Seventeen Gippsland dairy farmers recently returned from a four-day tour of the Bega Valley with Notman Pasture Seeds, stepping on farm with enthusiastic dairy operators. The tour, organised by Notman Pasture Seeds, developed opportunities to engage and learn from fellow dairy farmers in the Bega Valley, visiting leading dairy & fodder operations, networking with Dairy Australia, Far South Coast Development Group, Bega Cheese & Rabobank representatives. Whilst the current challenging dairy economics were present in most conversations, the group were keen to pick up farming developments translatable to operations in Gippsland. Extensive development highlights included the Kimber’s sustainable large scale lucerne and Pioneer maize fodder farm at Chakola supporting their 1200 cows at Bega, Trevor Platt’s passion for developing dryland […]
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Kicking off Western District pasture renovation
It has been a particularly dry start to the year in the Western District – and that has led to sustained and heavily grazed paddocks and a reduction of feed options moving into Autumn. To kick off the year Warrnambool recorded 29.2mm, 55% down on January-February average of 65mm. Terang recorded 36.8mm, 39% down on average 61mm. And Nullawarre recorded 48.4mm, 39% down on average 80.4mm. In some cases pastures won’t bounce back, so increasingly demand has risen for cheaper, quicker, home grown feed that’s still coupled with high pasture quality and palatability. The introduction of fast growing annual ryegrasses is a key component of many pasture programs especially whenever there is a need to bump-up production levels to increase […]
Research and development at Notman Pasture Seeds
All pasture and forage varieties available from Notman Pasture Seeds are thoroughly trialled and tested on farms throughout Australia & New Zealand to assess their performance capability under varying farming conditions. Notman Pasture Seeds continue to work with our main suppliers to trials and demonstrate new & existing forage products. Forage varieties are evaluated in these trials for a number of performance- related criteria, including: Where necessary, the company undertakes animal performance trials to assess the impact of its varieties on livestock performance and health. A key aspect of the Notman Pasture Seeds culture is the continued focus on research through replicated pasture & cropping trials and making that data relevant to the bottom line of farmers. All trials are […]
Farm Chat with Dave Barry – Labertouche
With our calving pattern we have a big requirement for late summer and autumn feed, so chicory delivers a large amount of quality feed when we need it most. Chicory give us the extra feed in autumn and assists us to create our own autumn break. We began growing Chico chicory fourteen years ago with the aim to get the most out the 22ML of water available on our farm at Labertouche. We were originally irrigating summer pastures, however the results were only average with the pasture suffering from rust and plant pulling. Yet the results we saw from irrigating the chicory were outstanding, and when effluent was applied the growth rates were even higher. I have used a number […]
Gippsland discussion group visits northern NSW
Visits to some of northern NSW’s leading dairy and beef farms were among the highlights of a 4 day agricultural tour organised by Notman Pasture Seeds in late January. A group of seventeen dairy farmers from West and South Gippsland toured Neal’s Dairy on Oxley Island, Hurrell’s Dairy in Comboyne, Sundown Valley Pastoral Company, Walcha Dairy, Cordingley’ s at Walcha & Maslen’s Dairy at Gloucester. The focus of the tour was to provide farmers, many from the Drouin South Discussion Group, with an opportunity to look at the way in which the dairy & beef industry in other states had developed. “The tour explored first-hand the opportunities and challenges that face dairy & beef farmers in other parts of Australia,” […]
New maize option yields well at Loch
A first time try of the Pioneer® hybrid P1070 maize produced excellent yields in two different locations for dairy farmer Ian Hooker, of Loch in South Gippsland, Victoria. Mr Hooker said he’d been growing maize for 15 years although it was the first time he had planted P1070. He said they put in 23 hectares all up with the 13 hectares off-farm producing yields of 26 dry matter tonnes per hectare of silage. “The 10 hectares of the dairy farm was almost as good,” he said. Maize is planted as the weather warms up in November and is normally taken through harvest as silage in April. Mr Hooker said the away block was about 20 minutes from the dairy farm […]