Farmers urged cash in on a grass act

FARMERS and Scottish politicians were this week urged by representatives of the grass seed trade to put more value on the growing of grass as an integral and important part of a successful agricultural industry.

Over the past decade, sales of grass seed have halved in Scotland, but with a rise in the value of livestock and a collapse in the profitability of cereal growing, there are now the first signs of a revival in interest in growing grass.

Paddy Jack, the president of the Scottish Seed Trade Association speaking in Perth, said the best crop a farmer could grow at present was a "field full of lambs".

However, to ensure farmers were maximising the potential of that enterprise, producers had to use the latest varieties that help lengthen the season and where the dry matter yield was superior to older grasses.

Jack was encouraged by an upturn of interest in sales of grass seed many of which were coming from arable farmers who were buying seed mixes that would provide a green manure when ploughed down.

However, he said there was a long way to go to ensure that grass production was back to where it had been a decade ago.

Scottish Government statistics show an increased percentage of older fields of grass.

Sinclair Simpson, regional manager for the Scottish Agricultural College in Perth, said it was not unusual to see grass fields that were more than 20 years old.

These long-established fields generally were contaminated with less productive grasses, which were less responsive to increasingly expensive fertilisers and they also often had high levels of weeds in the sward.

For about 190 per acre, he said, a new crop of grass could be established, often using another crop such as cereals as a "nurse" to help cover the unproductive period.

Yields from this new pasture could be at least 20 per cent higher than fields where the crop was past its prime. SAC grassland expert Peter Shipway said the message on establishing new swards of grass could be very relevant this year, as he expected grass to have suffered quite badly from the long period of severe weather.

The political concern for the SSTA is that the Scottish Government is carrying out a review into the continuation of trials that are used to assess new varieties of grasses.

This exercise based on two sites – one in Edinburgh and the other in Aberdeen – costs the government about 150,000 annually, and the trade fears that cuts might be made in this budget.

Shipway said the information the industry gleaned from these trials was critical to ensuring that Scotland was getting the most suitable grasses for growing in the country.

"We need varieties which can come away quickly in the spring and which help lengthen the growing season, he said, adding that a third of the varieties in the Scottish recommended list did not appear in the English list.

Responding to the SSTA concerns, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said there had been no change to the overall budget for grass seed trials and that it was aware of the importance of modern grass varieties for efficient livestock production.

However, she added that the current schedule of grass trials was coming to an end and consultations had commenced with stakeholders to try to identify trends and where best future funding should be allocated.