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FAR researcher Elin Arnaudin.
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.
To survive and thrive in this changing world, New Zealand farmers must take a new look at what resilience means to them and their farming operations, Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) chief executive Alison Stewart says.
Agronomic tools and practices are available for maize growers facing the headwinds of increasing costs of production, extreme weather events and environmental considerations, Foundation for Arable Research senior maize researcher David Densley says.
The arable sector will feel the impacts of cuts to forecast milk payments to New Zealand’s dairy farmers, says Federated Farmers arable vice-president grains, Andrew Darling.
Arable farmers are being encouraged to vote before the August 23 deadline in a referendum, which will determine the future of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).
Planting green a developing trend here and overseas where growers plant directly into a green crop, will be demonstrated at the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) premier maize field day near Hamilton this month.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
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