Tipperary, on 17 May.
The event was covered in the Irish Farmers Journal on 20 May.
At the time of the demonstration, the reseeds were four weeks old, and it is fair to say they looked pretty miserable as there was no rain worth talking about since sowing.
Three sowing techniques were used.
These were the one-pass (power harrow and seed drill combination), Einboch tine harrow and Moore Unidrill. The Irish Farmers Journal revisited the demonstration site last weekend to see how progress has been since the open day.
Einboch sowing on the left and Moore Unidrill sowing on the right.
One-pass sowing on the left and Einboch sowing on the right.
It is now almost eight weeks since the open day and 12 weeks since sowing. Donald has grazed the reseeds three times with milking cows and there is a cover of about 500kg/ha back on the sward again.
Looking across the field, it is fair to say that there is no discernible difference in cover or tiller numbers between the three sowing methods. It is only upon closer examination that you can pick out the sowing methods.
Blockage
The most obvious thing to notice is the long strips going through the plot sown with the Einboch. One of the air pipes was blocked at the time of sowing, but unfortunately, this was only noticed when the seeds were well up.
The comment from most people who attended the demonstration was how weak the seedlings sown by the Einboch were looking.
The weather really didn’t suit this method. Looking back, perhaps the plot would have looked greener if there were no misses.
The section of the field that was sown with the Moore Unidrill.
Donald has since scattered grass seeds on the strips with the quad spinner but take has been poor. It looks like these strips will have to be sown again. In between the strips, the grass seeds sown by the Einboch have got an excellent take. Unlike the other methods, there are no lines visible and the sward has tillered well.
Considering some farmers at the open day were saying that the Einboch section should be re-sown, this really is a big turnaround.
The one-pass and Moore Unidrill plots are also good, but as mentioned there are still lines visible as the seeds are sown in rows by these machines. It will probably take a few more months of tight grazing before the lines are fully filled in.
Donald sprayed the field on 27 May with Pastor Pro.
While the spray did kill a lot of the weeds that were present, there are still a good few docks in the new sward. Perhaps some of these only emerged after spraying but either way, Donald is going to spray the field again as he feels now is the best time to manage docks, before the tap root develops.
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