20 | AGRONOMY » North Otago Pastoral January sown Balansa clover - mid April, Duntroon area. Prolific growth, healthier pastures with Balansa clover “We want to make a positive difference to the lives of those around us through our products and service and supporting the local community. North Otago Pastoral it’s all about investing in the future.” Balansa Clover A few years ago, at North Otago Pastoral we started reading and learning about top flowering annual clovers. An interesting bunch, largely dominated by Persian, Arrowleaf and Balansa clover, and characterised by being short lived and very productive. First impressions were taken from adding some of these clovers to short term pastures, and initial responses were eye opening. Balansa clover in particular blew us away with prolific growth in very short periods. Working alongside our clients we further experimented with Balansa, exploring opportunities both as a standalone crop and incorporated in custom pasture mixes; When used by itself as a break crop, we have achieved strong cool season growth of very highquality forage, available as lamb/youngstock grazing or early spring silage. Early indications of Nitrogen fixation during this period have been positive, although difficult to measure in a complex system it would be estimated at between • from page 18 75-150kg N per ha. As good as Balansa is by itself, its utilisation in custom pasture mixes has caused. a paradoxical shift. Early on we found Balansa was not only able to keep up with perennial ryegrasses, often at first grazing Balansa would dominate the sward. With Nitrogen caps and ever-increasing costs being a big part of the landscape, our learnings about Balansa soon became widespread implementations. Carefully placed in a seed mix, we have been able to significantly adjust total sowing rates without reducing early DM yields. Altering the species sowing rates has led to improved pasture compositions in the medium term (read – more clover), these medium-term improvements are starting to deliver long term production lifts, all from starting with stronger – healthier pastures. Stronger healthier pastures which are centred around a component which last 3-5 months, grows like mad, then quickly disappears. • Key points • Balansa is a true annual, only persisting past the first season if it can set seed • Quick out of the blocks, Balansa can add significant bulk to the first grazing • Use in custom pasture mixes can unlock whole system improvements. A key option to improving pasture composition. AGC 2337 BIG, PERSISTENT, AND HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE. • Very strong winter growth • High total yield • Broad visual plant type in all farm systems • Low aftermath heading for an Italian ryegrass • Available without endophyte - AR37 available 2024 MANTA. UNLEASH THE BEAST ON YOUR FARM Call us on Ǽ ǼǼ ȓ Ȟ ȞǾ or contact North Otago Pastoral Services for more information. NEW
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