02/11/2021
Mt Benger, North Canterbury
The Luisetti-sponsored ‘Spotlight on legumes’ field day drew a crowd of ~70 people from the farming community, industry and Lincoln University to Mt Benger, North Canterbury, which is managed by Stuart Fraser. The field trip started in the hill country with the sub clover/cocksfoot pasture in Alice’s Block. This ‘Woogenellup’ sub clover dominant pasture is still going strong after 10 years. The focus was on grazing management and the role of fertilisers, including molybdenum, on clover growth. Speakers were Dick Lucas, Derrick Moot, Stuart Fraser, and Jeff Morton.
On the flats the focus moved to lucerne with both the new (Two Haysheds sown 2021) and old (Pylon sown 2014) lucerne paddocks visited. The focus of Derrick Moot and Stuart Fraser’s presentation was on lucerne establishment, grazing management practices, and weed control.
Peter Anderson highlighted the value of legumes for improving sheep performance with a focus on kg lamb weaned/ewe mated. Mt Benger livestock performance compared favourably with two other legume-based properties and was placed highly in the top quartile (top 25%) of all other properties on the StockCare database.
Many thanks to the Fraser family for hosting the field day, the speakers, and to Andrew Johnston and Luisetti Seeds staff for sponsoring and supporting this event.
