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Page 24 The Claringlon/Courticc Independent, Bowmanvillc, Saturday, June 21, 1997 FARM NEWS Pasture Improvement by Joan McKinlay, Crop Advisor, OMAFRA Are you happy with the production from your pastures? pastures? All pastures can be improved. If moss, strawberries strawberries or hawkweed are present, they indicate that there arc major improvements that can be done. Grazing Management - Properly harvesting or grazing grazing the pasture field is the first improvement. Livestock will choose the most tender shoots and leave the others to mature. Grazing management lets you determine what they will eat and when. A minimum minimum of four paddocks in a system is the first goal. The animals enter a field and leave in a designated time. The most important part of the system is that there should be at least 30-35 days before the animals return to regraze the growing shoots. This allows the plants to replenish their roots creating a healthy plant that can respond to the moisture and fertility available available to it. Overgrazed plants lack the strength or size of root system to regrow, quickly. quickly. By determining which grasses are grazed you can maintain a vegetative pasture which will remain green and productive like a lawn. A grass should be grazed or clipped before it produces a seed head. It stops growing and starts to lose quality at this point. Livestock cannot consume enough dry matter to maintain their body condition condition if the grass is too tall or too short. Their tongues are not as effective since tall grass will fall back out of their mouth and short grass cannot be grasped 4s efficiently. efficiently. Pastures should remain between 4-10 inches throughout the season to maintain quality and all adequate adequate consumption. Continuous grazing of paddocks in a one field system system allows livestock to overgraze overgraze the areas of the field that they prefer, returning again and again until those species are killed out. Other areas are avoided early in the season which allows these grasses to go to head and cease production of green leaves. A rotational grazing system, or moving livestock from field to field, would improve the growth of the pasture, produce a higher quality forage throughout the season and improve health of the plants. Your only inputs would be the cost of fencing and of supplying water to each field as well as the time to switch gates. This is a good investment of time and money. Fertility - Once you have your harvesting system in place, then you may want to consider other improvements. A soil test, which determines the availability to plants, will help you to design a fertility program for the pastures. Phosphorus and potassium are required by all forage species in about a 1:4 ratio. Fertilizers should be similar to this ratio unless your soil test indicate differently. One reason why we include a legume in a pasture mix is that legumes can fix their own nitrogen. As their roots rot in the course of time the nitrogen is also released to the surrounding. grasses. A pure grass stand will require nitrogen in addition to phosphorus phosphorus and potassium but a stand which includes a legume is cheaper to fertilize as nitrogen is not required. Manure can be used effectively effectively on pastures if you apply it to make best use of the nutrients and leave an adequate amount of lime before livestock return to graze the field again. The nitrogen component will encourage grass growth but if it is grazed this growth will not compete with the legumes. Small Business The Strength of the Local Economy by Kathy Simpson, Rural Community Advisor For years many municipalities municipalities spent a great deal of time trying to persuade outside companies to base their manufacturing manufacturing facilities and plants within their community. community. This was the "smoke stack chasing" philosophy of the 1950's and 60's. Communities believed that manufacturing plants would create jobs for the locals, be a continued source of tax revenue revenue for municipalities and generate and circulate dollars within the local community. Today we know that depending solely on big business business for jobs and revenue as a method of economic development development is not the answer. A more diversified tax base is needed. In addition development development within the local community community produces more cost- Continued on page 26 Chris Hobbs Sales Representative GROUP Darlene Hobbs Sales Representative Excel Realty Inc. 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BROWSING FOR BARGAINS BARGAINS -- The front lawn of the Bowmanvillc Museum was a busy place on Saturday, June 14th. Everyone was invited to visit the museum, enjoy some refreshments, and look for treasures at the book sale and yard sale. Funds from the sale support the museum. Welfare Numbers Lower in April In a report to Durham Regional Council on Wednesday, June 18, regional staff noted that the number of General Assistance cases has decreased since April of 1996 by 12 per cent. During April, the Region's Social Services Department- issued 53 one-time General Assistance, cheques, and has 977 ongoing cases. With regards to Family Benefits, 189 cases were granted and 214 cases were terminated. Clarington had a total of 1,208 cases out of a regional total of 13,785. This figure includes 649 cases in the category category of General Welfare Assistance and 509 cases in the category of Family Benefits Assistance. 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