Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot Recent trips from South Canterbury to Marlborough highlight several emerging issues for lucerne in this early spring. The particularly high (>200 mm) rainfall in June and subsequently warm winter temperatures have combined to create unusual circumstances. Here, Derrick outlines some of the problems and solutions to consider over … Read more
Gundy and I (Lisa) have been asked to join the impressive line-up of properties in the Lincoln Dryland Blog series, reporting frequently on the going’s on at Bog Roy throughout the year. I am a B.Ag.Sci. Hons. graduate from Lincoln University and worked as a Field Officer in Central Otago and Upper Waitaki/Mckenzie regions for Ravensdown … 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
Warwick estimated that the carrying capacity of this paddock has been increased by 200%. By renovating the areas that were able to be drilled by tractor (approximately 12ha, 55% of the total paddock area), the quantity of pasture on offer within this block has been greatly improved. The increase in pasture quality is also a … Read more
It’s been a slow spring at the Pyramid. Chris has said everything seems to be slow this year (both animals and pastures), and is a common comment for most farmers up here. The place was still looking green at my last visit (14th November), with most grass species only in the very early stages of … Read more
Glen Erin was being spelled from grazing at my last visit (19th November). The mob of cull ewes and their twin lambs that were being grazed here last time are being grazed elsewhere and were to return on the 20th November. The rotation length was 34 days for this round. You can see that in … Read more
Jeffries Front Flat is being grazed again with 350 ewes and their triplet lambs. This mob will be removed from Front flat once they had been weaned (end of November). The plans for this paddock is to have one more graze within the rotation, and then it is shut up for certified seed production. There … 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