Pasture renovation after winter pugging damage

In New Zealand where cows are grazed on pasture throughout winter, severe pugging damage can occur particularly during wet and stormy weather. On a severely pugged area, seasonal and annual dry matter (DM) production of 3 reseeding treatments (broadcast ryegrass seed followed by rolling or harrowing, drilled ryegrass seed followed by harrowing) and three non-seeded treatments (rolling, harrowing and an untreated control) were compared over 2 years. Average annual DM production of the three reseeding treatments was higher (PcO.05) than the unseeded treatments. Rolling and harrowing without reseeding had no effect on DM production or pasture composition. The three reseeding treatments had higher ryegrass percentage (PcO.01) and lower (Ppasture composition were greatest in each spring 15 and 27 months after treatments were applied. The differences in production of the reseeded treatments persisted over the 2-year study period, showing that “undersowing” had a long-term beneficial effect on pugged pastures.