The Influence of Treading on Pasture

In 1858 H. S. Thompson, writing in the “Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society”, quoted an ancient Persian proverb, “The sheep has a foot of gold, and turns to gold whatever it touches”, and wrote that, although at first he agreed with the proverb, he rapidly became dissatisfied with it. In his experience-sustained yheavystockifig-w? sheep caused pastures to deteriorate. In my opinion his impression was that the sheep’s “foot of gold” was a complex influence with benefits accruing from returned dung and urine and penalties imposed by untimely defoliation which necessarily entailed treading. He believed that it was important to use young cattle on establishing pastures “until the turf is close and strong enough to bear the treading of heavy cattle.” In 1873 he reaffirmed his opinions with an amendment that carefully managed sheep should be the first on pastures intended for cattle grazing. His opinions, in the main, agree very well with modern ideas. A local opinion has been that for vigorous growth of perennial ryegrass, plants must be continually pushed into the soil, which must be compressed around them. Accordingly, hoof cultivation has been of wide popularity; it is not uncommon to be told that a good pasture should be “blackened” once a year. A number of workers, notably Bates (1930, 1935, 195 I), Chandler (1940), Cracker (1953), Klecka (1937), Lieth (I 954): and Steinbrenner (195 I j, have observed the influence of treading on pasture and are unanimously of the opinion that it damages plants. Levy (1926) exploited this fact by using cattle to tread out susceptible weeds from North Island hill country pastures, while Packard (1957) has introduced another point of view by suggesting that compaction by treading improves light pumice soils for plant growth. Our farming systems entail relatively high stocking rates and year-round grazing, which mean that treading must be important. In the winter on most farms poached pastures are clear evidence for this importance, as, at all times of the year, are pathways,