Farm Tech

PasturePlan

‘Eastcott’, David & Anne Gardner

Location: Scargill Valley, North Canterbury.

Farm size & type: 400 ha. Sheep breeding and finishing, with some cattle and deer finishing.

Topography: Dry-land rolling downs.

Rainfall: 600–650 mm/yr.

Climate: Winter moist and summer dry.

Soil type: n/a.

Fertiliser regime: Varies for different parts of the farm. One cutting site gets 150 kg/ha of DAP 15S a year, while the other, which hay is made from, gets 350 kg/ha of 30 % potash super a year.

Stock numbers: 1,900 breeding ewes, 500 hoggets, 360 deer and 106 cattle.

Carrying capacity: 9 su/ha.

Plot descriptions: (a) Old ryegrass, flat to rolling land. (b) 4-yr ryegrass, flat to rolling.

Detailed description: n/a.

Farmer's comments: David was part of the North Canterbury dry matter monitoring as a Farmer Initiated Technology Transfer (FITT) project last year and sees this as an extension of the original project.

"Very little research has been done in the past 20 years outside of the Ministry of Agriculture. Things have changed so much now. We have different farming styles and much more intensive beef and sheep farming, so PasturePlan will provide the information we need." (David Gardner)

Results published: Canterbury Farming

Local Meat & Wool Innovation contact: Alan Marshall, tel 03-325 6911, cell 025-329 399, alan.marshall@mwi.co.nz