The last couple of months have been an episode of extremes at Bonavaree; record weather highs and lows, destructive gales, and to top it off several major earthquakes! Firstly…the weather: June was cold, wet and cloudy (it broke several records according to NIWA – see summary table below) and then July was completely opposite in … Read more
The countdown to lambing is on at Bonavaree when I visited in late May. Doug and Fraser have had a really successful year with Jeffries Front Flat, and it is still looking like a productive paddock that is geared to produce well again this spring. Seed Harvest The lucerne seed harvest from this paddock was … Read more
Jeffries Front Flat was being grazed by the replacement ewe lambs at my visit just prior to Xmas. The ewe lambs had removed the bulk of the leaf and green vegetation, leaving a small amount of stalk as residual (see photos at left of lamb residual). The mob of 950 ewe lambs were due to … Read more
Fraser and Doug have got the cull ewes and their lambs grazing on Glen Erin at the moment, plus a handful of Friesian bulls. The paddock is currently split into two with an electrified break-fence. The Avery’s are developing their stock water system to increase trough numbers, so that they can subdivide paddocks by break … 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
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
This paddock of Torlesse is currently grazed by twin lambing ewes. Lucerne/Prairie Grass/Plantain, and Annual Ryegrass paddocks are also used for multiple bearing ewes to provide maximum nutrition in late pregnancy and lambing. Single bearing ewes are not grazed on lucerne, as this is better utilised for multiple lamb production. Fraser uses lucerne paddocks to … Read more