Lucerne-Tama ryegrass systems for fat lamb production

A study of the management of lucerne-Tama ryegrass grazing systems for fat lamb production under dryland and irrigated conditions was made from 1973 to 1977 on light land Chertsey silt loam at Kirwee, Central Canterbury. Dryland farmlets stocked at 15-17 Border Leicester-Corriedale ewes/ha yielded 300 kg meat/ha and irrigated farmlets stocked at 27 ewes/ha yielded 480 kg meat/ha. On dryland the herbage grown was 9 200 kg dry matter (DM)/ha (annual mean for all pastures in a system), and on irrigated, 12 700 kg DM/ha. Hay made on dryland farmlets in 2 of the 4 years was sufficient for the 4 year requirements: on irrigated farmlets only one-third of the required amount of hay was made when stocked at 27 ewes/ha. On dryland, satisfactory crops of pure-sown Tama were grown on summer-fallowed land. Overdrilling Tama into lucerne failed in two dry autumns. Irrigation in autumn assured the success of Tama overdrilling.