Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot The end of September is when the evapotranspiration exceeds rainfall at Lincoln. We start losing the stored soil water. I asked Jason to look at our neutron probe data from the RADE experiment to see where we are at this year compared with previous ones. Things are dry … Read more
Posted of behalf of Prof Derrick Moot My email has been running hot the last couple of weeks with lucerne growers asking whether it is safe to mate their ewes/hoggets on lucerne this autumn. The question is moot…..the wet weather has increased the risk of the plant producing the phyto-oestrogen* coumesterol. This compound reduces the … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot For many people in rainfed East Coast regions the summer has brought higher than average rainfall. This has led to germination of sub clover seedlings – and some weeds – in typically dry pastures. Successive rainfall events can mean there are currently sub clover seedlings of different ages … Read more
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