Management practices in drought conditions

The upper South Island has had a challenging time this year due to drought conditions. PGG Wrightson’s Technical Field Representative Hamish Marshall has been reviewing appropriate management practices with his clients to help cope with this situation. 

Hamish brought together a group of dryland sheep and beef farmers to collaborate and share ideas on how to approach this spring season and future years. Farm systems or circumstances are all different, but it helps to talk with other farmers to share experiences and gain new knowledge that can make a difference the next time an event occurs.

One piece of advice shared during these discussions was to consider using Pallaton Raphno®, a forage brassica that can have an ideal fit for areas prone to summer dryness.

“With the autumn drought, various farmers have stated that if they hadn’t had a reasonable area of Raphno®, they would have had to sell stock,” Hamish says.

Forage rape is a common practice to cope with summer dry, but particularly notable this season for Hamish’s clients was the clear benefit of Raphno®’s water use efficiency. Compared to other forage crop options, it could hang on longer during the dry, and recovered quicker when moisture arrived. 

Raphno® is a relatively new forage brassica and is a cross between kale and radish, which captures the traits from each species in one product. One advantage is its water-use efficiency over other species. For example, at Ashley Dene, Canterbury, Raphno® had a 38% increase in water-use efficiency compared to Goliath forage rape.

“Raphno® still needs the moisture for regrowth,” Hamish says, “but once we received rain, Raphno® kicked into gear again.”

Another benefit of Raphno® is the reduced need for aphicides. The region is known for its damage from brassica pests such as aphids, but it was observed that aphids aren't as prolific with Raphno® which is recognised for its tolerance to aphids.

Hamish recommends Raphno® across several different farm systems, from traditional lamb finishing to dairy support. He mentioned examples this season of Raphno® being used on irrigated areas as an insurance policy, which has proven to be a good decision to manage the water restrictions that were enforced this year.

As a multiple graze forage brassica, Raphno® adds flexibility within grazing systems, offering opportunities such as fattening store stock and rearing replacements. Hamish observed Raphno® being managed under set stocking and rotational grazing management systems, but in most cases, the rotational system gave the best results as it allowed his clients to capitalise on the growth potential of the crop and offered the best animal performance. Grazing management of Raphno® meant setting the correct stocking rate and following the best practice guidelines that are part of his recommendations to his clients. 

One of the drivers for using Raphno® within the region, is to manage the risk of summer dry. Another reason has been to manage internal parasites and reduce the risk of internal 
parasite resistance.

If you would like to discuss some options to manage drought conditions or find out more about Raphno®, your local PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative can help.