Introduction
Over the years the team have completed several Sustainable Farming Fund project working with farmers to improve sheep production on farms. Some of the results have been summarised on this website.
Over 60% of New Zealand hill country is in low fertility and wetter regions. Legumes still provide a significant opportunity in these environments, but systems to establish and manage those legumes to capture their benefits are lacking. A national series of workshops with farmers in 2016/17 identified a clear need to provide information and farm systems based around legumes which can perform in low fertility and high rainfall regions. References White clover...
read moregrazing managment systems for ewes and lambs on lucerne in Central Otago
The Lucerne for Lambs project has provided a demonstration of different ways to use lucerne in sheep grazing systems. This project has been based in Central Otago and developed from the original Marlborough work at Bonvaree. The question raised was how do we make this work in Central Otago? How do we get better use of lucerne in this environment, and how big an impact if you change the whole farm system around? The concept doesn’t work in this area unless...
read moreimpact of a changing climate on lamb survival
The objectives of this project were to understand the risks associated with a changing climate to sheep farming in the lower South Island and, in particular, focussing on lambing and lamb survival. The project was stimulated after some severe weather events that occurred in the midst of lambing and severely impacted on farm productivity. The effect of lower lambing percentage in any year flows through to the industries that support farmers (meat processors’,...
read moreGrazing management of dryland lucerne in Marlborough
Lucerne (Medicago sativa) has traditionally been grown for provision of supplements in winter. However the benefits of direct fed lucerne over traditional grass based pastures have been highlighted in two Sustainable Farming Fund projects. The first of these was in Marlborough and arose out of desperation after 6 years of below average rainfall in the 1990’s. On the Avery property, Bonavaree, the lucerne grazing management system had significantly lifted the...
read moreor four day shifts in winter
Can we make a difference to the incidence of vaginal prolapse in ewes (‘bearings’) by altering the early pregnancy management of the ewe to maintain their body condition ie early pregnancy nutrition? Since 2005 groups of farmers in the lower South Island have been looking in to the relationship between pregnancy management of ewes and the occurrence of bearings. Over time this project has increasingly focussed on early pregnancy management of ewes...
read moreLegumes for hard hill cou...
"Over 60% of New Zealand hill country is in low fertility and wetter regions....
Lucerne for Lambs
"The Lucerne for Lambs project has provided a demonstration of different ways...
Lamb Alive
"The objectives of this project were to understand the risks associated with a...
Grazing lucerne at Bonava...
"Lucerne (Medicago sativa) has traditionally been grown for provision of...
Winter feeding ewes
"Can we make a difference to the incidence of vaginal prolapse in ewes...
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Over the years the team have completed several Sustainable Farming Fund project working with farmers to improve sheep production on farms. Some of the results have been summarised on this website.
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