Liliana, That's a perfect description of the 'strategy' all grazing farmers
must implement to succeed. Know your Farm, identify the challenges, and then
implement the wealth of grazing data to 'fit your needs'.
Dick Conklin
Amity Farm
Ft.Ann,NY
----- Original Message -----
From: "Liliana Sotomayor" <whitsot@uio.satnet.net>
To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 7:15 PM
Subject: RE: [Graze-l] Kikuyu Pastures?
> Kikuyu, love/hate relationship. In more temperate climate like ours kikuyu
> is well established and difficult to eradicate. It seems like every region
> of the world that has it has developed a way to cope with it and make it
> produce. Certainly Murray's wealth of knowledge has helped me a lot, but
> still we haven't gone as far a using a mulcher. In some farms horses and
dry
> cows do the job by keeping the mat down to where the ryegrass can compete
> with it. We get occasional frosts that retard kikuyu growth and allow
other
> grasses to poke out. Good soil fertility is a must.
>
> Although a different approach, Colombians love kikuyu and let it get very
> tall and graze milk cows on the upper 1/3, then dry cows and maybe bring
it
> down with horses. Long rotation intervals, moist conditions, and lots of
> nitrogen applied are needed in this system.
>
> Being a subtropical grass it will not survive freezing conditions for very
> long. If you don't have it, definitely don't bring it in! There is a pest
in
> areas of Ecuador at around 1000-1200m that will decimate kikuyu pastures.
>
> Liliana Sotomayor, DVM
> Quito, Ecuador
>
>
> >Kikuyu is listed as a noxious weed for many states. So check before
> deciding to try to plant it in your area.
> --
> Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
> Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
> Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
> http://www.desertweyr.com/
> Paonia, CO USA
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