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
Prof Moot was out on farms in North Canterbury this week. He was impressed with the contribution of sub clover to many pastures with the white flowers just starting to show. The combination of sub and cocksfoot was a revelation on Mt Benger, with a high legume component and few weeds 6 years after establishment. … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot (Dryland Pastures Research Group) The Dryland Pastures Research Group are thinking of their east coast NI farmers – and we are feeling a long way from being able to help. So, we have put together some practical considerations for when the focus goes on pasture renewal on silt … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot. The photos below are from a sub clover drilling of a 400 ha area in Middlemarch in March 2022. A lack of autumn rain meant the germination did not occur until May. Fortunately, sub clover seeds are capable of sitting in the ground and waiting for rain if … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot A nice problem to have – Matt Iremonger at Willesden Farm on Banks Peninsula is facing a different problem from the summer dry he encounters most years. This years rainfall has flushed lucerne back into production and Matt comments – “ 6500 lambs on 150 ha – stocking … Read more
Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot. Many east coast areas of New Zealand have had 20-100 mm of rainfall in the last week or so with more forecast. This unusual mid-summer situation has messed up my holiday – but more importantly can lead to some management issues that need to be considered for lucerne … Read more
02/11/2021 Mt Benger, North Canterbury The Luisetti-sponsored ‘Spotlight on legumes’ field day drew a crowd of ~70 people from the farming community, industry and Lincoln University to Mt Benger, North Canterbury, which is managed by Stuart Fraser. The field trip started in the hill country with the sub clover/cocksfoot pasture in Alice’s Block. This ‘Woogenellup’ … Read more
After my last blog post Andrew Peters from Taihape responded with his experience of increasing sub clover on farm. About 20 years ago he started putting “some” sub clover in with his fertiliser. I asked Andrew what that meant? “The loader driver was given a rat bait container and told to put one in each … Read more
Posted prepared by the Dryland Pastures Research Team – R. Lucas, S. Olykan, D. Moot, C. Teixeira and A. Mills. Earlier this year, Prof. Derrick Moot discussed ‘Planning for sub clover dominant spring pastures in autumn’(1) so that farmers would have high quality feed for their lactating ewes. There’s a good reason for the focus … Read more
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