Welcome to our project’s first official blog post!
Here, we hope to be posting regular updates on our project for you - including interesting and relevant info, field day recaps and upcoming events.
We recently had a field day on the 7th of August, on Nick Broad’s property in Waituku. The core project team along with a few local farmers, spent Wednesday afternoon taking a close look at how the Tagasaste trial work is going.
Recap of the Day:
Understorey study has proved that Lotus, Red Clover and the new Cocksfoot variety have been good performers in this environment (Prairie Grass in early days).
New regrowth on the recently trimmed ‘Direct Graze Trial’ trees shows that there is a lot of potential for this type of management (again, early days still!).
Tagasaste planted apart from main plantation inside tree guards prior to project beginning, is looking great. The idea was to continue grazing so that there would be no loss of pasture quality.
Where to from here?
Scale up the pasture species work using the best species. How to establish them?
How will this system affect the carrying capacity? Higher/Lower Su/Ha?
How good is Tagasaste at holding the soil?
How will we manage the understorey pasture mix for best results?
Click HERE to find the location of the field day's summary and scientific handout
