The perennial clovers he’s used include Onward strawberry clover, most large-leaved white clovers such as Mainstay, Kotare, Quest, Kopu 2, Weka, Apex, Tribute, Demand, and red clovers Rubitas, Relish, Rossi, Malbec, Tuscan and Sensation. Cultivars are chosen based on what is available in endophyte primarily, then by agronomic traits and trial results.
“Two years ago I had no real interest in agronomy. We don’t have half the forage species options available in Australia. Once you get more exotic than ryegrass and white clover on a dairy platform you tend to find yourself relying on whatever research papers you can find to be able to visualise the end result.”
He would find just regrassing with ryegrass and white clover too uninteresting and wouldn’t be doing all this work himself, he said.
The original 92ha farm, just north of the Waikato River mouth, has been family farmed since 1906. Garshaw’s parents David and Judy bought a neighbouring property of 69ha in 2009 with younger brother Andrew who manages the farm, taking a minor shareholding. Their 440 Jersey cows now graze on 159ha (150ha effective) of silt-clay loam soils.
With older pastures and drainage on the new property severely limiting production they embarked on a substantial pasture renewal programme.
In 2013, 23% of pastures were renewed with great results.
“The paddocks don’t slow down even in successive droughts,” Garshaw said.
- Do what you can yourself.
“There are good contractors but their livelihoods aren’t so critically dependant on the end result. If you make mistakes you learn where you can improve in the future.” - Make use of rural supply-seed company representatives who know what they’re talking about.
“That’s what they’re there for and it’s in their interest to see you get a good result.”
- Be prepared to pay for your seed based on what you expect out of it.
“Many farmers aren’t prepared to pay more than for Nui but they don’t consider the extra drymatter or the ease with which it can be grown. They only need one thing to go wrong to make them sceptical of regrassing.”
