The Wilmington morning star., 1945-10-01
FARMER DEVELOPS
PAYING PASTURE

| Almost every farm has some
poor land on it and there is al.
ways question as to how it should
|be handled. Some growers put
fence around it and called 1t a
pasture-but not w. V. Green OF
Wake County. He put fence
around it, all right, but not until
he had invested $50 an acre in this
land that was simply holding the
world together.
Just next to his barn, Green had
some poor, galded clay land that
was covered with scrubby pines,
broom sedge and briers. There
were the usual clay spots and plen-
ty of gullies about three to four
feet deep. Sounds rather foolish to
spend $50 an acre on land like this
but that's just exactly what Green
did.
He cut down the pines and
briers, till e d up the gullies,
scratched the land as best he
could, and risced in some lime and
stable manure. He then applied
300 pounds fertilizer and seeded 10
pounds of orchard grass, 10 pounds
of herds grass, pounds of blue
grass, and pounds of white clover
per acre. In the spring he added
400 pounds of superphosphate per
acre and a little more stable
manure, with 100 pounds of cal
cium nitrate per acre on the poor
est spots. He also seeded 20 to Is
pounds Of lespedeza per acre ir
the spring.
That's a tremendous investmen!
on practically worthless land. ano
did it Pay" is the question
that's being asked. ''I think I have
|just about gotten my money back
the first year, and I'm all set tf
|go," Green told County Agen
Lloyd Weeks of Wake and a group
of farmers from Lenoir on re
cent visit to his farm. 81 have got
ten about two months of grazing
for 80 cows and 20 calves from II
acres of pasture and you see tina
II still have some grazing left.
"All of the grazing didn't cope
at one time. I would put the COW:
out here for a few hours or a few
days, and then take them off. You
know, most folks make a mistake
Of pasturing their grass and le
gumes into the ground. I have
found that pasture management is
one Of our biggest problems. Yor
can lose a pasture a whole lot
quicker than you can grow one
I was doubtful when I first started
this proposition but now I know
that anybody can make a gooo
pasture-the better the land, the
easier the job.
Getting back to this pasture
management problem, most folks
put their stock on the pastures en-
tirely too early in the spring and
Craze their pastures too closely
during the long, dry periods. They
say that they just have to do il
but the thing to do is, grow more
feed so your pastures can be Civ
en- a rest. You wouldn't try tc
work e mule hard on half feed
It's the same way with pastures.
County Agent Weeks has been a
big help in getting this plan o1
mine worked OUT
Green took the group over to an.
other pasture of lespedeza follow
ing small grains n challenged
the farmers to find out where lime
had not been applied. One farmer
spoke up and said: II know the
lime is over on this side because
the growth of lespedeza is excel.
lent here and the cows are grazing
on this side of the pasture" Walk
ing across the pasture the group
came to a definite line where the
lespedeza was poor and the sod
! was thin.
''You know" Green said, "the
cows never do Craze over in this
corner. The lespedeza and grass
must not be as sweet and tasty
as where the lime was applied. -
Green has Z acres of alfalaf that
was planted last fall after the land
was thoroughly lined. He planned
to plant an additional acreage this
fall but he couldn't get his seed
on time, so he decided to wait un.
til next year. He likes to seed al
falfa the latter part of August or
the first of September for best re-
suits. He has cut his crop four
times this year but may not be
able to make the fifth cutting be-
cause of wet weather. He wants
good top growth on his alfalfa
when it goes into winter quarters.
Green has leased a small Dor.
ton of his land to the Agricultural
Experiment Station at State col.
lege for the testing of all kinds
of grasses and legumes, and he
watches this work very closely.
The dairy herd on the Green
farm gets much Of its feed from
supplemental grazing crops. Thir-
ty acres have been seeded at the
rate of bushels of oats, 2 bushels
of barley, Is pounds of crimson
clover, and 20 pounds of rye garss