Dairying in Canterbury

This video is a presentation by Prof Derrick Moot at the European Society of Agronomy Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland from 27-31 Aug 2018. This presentation was given on 30 Aug 2018. The presentation discusses the changes seen in the dairy industry in the Canterbury region and outlines some problems and potential solutions to some of … Read more

Ray Brougham Trophy Public Lecture – Legumes Regenerate Pastures

Professor Derrick Moot was awarded the Ray Brougham Trophy by the New Zealand Grassland Trust in Nov 2016. As part of this, award Derrick was required to make a series of public lectures. This video is a recording of the lecture which took place at Lincoln University, Canterbury on 6 Sep 2017. The duration of this … Read more

Sub clover germinating in Marlborough this season

Here are some photos of sub clover taken by Doug Avery on ‘Bonavaree’ Farm in Marlborough. Legume–dominant pasture in spring 2016 The photo below shows Fraser Avery standing in high quality legume dominant pasture last spring (1 October 2016). This is ‘Antas’ sub clover which has been allowed to set seed in its first year and … 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

Renewing Dryland Pastures

Planning for your autumn sown annual clover based permanent pastures Order early Although it may seem a bit early to some people we thought it timely to put a reminder out for our dryland farmers to get their annual clover seed orders in to their local seed suppliers. Placing your seed orders now (before 1 … Read more

State of the cocksfoot pastures with annual clovers in early spring

Dick Lucas talks about the cocksfoot pasture established with sub and balansa clovers on 26th Aug (beginning of the third regrowth season) in this first video (approx. 1 min). In the second he discusses the change in the ratio of the ‘Denmark’ and ‘Rosabrook’ sub clover cultivars in the cocksfoot/sub clover pasture (approx. 1 min).In … Read more

Late autumn annual clover pasture status – the hybrid ryegrass/sub clover mix

In this, the final video blog in the late autumn field walk series taken in early May, we look at the state of the fourth treatment in our ‘MaxAnnuals’ Experiment at Ashley Dene, Canterbury (approx. 4 mins). This pasture was established with the following dryland pasture mix in autumn 2013:10 kg/ha ‘Ultra Enhanced’ perennial ryegrass … Read more

Late autumn annual clover pasture status – the hybrid ryegrass/sub/balansa mix

In this video blog, the third in the autumn series taken on 7th May 2015, Dick Lucas discusses the state of the hybrid ryegrass pasture initially established in autumn 2013 at Ashley Dene, Canterbury. Approx. 4 ½ mins) The initial species and sowing rates for the pasture discussed in this post was:10 kg/ha ‘Ultra Enhanced’ … Read more

Glen Erin House Paddock – Bonavaree mixed paddock persisting through the dry (February).

The dry matter production from this Bonavaree mixed species paddock has inevitably slowed down due to the dry. Although, the soil moisture has potentially been “topped up” somewhat by the rains that occurred recently in mid-January (2 inches) and then a very well timed 20mm in the first week of February. This has no doubt … Read more

North Face – Bonavaree mix now fully established

North face is still going strong, and had been grazed off with Lambs in mid January, followed by a quick 24 hour clean-up graze with cows. The rains that occurred in January meant that this paddock was able to be grazed, otherwise it was going to be shut up for another month. The following clean-up … Read more