Mild winters mean that grass can grow for most of the year in Cornwall. Grass is very important to Cornish farmers as most of them keep livestock, like cattle and sheep, which are grazing animals. In other words, these animals eat grass to produce milk and meat. A cow can eat 80 kilograms of grass a day.
Looking after the grass
In the spring the grass begins to grow again. To ensure that the animals have plenty of grass to eat, the farmer has some tractor work to do. The pasture will be harrowed and rolled and spread with fertilizer.

Grass harrows are used to rake the grass. They pull up any old dead grass and make space for new growth. A heavy roller is used to press the soil down so the roots of the grass have a firm hold in the ground. The roller leaves wide stripes behind it as it moves across the field.

Rolling the fields also flattens any bumps, leaving a smooth surface for the mower to work over in the summer.
Fertilising grass
Grass, like any plant, needs the right nutrients to grow well. Fertiliser supplies these nutrients when it is spread on the fields. This may be a natural fertiliser like animal manure or an artificial fertiliser which is expensive to buy but makes the grass grow quickly.
A machine called a fertiliser spreader, mounted on the back of the tractor, is used to scatter the artificial fertiliser across the field. A box or hopper on top of the machine is filled with the fertiliser which is manufactured in tiny beads. As the tractor moves up and down the field, discs beneath the hopper rotate and the beads of fertiliser are flung out across the grass.


