This Omaka Barley Paddock is still managing to supply a good quantity of feed to the lambing hoggets when I visited on September 14th. The pasture height was between 30-32 cm in height (see photo below). The quality of the pasture has declined now that the Barley is starting to go into reproductive (seeding) phase. … Read more
Hi, This reply has been posted in response to questions John posted on the blog Monday: Doug has supplied the 2012 soil test results (below) from ‘Bonavaree’ (0-7.5 cm soil depth). For ease the results have been averaged from 8 paddocks which were individually tested. Any fertilisers to be applied will meet requirements of the individual paddock. … Read more
You can subscribe to our dryland pastures blog updates using the RSS feed (on the right of the page under the “Meta” heading for either Posts and or Comments posted). This option will check the blog & let you know if a new post/comment has been published (so you don’t have to check it yourself!). … Read more
Beef + Lamb New Zealand offers a free text alert service which delivers lucerne management tips & the latest research from Professor Derrick Moot at Lincoln University & other lucerne experts directly to you. This free service is sent out by Beef + Lamb New Zealand extension manager Aaron Meikle and can be subscribed to at: http://beeflambnz.com/news-events/News/2012/february/text-service-provides-direct-line-to-forage-information/ … Read more
On Friday (7 Sept) lucerne on the Home Block at Ashley Dene was about 22 cm high which we estimate as being about 2200 kg DM/ha of standing dry matter (DM). This is based on calibrations we developed previously. At this time of year we expect every centimetre of lucerne height to translate to about … Read more
Lambing in Jeffries Front Flat has now finished. It is certainly not a normal season at Bonavaree. Having had the total annual rainfall in only 8 months (200 mm since lambing started) has delayed a few things. The lightly set stocked ewes on this paddock, and many others, would usually be mobbed up into larger mobs … Read more
Here at Lincoln, we are currently getting ready to start grazing lucerne on the Home Block at Ashley Dene. These stands are about 3 years old now (sown Nov 2008) and we are looking at how different spring grazing management is going to impact on how the lucerne yield, persistence and animal liveweight production. The grazing … Read more
Dick Lucas has just informed me that the Ashley Dene Centenary book is now available for sale at the Lincoln University bookshop. The book describes the history and development of Ashley Dene since it was purchased by Lincoln Agricultural College in 1909. It contains commentaries from staff, students and farm managers about their time at the farm. Pastoral and livestock … Read more
This season has been incredibly wet at Bonavaree, the total average rainfall has been reached already, and there are still 4 months to go! The ewes and lambs have shown remarkable resilience to this wet, with very high lamb survival rates, even when the weather was at its worse. The ewes have lambed in very … Read more
Omaka Barley is a great crop to use at Bonavaree. Barley is used here because it really fits in well with the Avery’s system. The Omaka variety has been bred locally, and is very suitable for reliable dry matter production in a Marlborough dryland environment. It is a multipurpose crop at Bonavaree, in that it … Read more