Agronomy

I’ll be running my horses on my property later on in the year so I thought it would be a good idea to know what pasture I’ve got, whether it’s any good and if I can run more than just my two horses as I would like to be able to agist another two.
Having 74 acres I thought that four horses could well be viable but according to Artie, a very well-respected agronomist, that ain’t gonna happen. Well, it can if I am happy to supplement feed them.
“Two is fine, three is pushing it”. Well, time for a Plan B.
We drove around the property while he identified the pastures that I didn’t know and the pastures I did. With that came the learning of new pastures I hadn’t heard of or knew very little about. On a piece of scrap paper I wrote down every pasture and stylo and other fodder of significance identified. Against them all I wrote a number with 1 being good, 1.5 okay, 2 crap and 3 needs-to-go.

Species	Value/ Desirability	Purpose	What Eats It
Annual Sorghum	2	Pasture	Cattle
Perennial Sorghum	1	Pasture	Horses, cattle
Cockatoo Grass	1	Pasture	Horses, cattle
Ribbon Grass	1.5	Pasture	Cattle
Blunt Spear Grass	1.5	Pasture	Cattle
Northern Cane Grass	3	Weed Grass	Nothing
Spiny Mud Grass	1	Pasture	Horses, cattle
Cynodydon racuatus	1.5	Pasture	Horses, cattle
Three Horn Spear Grass	3	Weed Grass	Nothing
Kangaroo Grass	1	Pasture	Cattle
Sedge	3	Weed Grass	Cattle
Buffalo Clover	1.5	Nitrogen Improver	Cattle
Seca	1.5	Feed/Nitrogen Improver	Cattle
Verano	1	Feed/Nitrogen Improver	Horses, cattle
Glen Joint Vetch	1	Feed/Nitrogen Improver	Horses, cattle

 

The overall outcome was that I seriously lacked perennials (seca, verano and perennial sorghum, cockatoo grass, kangaroo grass and spiny mud grass was the best I had). The rest were annuals or unwanted grasses. Artie suggested I fix this with Strickland Grass if I could keep the wallabies off it. I can’t see me being successful at that. I asked about whether I could fertilise my perennials but sadly native pastures don’t respond to fertiliser like introduced pasture species do.
The second dam I have (that being the smaller one) has always looked to me like it was natural. Thankfully, Artie agreed. It doesn’t hold like the other dam does, there’s no mess of earth in terms of walls etc. and the trees are quite close to it. And the spiny mud grass that grows all through it will be a feast for the horses.

If you’re in the Katherine region and would like to know more about  pastures and land conditions then come down to the Farm and Garden Day at Katherine Research Station on Saturday the 16^th of April 2016.
If you live too far from the Katherine region but would like to know more, DPI & F offer Agnotes on pastures and these can be found at this link:
http://www.nt.gov.au/d/publications/index.cfm?fi=Pasture

 

Spiny Mud Grass covers the Little Dam

Dam

As with every blockie out there in the Top End, my nemesis in the Wet season is weeds. Sida, hyptus, senna, flannel weed, amongst others. So, instead of pulling down that old, dilapidated fence that runs through the guts of the property I’m spraying weeds on the weekend. And each weekend I feel like I’ve made only the tiniest dent.
However, the Wet season also brings about full dams and wildflowers so after finishing off a tank of spray I decided to go for a swim in one of my now full dams. The water was lovely and warm, if I could ignore the stagnant smell. And the lilies were flowering again (they look like little, white, ostrich feathers coming out of a crown) if I could ignore the grass that constantly entangled me. There were some lovely birds to watch, if I could ignore the mites in the water that wouldn’t stop biting me. Where the hell did these mites come from? And how the hell did the ducks put up with it? The ducks I’ve found very difficult to identify! Four days out and I’m still itchy from the water dwelling mites.
With the dams now dubbed “unfit to swim in” I’ve had to resign myself to the fact that if, when I can afford it, I want somewhere to swim on the block there has to be a swimming pool. Therefore, there will probably never be a swimming pool and before you say “Get a blow-up pool!” it would not be a job done properly and therefore a job not going to be done at all.
Between the biting mites and the excruciatingly painful shoulders as a cross result of swimming and Ross River I have learned my lesson: No leisure time on the block. It has consequences.

Though the picture shows the water level to be quite low the dam is currently quite full thanks to the Christmas monsoon.

Nature on the Block