Naturally exuberant farmer Tabs Fox of Weltevreden farm in Ficksburg is so excited about the success he has achieved with sericia lespedeza – commonly referred to as poor man’s lucerne – that he has increased the area he plants to this perennial legume from 20ha to over 100ha in five years. Because of its hardy nature, it’s a must plant crop for frost- and drought-prone areas.
Tabs Fox and his wife Carol, together with their son-in-law Allen Price and 10 permanent labourers run a herd of 220 milk Simmentalers and a flock of 1 100 SA Mutton Merino sheep on their 280ha farm Weltevreden in Ficksburg, Free State. He also leases 200ha of land 16km from Ficksburg near the Lesotho border on which he grows a variety of pasture and fodder crops for summer grazing and winter feed. Tabs has 100ha of arable land mainly for these purposes, and grows 6ha of maize for silage for his cattle, together with pastures of lucerne, perennial rye grasses and red and white clovers. He also plants 10ha to gherkins on a rotation system for a canning factory in Gumtree. “I have 56 different soils types on my farm, of which most are poor, so several years ago sought a legume that was most suited to these soils and our harsh winter climate,” Tabs says. “was advised to try sericia lespedeza. managed to obtain some seed and planted trial pasture plots in 2002.
Being unfamiliar with the relatively slow establishment stage during which it uses most of its energy to produce a deep taproot system that can penetrate 0,9m to 1,22m, we were deeply disappointed after the first year as little growth was evident and we almost wrote it off. However, we persevered and our patience was ultimately rewarded in the second year (2003) when we realised its potential compared with lucerne.” Sericia lespedeza: hardy and handsome Tabs says that whereas it takes six to eight months to establish a lucerne pasture, it has to be re-established every five to six years as it can be overtaken by grasses and/or weeds. In contrast, while sericia lespedeza takes two to three years to establish, it grows stronger and stronger each year, depending on how heavily it is grazed – its dense nature and alleopathic characteristics crowd out competing grasses and weeds. adds that in his experience sericia lespedeza is drought-tolerant, has few insect and disease problems, can be grown on the worst soils, is non-bloating with better feed value compared with eragrostis and Smuts finger grass, requires no nitrogen, has an exceptional livestock carrying capacity and is cost-effective. “By using 50% of my land for grazing during summer from September to the end of March, and 50% for winter fodder which mow, bale and store, have found this to be the cheapest and most suitable pasture to grow in our frost- and drought-prone area.”
During the 2005/6 growing season Tabs allocated 5ha to his son-in-law to run a flock of 250 sheep. The flock, which was kraaled at night as the farm is located near the Lesotho border and is subject to theft, was allowed to browse the veld as it was slowly herded to and from the sericia lespedeza pastures where it grazed from 10am to 3pm. At the end of the season the flock was grazing no more than 1ha of the 5ha as the balance was no longer required. Tabs now has 100ha under sericia lespedeza, 20ha of which he uses to run his flock of 1 100 sheep, and uses a modified planter to no-till plant sericia lespedeza directly into his veld where it gradually takes over from the natural grasses – 15ha have already been taken over, on which his 200 milk Simmentalers browse. “The sheep more readily eat sericia lespedeza than cattle do due to its relatively high tannin content. However, I have found that while it takes the Simmentalers a few days to accept it, they soon relish it,” Tabs says. “Certainly, they enjoy it most during the early growth period when the tannin level is low, and readily eat hay containing sericea because field-drying also reduces the tannin level.” Seed production In Tabs’ experience sericia lespedeza should not be grazed right down just before the first frost as it needs a resting period to build up its root system which enables it to get off to a flying start on as little as 5cm of rain after the first spring rain. As a consequence he removes the sheep from the sericia lespedeza fields in April and lets them graze the veld. “While I did not really want to get into the production of seed, the cost of imported American-certified seed made me move in this direction, both for my own use and for anybody else who is interested,” Tabs says. “Much like lucerne, which is slow-germinating due to its tough seed coat that doesn’t soften easily by soaking in water, the seed ideally needs to be dehusked. To contain costs I scarify my seed with a hammermill. The result is 40% of the seed is scarified and 60% is dehusked and planted at a seeding rate of 20kg/ha, which ensures I get a fair rate of germination.
However, the ideal is to use dehusked certified seed at a rate of 15kg/ha. To have my seed dehusked and certified I must, in addition to my scarifying method of having it combined at a high moisture content, spread and turned rapidly to dry the green material and cleaned to remove the extraneous material, transport it to the Klein Karoo Co-op in Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape. The attendant loading, unloading, transport and processing costs are considerable. However, based on my success and that of others with sericia lespedeza, I believe that the demand for dehusked certified seed will grow rapidly in SA. Due to a total lack of rain from February to April this year the sericia lespedeza crops formed very little seed in the Ficksburg area but, hopefully, dehusked certified seed will be produced and available next year.” Contact Tabs Fox on (051) 933 3718, 082 379 2051 or e-mail [email protected]. |fw
