MANUAL ON IMPROVED FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE BY ... - Gart

FIGURE 14: Napier grass ready for cutting
Establishment:
It is advisable to plant Napier grass near to the night paddock of the
animals. That makes it easy to carry the cut grass to the animals, but
also to return the manure from the paddock to the Napier field. The
grass should be planted in rows, with a spacing of 90 cm between the
rows and 60 cm in the row. It is the easiest to plant cane cuttings, similar
to sugar cane. These can be obtained from overgrown Napier grass. Use
the middle part of the stem and cut this into pieces with 3 – 4 nodes
each. These cuttings are pushed into the soil under an angle of 45 º so
that at least 2 nodes are covered by the soil. Also rootsplits can be used.
As handling these splits is much more laborious, this procedure remains
usually restricted to fill gaps in already established fields.
Fertilizer
When cutting the Napier grass large quantities of nutrients are removed
from the soil. These have to be replaced. Therefore it is important to
return as much as possible manure close to the plants. In addition
artificial fertilizer should be applied at a rate of 10 bags NPK per ha per
year. To stimulate the growth of Napier grass well into the dry season,
half of this amount can be applied towards the end of the rainy season.
Management
If properly managed, Napier grass remains productive for 10 – 15 years.
The quality of the grass is reflected by a dark green colour. Cutting is
done best when the grass is 60 – 90 cm tall. Do not let it overgrow. It
becomes more bulky then, but the quality is reduced seriously. If you
have excess Napier during a certain period, it is better to cut the grass
in the right stage and make silage out of it, than leaving it in the field to
overgrow. After each cutting, the grass should be weeded and manure
can be applied.
10.2 Legumes
Velvet bean
Velvet bean is a vine. Without support it will spread over the ground,
producing large quantities of vegetative material. This is a desirable
feature. It is mostly cut as a forage and occasionally for its seed. It
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Manual on improved feeding of Dairy Cattle by Smallholder Farmers