Former Beef+Lamb NZ CEO appointed head of Foundation for Arable Research
Former chief executive of Beef+Lamb New Zealand Scott Champion will head the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) from July.
Eat your heart out dairy farmers: even if your pasture is the best in the country it won’t come close to amassing the feed/day a cereal crop can, judging by Foundation of Arable Research (FAR) findings.
From flag leaf through to cheesy-dough grain stage, May-sown plots of wheat, oats, barley and triticale at Lincoln averaged 310kgDM/ha/day growth last spring.
“The triticale was the highest yielding but maybe not the best quality and the wheats were right up there with it,” pointed out FAR researcher Elin Arnaudin during a recent Results Round Up meeting.
Yields across all species were 20-23tDM/ha at the cheesy dough stage, reached in mid-late December. That compares to just 4-5tDM/ha when taken as greenchop at the flag-leaf to booting stage of the crop in late October to early November, she pointed out.
With such stellar growth rates, every day in the paddock means a much bigger stack come harvest, but Arnaudin stressed the 30-46% drymatter window for ensiling mustn’t be missed.
Plant growth regulators reduced yield overall but did increase the percentage grain content of taller wheat cultivars, suggesting a feed quality benefit.
Wholecrop cereal silage taken at the cheesy dough stage is a high carbohydrate, low protein feed suitable for supplementing pasture which would “hopefully” be worth 25c/kgDM, said Arnaudin. Green-chopped crop has a higher protein, lower fibre and starch content.
Taking cereals as wholecrop can reduce growing costs compared to grain and means the paddock is cleared earlier for following crops.
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
This past week has seen another round of negotiations between India and New Zealand to produce a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Cautiously optimistic is how DairyNZ's regional manager for the lower North Island, Mark Laurence describes the mood of farmers in his patch.
The Infrastructure Commission has endorsed a plan by Chorus to expand fibre broadband to 95% of New Zealand much to the delight of rural women.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…