Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot The recent rain has done little to top up the soils on dryland farms in the Canterbury region or fill the hydro Lakes. To understand the situation I asked Dr Black to send me the latest soil water data from the RADE. This is a typical soil (Templeton) … Read more
Prof Moot visited sheep and beef properties in Nth Canterbury on Tuesday. Questions focused on how to deal with the lack of feed. The options are largely unpalatable. However, there is a need to be proactive to ensure there is feed for spring lambs due to the mismatch between feed supply and feed demand. This … Read more
Prepared by: Carmen Teixeira (PhD candidate) and edited by the Dryland Pastures Research Team (Prof. Derrick Moot, Mr Dick Lucas, Dr Sonya Olykan and Dr Annamaria Mills) Winter has arrived and this time is associated with Matariki (the Māori New Year), and also marks the shift of the sun’s journey in the sky (see the … Read more
In these three short videos, taken on 3 August 2016, Derrick talks about the current soil moisture status of a shallow and a deep soil as we prepare for the spring growth season in our dryland systems. In the first clip we see a lucerne stand on a deep Templeton silt loam soil at Lincoln … Read more
In this video Prof Derrick Moot outlines best practice grazing management of lucerne stands in winter. Herbicide applications, plant growth and development are discussed. The implications of these winter management decisions on early spring feed supply for high priority livestock are outlined (approx. 4½ mins).