Posted on behalf of Prof. Derrick Moot. So what happens after the fire? On Saturday I went bungy jumping. A birthday “gift” voucher had been sitting on the fridge for several months. I was ignoring it. Silently hoping it might expire. But my wife had other ideas. She booked the date, and I confronted my fear. The rational part of my brain reminded me of Year 12 physics and the highly predictable elasticity of rubber bands. As a scientist I understand the equations and their repeatability. But the emotional side of me just wasn’t that keen to jump off a perfectly good bridge! The science won an ..read more

Posted on behalf of the Horehound Biocontrol Group Kia ora koutou, We are pleased to give you a cautiously optimistic update in time for the festive season: The new shipment of horehound plume moth has made its first public appearance. Plume moth – Take 2 A lot has happened in the year since the previous update. We were then considering whether we should try to reintroduce the plume moth from Australia. The catchment groups who co-funded the project agreed this was the way to go, and MPI agreed as well. Our collaborators in Australia were incredibly helpful and accommodating, and did the groun ..read more

Posted on behalf of Prof Moot. Last week was hot, but not unusually so for the time of year – this is normal Canterbury summer weather. I had two experiences recently that reminded me we still have a lot to learn. The first was coffee with a prospective PhD student. She is working in the agriculture industry and mentioned she had enjoyed doing our online 600 level course. She had learnt a lot of practical things that she could apply in her job. She had learnt from Prof McKenzie that putting 4 mm of water onto pastures every day was not an efficient use of water (which it isn’t) and tried to te ..read more

Derricks annual round-up of the year that was at the Field Research Centre can be read here: Ode2023Letter ..read more

This week the Dryland Pastures Group hosted researchers from across campus at the Regenerative Agriculture Dryland Experiment (RADE). This farmlet is now fully stocked with Bohepe ewes and lambs. The summer dry is starting to show with some pasture becoming water stressed but our first draft of lambs have gone so stocking rate will decline over the next few weeks – as it does on many east coast farms. The Open Day was to explain the farmlets to other researchers to encourage them to get involved in component work that adds to the overall picture. To date the high and low P pastures are provi ..read more

This week DPR Group head technician Malcolm Smith was awarded the 75th Jubilee Technician Award by the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. The purpose of the Award is to recognise an outstanding contribution by an individual technician to the facilitation of quality research in New Zealand animal production and/or the Society. Many of you will know Malcolm from his time with the DPR Group, or at MAF/MAFTech/AgResearch as technician at Templeton, Winchmore and Lincoln previously. Malcolm’s citation provided for his nomination is provided in full below: Citation for Mr Malcolm Smith: Back ..read more

While at Bonavaree last week, Prof Moot took the opportunity to question Fraser about his current grazing management of lucerne. Fraser highlighted that they missed most of the rain the rest of the country has experienced in the last month so the land is drying out quickly. He is hopeful that he can get through to around Christmas but sees the recovery rate of the just grazed lucerne is already slowing down. This could mean a faster rotation to take what comes back and having to sell stock at lighter weights than he would like. But he is hopeful that with one more rainfall event he will make i ..read more

Prof Moot visited Marlborough again last week to catch-up with Fraser Avery. They checked out the new lucerne which will be a key part of summer management for Bonavaree when things turn dry. Fraser has some new lucerne each year to provide mid-summer feed when the pastures and older lucerne have used up their water. The new lucerne was sown on 15th October 2023 after two years of barley crops. The direct drilling retains soil moisture and has ensured the plants are now well established. No inoculant was used because these are older paddocks, so the rhizobia are already present in the soil. Fr ..read more

Prof Moot was out on farms in North Canterbury this week. He was impressed with the contribution of sub clover to many pastures with the white flowers just starting to show. The combination of sub and cocksfoot was a revelation on Mt Benger, with a high legume component and few weeds 6 years after establishment. He explained how the clumpy nature of cocksfoot comes from the animals preferentially grazing the legume in between. However, the combination of species works because the cocksfoot keeps weeds out by grabbing all the summer moisture. This means it is quick to respond to any summer rain ..read more

Posted on behalf of Prof Derrick Moot One of the interesting things of having students from different countries visit Lincoln University is hearing how their world views differ. The visit of the Oregon State students recently highlighted the pragmatic view of Americans. They were intrigued when I explained we are not allowed to grow genetically engineered (GE) crops. They wondered why we hadn’t followed the science? I explained that science operates within accepted public norms and, currently, the NZ public was not accepting GE. In contrast, our European visitors are often enamoured by the org ..read more