The fire currently burning at Castle Hill is indicative of the dry conditions many parts of the east coast have experienced this winter/spring. We have just weaned at Lincoln and have started the ewes and lambs on a leader follower rotation around the lucerne. The weaned lambs are staying on lucerne to avoid a check … Read more
Public Field Day – Tuesday 10 December 2024 1pm-3:30pm Whenua Haumanu RADE – Regenerative Agriculture Dryland Experiment The Lincoln University Dryland Pastures Research Group invites you to the RADE Annual Public Field Day The RADE is a long-term (6 year), experiment comparing regenerative (RA) and conventional (CA) dryland farmlets at two fertility levels (Olsen P … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot The recent rain has done little to top up the soils on dryland farms in the Canterbury region or fill the hydro Lakes. To understand the situation I asked Dr Black to send me the latest soil water data from the RADE. This is a typical soil (Templeton) … Read more
Prof Moot visited sheep and beef properties in Nth Canterbury on Tuesday. Questions focused on how to deal with the lack of feed. The options are largely unpalatable. However, there is a need to be proactive to ensure there is feed for spring lambs due to the mismatch between feed supply and feed demand. This … Read more
Note: this post was initially scheduled for posting on 19/04/2024, but was delayed due to website maintenance. Prof Moot was in Marlborough mid-April discussing how to make the most of the 50-60 mm of rain that broke the drought their last weekend. His list of do’s and don’ts was delivered in the woolshed and in … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot. So what happens after the fire? On Saturday I went bungy jumping. A birthday “gift” voucher had been sitting on the fridge for several months. I was ignoring it. Silently hoping it might expire. But my wife had other ideas. She booked the date, and I confronted my … Read more
Posted on behalf of the Horehound Biocontrol Group Kia ora koutou, We are pleased to give you a cautiously optimistic update in time for the festive season: The new shipment of horehound plume moth has made its first public appearance. Plume moth – Take 2 A lot has happened in the year since the previous … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof Moot. Last week was hot, but not unusually so for the time of year – this is normal Canterbury summer weather. I had two experiences recently that reminded me we still have a lot to learn. The first was coffee with a prospective PhD student. She is working in the … Read more
Derricks annual round-up of the year that was at the Field Research Centre can be read here:
This week the Dryland Pastures Group hosted researchers from across campus at the Regenerative Agriculture Dryland Experiment (RADE). This farmlet is now fully stocked with Bohepe ewes and lambs. The summer dry is starting to show with some pasture becoming water stressed but our first draft of lambs have gone so stocking rate will decline … Read more