News

January 2010: Thinking ahead to Spring grass

Spring grass extends the grazing season and can have a major effect on the feeding costs and performance of livestock. This factsheet is a guide for the use of spring fertiliser for grazed pasture. The guide also applies to fields grazed prior to a later silage crop.

December 2009: GDC at the Winter Fair

The Grassland Development Centre PROSOIL project team were present on the IBERS stand at the 2009 Winter Fair, held at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells on November 30th and December 1st. 

It was an ideal opportunity to meet up with our development farmers and many other interested parties to continue to build awareness of the project and the importance of soil health.

During the show, visitors to the stand were invited to enter a competition to win a luxury hamper of Welsh produce.  As well as a variety of general questions on soil health, contestants were shown 3 soil samples and asked to assess them. 

Many congratulations to our winner, Roy Price of Knighton.  If you entered the competition and want to see all the correct answers, click Competition Answers
If you didn't enter the competition but want to test your knowledge, try these questions before clicking through to the answer sheet:

• Healthy worms are always pink - TRUE or FALSE?
• Aeration, because it opens up water and airways, is always beneficial - TRUE or FALSE?
• Soil compaction is a problem on most farms - TRUE or FALSE?
• Fungi are the heaviest proportion of living organism in topsoil - TRUE or FALSE?
• How many tonnes/acre of living creatures are there in typical grassland topsoil - 1.5, 2.5, or 4.0?

22 September 2009 - National Grassland Management Competition winner announced

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