What was achieved
- Dry matter production of tall fescue / white clover and red clover / white clover pastures were monitored in 2018/19 and 2019/20 on a commercial farm under irrigated conditions.
About the study site
Pemberley Farm, at Charing Cross, Aylsebury, Canterbury is a 506 ha finishing farm about 40 km due west of Christchurch owned by the Cross brothers and we worked with manager Valerie Walpot. This flat land and about 331 ha (65% of the total area) is irrigated by water from the Central Plains Water Scheme. The pastures range from pure legume swards e.g. red clover or lucerne to pasture mixes of tall fescue/white clover to more conventional ryegrass and white clover. Pemberley’s stocking rate is approx. 8 su/ha in winter and up to 28 su/ha in summer.
What was trialled
- Dry matter production of tall fescue / white clover and red clover / white clover pastures were monitored in 2018/19 and 2019/20 on a commercial farm.
- In Year 1 the pasture cuts were taken soon after each grazing event. In Year 2 exclosure cages were placed in each pasture type to make data collection more straight forward.
- This was an unreplicated pasture monitoring trial.
Key Findings
- In Year 1, the tall fescue / white clover pasture produced a total of 18.5 t DM/ha. Average botanical composition was 60% tall fescue, 20% white clover and 20% ryegrass.
- In Year 2, the same pasture produced 18.0 t DM/ha up to 18 January 2020. This was a 24% increase on that produced over the same period in Year 1. On average, swards consisted of 85% tall fescue and 5% white clover.
- In Year 1, the red clover / white clover pasture produced under 10 t DM/ha. The proportion of each clover varied throughout the year but averaged about 20% red clover, 40% white clover and 30% broadleaf weeds.
- In Year 2 dry matter production lifted to 11 t DM/ha, but by winter the proportion of clover had decreased, and the weeds increased up to 50%.