Description
The dairy farm in Barterode has 130 cows and covers 120 hectares, of which 60 hectares are cultivated intensively with grassland. The grassland seeds are mixed with thin slurry for its application on the field. The grass seeds (mainly Lolium perenne) are added and mixed directly in the slurry tank (per tank 10 kg of seeds). The farmer applies 2 tanks of the mixture per ha, thus 20 kg seeds/ha. The farmer uses a self-made technique to suck the seeds slowly out of the bag into the slurry tank. The slurry must be very thin in order to provide well mixed seeds in the slurry allowing an even distribution and a slow infiltration of slurry into the soil. The combination of these grassland maintenance measures saves time and labor costs as both steps can be done at once, especially in the springtime. The grass silage achieves energy contents of 6.5-7.1 MJ NEL/kg DM. The sward is characterized by 99% of grasses, mainly Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis. The farm is planning to integrate strips of herbs into part of his grassland to become more resilient to drought.
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