While farmers find themselves hungry for land, a soil analysis could prove that the land is in fact hungry. This is the key to unlocking productivity and ultimately profit, the North Ayrshire Monitor Farm meeting heard on Thursday 6 July.

Self-confessed grazing geek Michael Blanche explained to the group that there is a direct correlation between profit and the amount of pasture eaten.

“A tonne of carcase per hectare is your challenge. It’s good to be ambitious,” the Nuffield scholar said. He encouraged farmers to measure grass and set up rotational grazing systems in order to get more from the land.

“You don’t have to divide a field up into little bits. To start with, just split it in half. You can show full commitment and set up eight paddocks when you see how it works.”

The group that visited Girtridge farm were given QMS Sward Measuring sticks to get them started on their grass measuring journey.

Soil

It is really important literally to start from the ground up. Grass will not flourish unless the soil structure is right first.

“If you are building anything up, start at the bottom. Soil first, not stock. It’s foundations we are trying to build here,” Blanche said. “The inefficiency of fertiliser when the soil has a low pH is the challenge; it wastes a significant amount of money. If your pH is at 5.1, then 50% of the nitrogen you are putting on is going down the drain.”

The same can be said for phosphorous and potassium. Blanche uses AgriNet software to tot up the grass growth over the season and found it quite shocking that there was such a difference between paddocks.

Reseeding

Having young grass through regular reseeding is also necessary. Over-sowing on a permanent sward can be difficult; spraying off and direct drilling can be a much cheaper method.

“I do chemical topping by spraying it off with 250ml of roundup per hectare,” Blanche said. “I found it really hard to convince the contractor to do that because he was convinced that it would kill the grass and I’d sue him.”

Rotation

Whether you divide your fields into eight or just split them in half, managing the rotation length is important.

“At different times of the year it grows at different rates. Ideally you would rest your paddock for 100 days. It’s all about the green leaf – 95% of grass growth needs sun. The quality of the pasture is really important. The volume the animal needs to eat to put on one kilo of live weight varies greatly from one field to the next. The trick to utilising a lot of grass is in the shoulders of the season. A 24-hour poaching isn’t a bad thing.”

Visit to New Zealand

Having come from owning no land to farming 500 acres, Blanche’s story is impressive. He puts his success down to grass management.

“Doing what others do doesn’t work when you’ve no money or asset to take over. Grass enabled me to do what I do. It’s more than just a few leaves in the field.”

The Blanche family moved to the country when Michael was just three years old. He set his sights on farming from that day forward.

“I was always told I couldn’t do it. I tried six times to get a tenancy.”

Despite hearing about the power of grass for a whole three weeks on his Nuffield study tour in New Zealand, it kept going in one ear and out the other. It was only on the last day of the trip when he had that eureka moment.

“I went into this room where this man was speaking about ryegrass. He mentioned two things: twice the production and half the cost. For a first-generation farmer trying to make it with no money, that’s when it clicked.”

Now he has 920 ewes, 180 hogs and 70 cows on 500 acres, split between hill and low ground. He lambs in the first week of April and feeds the sheep silage for six weeks but no concentrates.

“I spend no money apart from fences. Grazed grass grows grass,” he said. “Just 50% of grass grown in a set stocked system will hit the rumen, no more. Bit by bit every day you learn more about the grass once you start to take an interest.”

“We should have a royal society for the protection of grass in this country,” he joked.

Farmers’ opinions

“The meeting has certainly been useful,” sheep farmer Tom Scott told the Farmers Journal. It was the part-time farmer’s first time at a monitor farm meeting. “I haven’t tried measuring at home as it is so wet. But two years ago we spread lime and the benefits have just started to show. It’s the cheapest form of fertiliser there is.”

“Grass management is very interesting,” John Patterson Junior said. “I’ve started doing paddocks at home now and am involved in the discussion group management committee.”