| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• 54Q53 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• L56 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• Q75 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• L90 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• L91 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• MULTILEAF® ML99 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
|
• CLOVER FEEDBACK
• MEDIC FEEDBACK
• RYEGRASS FEEDBACK
• LEGUMES FEEDBACK
• FESTULOLIUM FEEDBACK
• FORAGE CEREALS FEEDBACK
• SPRING OPTIONS FEEDBACK
• SOWSMART BLENDS FEEDBACK
• ESTABLISHMENT GUARANTEE FEEDBACK
• GOLD STRIKE |
|
| |
 David Agnew - Medic
Medic mix an excellent rotation option. David Agnew, of Stansbury, on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia, inspecting a paddock of medic varieties grown for hay last season. A mix of medic pasture varieties has proved to be an excellent option in rotation with cereals on the Agnew property, at Stansbury, on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia. David Agnew said medics had become an important rotational option because of their soil types which suited pastures a bit better than crops. He said the greyish soil type over limestone was quite shallow and the blend of medics provided a good option for grazing and hay. The medic blend was recommended by a local agronomist and consisted of 20 percent Goldstrike Caliph barrel medic, 15 percent Goldstrike Cavalier spineless burr medic, 50 percent Goldstrike Paraggio barrel medic and 15 percent Goldstrike Tornata disc medic. A range of medic varieties were used to take advantage of different seasonal conditions. Mr Agnew said the blend was sown dry
just prior to Anzac Day last season, at a rate of 10 kilograms per hectare with an application of 80 kilograms per hectare of MAP. “We spread it and hit it with a stone roller,” he said. “It germinated really well.” The 22 hectare paddock was sprayed for grass weeds and Broadstrike herbicide was also used for capeweed control. “We grazed it lightly but not too much,” Mr Agnew said. He said the main aim of the paddock was to produce good quality hay which could then be used later in the year as sheep feed. The paddock was locked up and cut for hay during spring, with an average yield of 2.5 tonnes per hectare achieved from the crop. Mr Agnew said the medic blend had been used for a number of years on the property and was providing some advantages over other rotational options. Last season the medic was planted in a paddock that had grown barley the previous season. It will be followed with a wheat crop next year. The medic phase in the rotation is setting nitrogen in the soil and also assisting weed control. “Nitrogen going back into the soil is helping,” Mr
Agnew said. “With the weed control we are not relying on chemicals as much.” The medics also regenerate and will continue to grow for a number of years and provide grazing options. “After the hay was cut this year the medics kept on growing and then set burr (seed),” Mr Agnew said. He said the medics would survive through the following cereal crop and be a useful grazing option. The hay from the medic paddocks have been used on-farm to feed stock in the summer months as a supplement to traditional cereal stubbles. “It gives the lambs a bit of extra protein,” Mr Agnew said.
David Agnew, of Stansbury, on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia
|
| |
 |
|
|
| |
 Frank Tobin - Cavalier Spineless Burr Medic
A decision to oversow two paddocks of lucerne with a medic has paid off with an abundance of cattle feed on the Burnewang Homestead property, at Elmore, in central Victoria. Farm manager, Frank Tobin, said the lucerne stand was three to four years of age but, due to seasonal conditions and management, was not performing as well as it should. He said he didn’t have any experience with medics but decided to direct drill seed into the lucerne to see if it could deliver the amount of feed they needed. “It delivered way beyond what I expected.” The Cavalier medic was sown at a rate of 8 kilograms per hectare in May with 60 kilograms of DAP per hectare also applied. “In July it started to hit its straps and by late September it was growing faster than what we could consume,” Mr Tobin said. The 40 hectare area was in two 20 hectare paddocks and grazed by 160 Poll Hereford cows and calves from September onwards. One paddock carried cows with calves born in autumn and the other cows with calves born in spring time. Mr Tobin said an electric wire was used so the cattle could graze the maximum amount of feed from the area each day before being progressed to the next section. He said the wire was moved each day but they were still unable to get across each paddock after eight weeks of continuous grazing. “It was a huge volume of feed,” he said. As the Cavalier medic came into late spring the lucerne took over and provided more feed during the summer months. The stand will be managed through the summer similar to a normal Lucerne crop. Mr Tobin said the Cavalier produced a mass of pods and the hard seed set should provide a strong base in the paddock for next season. He said if the medic germinates with rain in the autumn it will provide feed even earlier in the season with the two species complementing each other well. “It was my first experience with medics and it was a learning curve on how to manage it to get the most feed,” he said. “We will look at what we’ve done and make any changes for next year.” The seasonal conditions of 2010 certainly helped produce an excellent result from the Cavalier medic. “To take advantage of a season like this we needed to have the right product in the ground.”
Frank Tobin, Elmore VIC |
| |
|
|
| |
Ian Maslin - Cavalier Spineless Burr Medic
A pasture mix which included medic seed has performed well undersown to barley on the property of Rod Maslin located between Ardlethan and Coolamon in southern New South Wales. Mr Maslin said subclovers and lucerne had been the predominant pasture species grown in the past but he had turned to a different mix last season. “The dry years have tested a lot of the different clovers so I looked at something different,” he said. “Our pastures through the drought were just disappearing.” This season the barley was sown at a reduced rate of 20 kilograms per hectare into 18 inch row spacings. Normally cereals are planted into 9 inch rows but last season every second row
was blocked to allow enough light to come down through the canopy to benefit the pasture species. The pasture mix was broadcast across
the area at planting and consisted of 2.25 kilograms per hectare of winter active lucerne, 1 kilogram per hectare of sub clover, 1 kilogram per hectare of rose clover, 1/4 kilogram per hectare of Bartolo bladder clover and 1 kilogram per hectare of Cavalier medic.
Mr Maslin said the Cavalier medic was up and away earlier in the paddock and seemed to produce a lot of feed per plant. He said the pasture and barley mix was planted to a number of different paddock types with the soil pH varying from low to mid fives to more neutral types. The Cavalier medic performed particularly well on heavier soil types. After the barley harvest the Lucerne will be allowed to flower and then the paddocks can be grazed by the mixed stock of 800 merinos and 2200 cross bred. Mr Maslin said the pasture mix will remain in the paddocks for a minimum of three years with the lucerne component allowing good feed over the summer months and the other pasture species designed for feed through the autumn and cooler winter months. He said the Cavalier medic had shown good early growth and so would be a good option earlier in the season. It had also seeded quite early and with its high hard seed count would adjust to different seasonal conditions on the property. Last season in a drier year the reduced planting rate barley which had lucerne pasture established underneath yielded similarly to the solid row barley. Mr Maslin said it would be interesting to see how the two options performed under the better seasonal conditions. He said the skip row configuration and reduced planting rate of the cereal was crucial to getting good pasture establishment.
Ian Maslin, Ardlethan NSW |
| |
|
|
 |
| |
 Darryl Smith - Medic
A range of medic species have been used in a mix as part of the crop rotation phase on the property of Darryl Smith of Glenville Merino Stud, between Cleve and Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Last season Mr Smith trialled a number of medic-based blends to see what would suit the different soil types and seasonal conditions. Typically the blend is undersown to a cereal in the cropping phase at a rate of between 2.5 and 3 kilograms per hectare and then allowed to set seed to produce a pasture the following year. In the past Mogul and Parraggio medics have been used although last season the blend was expanded to include Cavalier and Parabinga medics as well as Clare 2 sub clover and SARDI Persian clover. Mr Smith said many of the paddocks had historically been sub clover country and medics were being introduced because they were a bit quicker and would also set seed. He said by putting in different varieties there should be something that will set seed in range of seasonal conditions. The medics are normally then used for one year for sheep feed in the pasture phase and also gives the added advantage of extra nitrogen in the soil. “Crops after the medic phase have lifted,” Mr Smith said. “Paddocks with good medic pastures have good protein in the wheat.” Paddocks range in size from 32 to 60 hectares and are generally grazed by mobs numbering between 150 and 200. The sheep are allowed to chew the medic down prior to being relocated in an adjacent paddock to allow the medic pasture to respond. Mr Smith said, in the good conditions of 2010, the pastures responded very quickly and allowed two to three good grazings over the winter and spring. “This year the sheep would graze it down, be shifted out and by the time they got through the next paddocks the first one was ready again.” The medics are used for feed, to add nitrogen to the soil and also as a tool to control problem weeds such as capeweed and various grasses. Last season there was good success in controlling capeweed by spraying the medic areas with MCPA early and then grazing the areas heavily. “We put a big mob of sheep in there and the medics just took off after that.” Glenville Merino Stud is one of thelargest on the Eyre Peninsula. They carry approximately 1400 breeding ewes. Each year up to 250 rams are sold with the on-farm sale held on the first Tuesday in August.
Darryl Smith, Eyre Peninsula SA |
| |
|
|
| |
|
