Dick Lucas ventures into our MaxAnnuals experimental area at Ashley Dene in the first of this series of video blogs taken on 7 May. In this video Dick discusses the general state of the cocksfoot or hybrid ryegrass pastures this autumn with a bit of a recap on what he has observed at the site to date (approx. 6 mins). The next videos in the series with deal with the specific state and autumn management for the specific pasture mixes.
These blogs should be of particular interest to our drought prone dryland farmers given recent reporting of El Nino conditions for next season (for NZ this means a tendency to wetter in the west and drier in the east). Getting next seasons priority stock to sale weights before drought conditions limit feed supply will be crucial. This will require excellent autumn management of annual clover dominant pastures to obtain high yields (= feed supply) with high clover content (= high quality) for lactating stock in early spring.
