This week, we catch up with leading Kircudbrightshire grassland farmer, Andy Nelson, to find out how he establishes grass on his farm and find out his top tips for a successful sward.

Andy farms at Cogarth, five miles from Castle Douglas in South-west Scotland which means he gets an annual rainfall of 1422mm over his 500-acre unit. For the last 20 years, he has been reseeding around 20 acres per year, which has driven up productivity and output on the upland unit.

The farm has been in the family for four generations and historically would send half its ewes away for wintering and bought in 40-tonnes of feed for the cows and sheep, all of which has stopped since Andy focused on grass output.

The flock of 500 Easycare ewes now have all their progeny finished off grass each year for the abattoir, whereas in the past any lambs that were still on farm in November would be finished on supplementary feed.

The farm starts by the banks of the River Dee before rising to rocky hill ground, with a full range of field conditions in between. Andy explained: “We have a bit of everything on the farm, from peaty, to sandy, to loam, to hard rock.

"The one thing which is consistent is the stones. The deepest fields have a soil depth of five inches, whilst the rockiest have just three inches of cover. But the climate means we can grow grass.”

To ensure the best chances to successfully establish grass, Andy identifies the fields for resowing two years before being sown. This allows plenty time to ‘knock hell’ out of the weeds, as Andy put it.

The weeds which Andy has the biggest issue with are creeping thistle and docks on the silage ground. He uses herbicides such as Doxstar and MCPA to control those.

After two seasons of weed control, the field is sprayed off then direct drilled with kale using a Duncan Drill. "In areas which are difficult to direct drill, we will disc it and broadcast the seed at the beginning of June. The kale is sown at a rate of 2kg per acre," said Andy.

As a seed bed fertiliser, he uses 150kg per acre of 16:16:16 down the spout, or through the spreader depending on sowing method. By August, the crop is usually around nine inches in height if there is a good growing summer.

The field might then get another 50kg per acre of 34.5% ammonium nitrate in September if the field looks in need of a boost. He likes to use Maris Kestrel a his kale variety as he finds if offers strong plants which yield well.

Last year, Andy decided to pick Caledonian variety which grew tremendously well with a dry matter yield of 15t/ha. But strong winter winds caused the kale to topple, with much of the fodder left on top of the ground and anything which touched the soil ended up rotting.

The Maris Kestrel, said Andy was a stouter crop, but still yielded a very respectful 11t/ha.

The 20 acres of kale is strip-grazed by 40 dry suckler cows from the end of November to the end of March, before they come inside for calving. In January, anything looking thin or carrying twins will come inside to join the first time calvers.

To supplement their diet, Andy buys in 150 big straw bales which he wraps in one layer and leaves in the field at 4m intervals. Then, in winter he simply unwraps the bales and rolls them out in front of the electric fence on top of the kale.

Last year, however, with the price of hay on a par with straw he used hay instead, with the bales hidden from sight by the kale by the middle of October. The cattle are given a Cosecure bolus with iodine in the autumn.

Andy explained why: “We tried feeding minerals or buckets over winter, but it is not easy getting the cows to take them when they are in the kale, so with the bolus we know they are all getting what they need.”

It is not just the cows which Andy is keen to ensure have the minerals they need, but also the soil. The farm is all soil mapped with variable rate lime applied at approximately 100 tonnes per year to ensure all fields are above a pH of 6, as well as good levels of potassium and phosphates.

"This year, thanks to the soil testing and satellite mapping system we are not in need of liming anywhere on farm," he said.

Once the kale is eaten, then well-rotted farm yard manure is spread on the field and it may be sprayed with glyphosate for weeds again if necessary. There is no extra nitrogen needed as the cows have been spreading their slurry and dung over the fields all winter with the strip grazing method.

The field is then disced twice before rolled with the Cambridge rollers, with the shatter boards down to bury stones. Andy explained: “We have tried taking off the stones and dad once spend four weeks taking stones off a 14-acre field, which amounted to several trailer loads per acre and there are still more stones there today. So, the plan is to push them back down with the rollers.”

When it comes to picking a grass seed, Andy likes to ensure the needs from the grass and growing conditions are all considered when picking a variety. He continues to use, as from his father and grandfather’s days, Watson Seeds.

For silage ground, he picks a high protein and high energy mixture, like Duart, with clover that has a later heading date to give flexibility in cutting when the weather is unpredictable. He also liked to go for diploid plants which give a thicker sole to the sward.

There are also increasing amounts of clover used in his grass mixes to reduce the amount of fertiliser needed and improve the grass in the second half of the year.

“The clover can be quite lazy in spring, but in the summer it definitely reduces the fertiliser need,” said Andy, who likes to add 200g Tyfon stubble turnip to all mixes to give an extra source of protein to finishing lambs in August.

The hillier ground will get a more herbal lay and he uses the Hermitage mix, with plants such as chicory and plantain in the mix. Chicory is high in protein and has anthelmintic properties, plus it has a deep root system which aerates the soil, aids drainage and is mineral rich. Plantain is high yielding, with good palatability, protein and drought tolerant.

Better grazing ground will receive the Mingary mix, with more intermediate perennial ryegrasses, Timothy and white clover blend. These fields can be cut for silage but would tend to be grazed for the most part.

The benefits of regular reseeding is clear. Andy said: “We have not put any sheep off the place for grazing since 2001 and we are running the same number of sheep. Our 130 Aberdeen-Angus cross suckler cows put to the Charolais are producing 15-tonnes more in calves now than in 2011 thanks to better grasses and genetics.

"The better grass means the cows can put on a bit more flesh in the summer which can help them through winter on the kale.”

The farm has run Angus cows for generations and produced quality 400kg store cattle at 11-12 months old for the local mart in Castle Douglas.

Silage is made in the first week of June, which has been brought forward from later in the month to improve the quality. Andy’s silage typically is sampled at 11ME, 28DM and 13% protein with earlier cutting and younger grasses key to getting good stuff for the pit.

A local contractor comes in with a Claas forage harvester and cuts 90 acres for the first cut. The second cut can be anything from 50 acres to 70 acres, depending on the growing conditions in the summer.

The flock has recently gone through a bit of a change, with Cheviot mules being replaced with Easycare ewes. Following a depressed wool market, Andy decided to create an easier system with the Easycare sheep and so far has been impressed with their performance.

He runs an A flock bred pure for breeding replacements and a B flock for producing finishing lambs crossed to Texels.

Andy explained the decisions saying: I was fed up not getting anything for the wool. It saves clipping and dagging in the summer and you don’t ever get a coupy ewe. We bought them from a couple places down south and this year we will be into our own gimmers for the first time at lambing.”

Top tip for establishing grazing different parts of Scotland:

• A wet West Coast farm, in Argyll, which often poaches in the back end?

"It’s always difficult to say without visiting the land, but it comes down to choosing your grass mixture for heavy land and I would say using grasses with diploids and later heading varieties in them works well.

"I would probably direct drill to keep some sort of sole in the ground. A complete reseed could make grazing in the autumn difficult in the first year. I would sow in early summer rather than leave it later in the season," said Andy.

• A Highland hill unit looking to maximise output on the in-bye with high production grass?

"Depending on how hard the ground is, it might be a good idea to do a complete reseed. I would pick a quality grass mix, like MiIngary, which has high quality high energy protein feed for the winter. You could reseed after a cut of silage to get the most from the field.

• Best technique for putting grass into an arable rotation in Aberdeenshire/Borders?

"I would think the best way to do straight after the cereals are off in late summer and early autumn.

"You could try under sown, which is more popular in the East of Scotland than in the West. In the West, a lot of farmers worry that a wet spell at harvest means you make a mess of the under sown part of the crop.

"As to variety, I would suggest something like the Tantallon mix. You are looking for some decent bulk for a few years before it is likely to go back into cereals.

"This is all obviously dependent on what it would be used for in between but this is suitable for a multi-cut system.

• An Ayrshire high-performance dairy grass for making quality silage

"For high output grasses, these are being sown every three years with lots of clover in the mix.

"Quite a few dairies are putting in whole crop with grass undersown to establish their grass. A lot of dairies have enough slurry, so P and K is less of an issue in their soil. I would say something like Duart, with extra clover, would be a good match for this system.