High Country Lucerne Development Field Day – Thursday 28 July
Upcoming Field Day: High Country Lucerne Development Where: Flock Hill Station, Arthurs Pass … Read more
Anna Mills
Farm survey – responses needed on horehound levels on farm
The Horehound Biocontrol Group is seeking input about the magnitude of horehound problem, especially in Lucerne. With lucerne growing more widespread and already occupying over 150,000 ha, we notice horehound (Marrubium vulgare) is rearing its head as one of the worst weeds in lucerne stands, especially on extensive properties with ridges and areas with difficult … Read more
DPR Team now on Facebook
Yes – that’s right. We’ve now got a Facebook page were we are going to show a wee bit of what we get up to. Most of our fixed content and the detailed information will remain here on the blog and over on the Dryland Pastures website but we thought it might be interesting to … Read more
In memory of Malcolm Macfarlane
The Dryland Pastures Research team acknowledge the work of Malcolm Macfarlane in progressing the introduction of legumes onto dryland hill country farms. We were delighted Malcolm was overseeing the technical aspects of our research work in Southern Wairarapa. We are all saddened by his sudden passing and our thoughts are with his family, friends and … Read more
Effects of oestrogen content of lucerne on ewe ovulation rates
Dryland Pastures Research team leader Derrick Moot talks with PhD candidate Rachel Fields about her experiments which are investigating the cause of high phytoestrogen content in lucerne herbage and its impact on ewe ovulation rates when grazed (approx. 5 mins).
Status of a spring sown lucerne cultivar evaluation in early autumn
In this clip Derrick Moot and Ag Sci Hons student Grace Clouston of the Dryland Pastures Research Team discuss the status of a irrigated lucerne cultivar evaluation that was sown on 21 October 2016 (approx 2 mins).
Evaluation of three lucerne cultivars with different fall dormancy ratings
Hi there, Derrick was told the other day that it has been a while since we put up any new posts (sorry about that!) so on Monday we headed out to the field with some of the postgraduate students working within the Dryland Pastures Research Team. We thought we’d take introduce you to some of … Read more
Recovery of the cocksfoot/sub/balansa pasture following January rains
On 1 February 2016, Dick Lucas ventured out to the MaxAnnuals grazing experiment to investigate the recovery of the dryland cocksfoot pasture established with subterranean and balansa clovers at Ashley Dene, Canterbury. Topics covered include yield, germination of the annual clovers and target populations for high quality spring forage. The potential for a ‘false break’ … Read more
State of spring sown lucerne during the establishment phase prior to the first graze
These videos, taken on 25 Jan, we look at the state of a newly established – spring sown – dryland lucerne stand. In the first video Derrick discusses the state of the young lucerne at about 80-90 days after sowing as we prepare for the first graze/cut now flower buds are visible. There is also … Read more
Lucerne root growth and access to soil moisture
In this video Prof Derrick Moot discusses the differences between established and establishing lucerne stands in relation to the rate at which the roots explore and exploit water stored in the soil. Known as the extraction front velocity (EFV) this is a measure in millimeters of soil per day that the plant roots access to … Read more