Day 27..
A literal field trip... We started our afternoon with Julia who took us to halloughton field to demonstrate real life soil profiles. There were three holes already dug for us to investigate the three major horizons (that make up a soil profile) - the surface horizon, the subsoil and the substratum. And each hole displayed different profiles due to a few factors - water logging, compaction and organic matter. We were also able to determine the soil texture by carrying out a field test, by picking up a small aggregate of soil and rubbing it between the thumb and index finger. Using a chart we were then able to follow yes and no answers to what the soil felt and looked like to establish that in this case the soil was siltloam! We finished here as quite a lot of soil was being distributed by some members of the group at others!
We then moved on to grass growth with dom. There are two constituents of grass - water and carbohydrates, and using some basic information we had to work out the percentage of dry matter according to the following: if a yield of a field is 65t/ha at 17% DM what is the DM yield (this is some basic mathematic work that we should be able to carry out at farmer dudes) so to work out the answer is; 17 divided by 100 times'd by 65 to get 11.05!
To ensure your grassland is the optimum it can be with regards to livestock systems it must be maintained, however there are some factors outside the farmers control, such as the weather, steepness of land, altitude, rough or stony terrain and aspect (north/south). On the flip side there are some things that can be carried out, such as fertilising (for low fertility), drainage, weed control, compaction correction, acidity enhancement, low stocking ratio and grazing control.
To sum it up; you need to know how your grass grows!!!
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