In the past, the problem has been one of over-familiarity; the
grass grows most of the year round, has always been there, some
years it makes good hay and silage, some years it doesn't. Over
the years it has done progressively less well and we have been
encouraged to plough up and re-seed more and more often. New
ryegrasses need more nitrogen and the more nitrogen you apply,
the lower the essential mineral content of the grass. The
supposed answer is to feed more mineral supplements and more
cake - or is it? Actually a much better way is to re-mineralise
the soil and maintain productive swards of diverse, non-
nitrogen-dependent species capable of delivering an adequate
supply of nutrients. The much-derided, "inefficient" old mixed
farm represented an almost closed circle in the days before the
internal combustion engine. The farm lived off its assets for
most of the year and at harvest the surplus was sold off,
providing the wherewithal for the following year. Simple, but
effective. Grassland was grassland, e