Legumes are the key to increasing productivity at “Inverary”, a summer moist hill / high country farm in mid-Canterbury

Abstract

About half the 4250 ha of Inverary is undevelopedmountain land above 750 m a.s.l. There are 300 haof river flats, where lucerne and winter feed cropsare grown, and 300 ha conventional grass/cloverpastures. Limited areas of clover/plantain and winterfeed crops have been established at ~700 m a.s.l. oneasy rolling country. The 1600 ha of steep country,dominated by browntop, gives low spring and highsummer production that is difficult to manage. In2009, there were no lucerne or legume rich pastures.The legume emphasis increased animal productivitythrough improved lambing and lamb weight sold perewe. Total lamb meat production lifted from 230,113kg in 2009 to 245,039 kg in 2020, despite 1000 fewerewes. The current sheep to cattle ratio is 60:40 with13,000 stock units being wintered. Pre-development,a major shortage of nutritious forage in early springwas compounded by difficulty controlling reproductivegrass in summer and autumn. In 2016, total productionof legume dominant pastures was 40% more than sowngrass/clover pastures with limited nitrogen fertiliser(15 vs. 11 t DM/ha/year). In early spring, legumeshad higher growth rates of conventional grass/cloverpastures (90 vs. 44 kg DM/ha/day), whereas browntopdominant hill pastures grew 10 kg DM/ha/d and 5 tDM/ha/yr.