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. 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
Professor Moot recently took the opportunity to show his overseas visitors some of the farming practices in New Zealand. The visit to a Northern Southland hill country farm discussed the importance of lime for clover production on hill country. The cost of flying on lime can appear prohibitive as the clover response may take 2-3 … Read more
It was great to have some rain last week – it allowed Fraser Avery some time to write about his planning for lucerne and sub clover after the first autumn rains – and to reflect on missing the opportunity to host us all at Bonavaree last week. On the farm Yes it is raining! When … 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
The recent rain across the country may cause pastures to green up. Stay off them if you want to have feed in spring. At this time of year it is important to get a canopy of green leaves covering the ground extensively before winter temperatures cause growth rates to slow. For dryland farmers the rain … Read more
Post prepared by the Dryland Pastures Research Team – Dr S.T. Olykan, C.S. Teixeira (PhD candidate), Mr R.J. Lucas, Prof D.J. Moot and Dr A. Mills. Why choose sub clover? Sub clover suits a summer dry environment because: In a mixed pasture it may provide 2 to 4 t/ha of high quality herbage for lactating … 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