Thursday, October 26, 2017

Zoysia Seed Situation Late October 2017 - revised update

An update for late October 2017.

It now seems that Zoysia seed of Compadre variety will be coming to Australia in late 2017, at least with a fair degree of certainty.  Zenith zoysia seed is unavailable for sowing in Australia in 2017/18.

The timing has not yet been absolutely verified but indications are that the end of November is a likely availability date.  Final timing is dependent on the US supplier, and it could be delayed.  Price not yet confirmed, but unlikely to be less than previous seasons.

However the positive is that seed is likely to be available for planting when most of Australia is best suited for planting warm season turf seed.  It may that northern areas should prepare for a planting period during wet stormy weather and think about precautions for dealing with erosion and storm driven soil movement that can easily shift planted seed.

For areas with a cooler period mid year and normal warm to hot summers, seed is expected by the time the soil has adequately warmed and quicker germination and establishment can be predicted.

All users need to consider the absolute necessity of keeping the soil surface damp - but not drowned - during the first 10 -18 days as seed is germinating.  Because seed is sown very close to the surface, supplying a short misting burst occasionally during the daylight period is very important - think 5-10 minutes every 1-2 hours, adjusted as necessary based on your sprinklers and weather.  Add a more normal irrigation at least once a day in this period and reduce irrigation once seedlings emerge.

Information sheets available on request.

If requiring seed please contact us for more details from early November.

office@abovecapricorn.com.au is the preferred contact address.  

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Zoysia Seed Update - October 2017

Current news is not that good on the seed supply scene for 2017/ 2018.

While work is still continuing to try and source zoysia seed for use in Australia in 2017/ 2018, options are very limited.

The major US Seed company involved with seed production of zoysia seed - Patten Seed Company  - has totally failed Australian consumers once again with poor crops and a distinct lack of interest in supplying Australia, while continuing to have seed readily available in the USA.  No seed of either Compadre or Zenith zoysia seed from that source is possible!

There are issues with seed quality in that there are some difficulties in complying with biosecurity requirements for Australia, but they seem to ignore producing adequate seed quantity, let alone fixing weed issues in seed crops that would allow easier supply to markets outside the USA.  Weather has been an issue........but diversifying production locations can help overcome those problems.  They seem to have ignored real demand for the seed.

At this time, it is unknown whether there will be any seed available.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Low Emissions Cow - less Methane = better productivity

https://www.devex.com/news/the-pursuit-of-a-low-emissions-cow-90955

This is the link to a recent article in Devex, with a focus on work now commencing with a degree of urgency to find and breed from low emissions cows, especially in the developing world.

While some progress has been made in a number of countries incl NZ and Australia, the search is on for easy to use techniques to identify the genetics behind lower emissions in livestock.

Feed is also a critical issue with higher proportions of legume feed in the diet reducing methane emissons.  Development of tropical pastures had focussed on introducing legumes into the pasture planted and consumed by stock, but often maintaining the legumes is a problem, with grass often coming to dominate the pasture.  

A way forward can include growing and feeding fodder legume trees and shrubs with leucaena often a prime choice, although it cannot be grown everywhere.  Interestingly, more legume in the diet, can both reduce emissions and improve animal productivity due to higher protein in the legume feed consumed.  Or having a fodder legume in the herbaceous feed grown in the paddock.

This is one option, yet the real big need is to select naturally lower emitting animals.  Could it be these are naturally selecting better feed with higher legume composition confounding actual low emissions due to genetics?

This article fails to discuss feed composition as a major factor in managing emissions.

Consuming more livestock protein is a developing trend and is unlikely to change........there is a real need to ensure that protein is grown with lower emission livestock.  And remember that higher productivity reduces the influence of emissions per unit of food available / produced, whether milk or meat.