Grassland Quiz

How good is your grassland weed and pest control?

How much do you know about your grassland weeds and pests? Do you know how much they impact on your profitability, and what you should be doing about them?

Try this simple quiz to find out whether you're growing for gold, or in need of a few handy hints to make the most of this valuable asset.

Please answer every question. Your score will be automatically calculated to find out where you stand on grassland weed and pest knowledge...

Select the one answer which best describes your policy, situation or understanding.

1. What is your main reason for controlling docks?

a. They compete with grass for light, nutrients and moisture and so reduce yield
b. They have poor feed value and cause digestive upsets
c. Animals will not graze close to them
d. They look untidy in fields
      

2. At which stage would you spray docks?

a. When two or three leaves are showing
b. At the rosette stage when the dock measures 150-200mm in diameter
c. When the flowering head is beginning to emerge and the dock is mature

 3. At what time of the year would you ideally spray for weed control?

a. In the spring
b. In the summer
c. In the autumn
d. At any time when the weeds are growing actively and have sufficient target area to take in herbicide

4. If you find docks have flowered by the time you have a chance to spray them, what do you do?

a. Top them instead
b. Top them, then spray when they have regrown to the right stage
c. Spray them anyway

5. Why are docks difficult to kill and often need a two-stage spray programme split between autumn and spring applications?

a. Dock tap roots are deep and need two hits for long-term control
b. Dock seeds last 60 years in the soil and fresh seedlings will germinate
c. Some shading of the weeds will result in poor herbicide coverage
d. All of the above

6. Which pest/s cause the most widespread damage in grass reseeds in the UK?

a. Leatherjackets
b. Frit fly
c. Wireworm and Slugs
d. None - pests aren't an issue

7. What average percentage dock cover do you have in your grassland? (Stand in a field, look at an area stretching 2.5 metres either side of you and 7 metres in front of you. This is 35m2, and the number of docks in it is equal to the percentage cover of docks.)

a. Less than 5%
b. Between 5% and 10%
c. Between 10% and 15%
d. Over 15%

8. How much silage do you estimate you would lose in an average self contained dairy herd per year if you had 10% weed coverage?

a. About one trailer in twenty
b. About one trailer in fifteen
c. About one trailer in ten

9. According to Levington trials, which of these grassland weed control chemicals is safest to grass?

a. MCPA
b. CMPP
c. Doxstar*
d. Thifensulfuron

10. Which is the most cost-effective feed in terms of pence per unit of energy?

a. Brewers’ grains
b. Concentrates
c. Grazing grass
d. Silage