HEAVY GROWTH OF LUCERNE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 90, 31 March 1932, Page 11

HEAVY GROWTH OF LUCERNE

SHEEP UNABLE TO COPE WITH IT. For nearly two months at the end of last year a 30-acre paddock of lucerne on Mr Andrew Alien’s property near Dubbo carried 20 hseep to the acre (says the “Sydney Morning Herald ). But so heavy was the growth that the sheep were unable to cope with it, and from eight acres on one side of the paddock Mr Allen cut nine tons of hay. The stand was established on river flat country in June, 1928, when 131 b. an acre of lucerne seed was sown without fertiliser. Mr Allen subsequently found that the seeding was too heavy. Three weeks after the cutting and grazing the paddock was again covered with a dense growth of lucerne. Another area, of 109 acres, was sown in June, 1930, with 101 b. of seed an acre, and from 20 acres of this Mr Allen cut 40 tons of hay. It was the fourth cut since the planting, and was taken after about five weeks’ growth. A lucerne “runner” in this area measured 10ft. 9in. Mr Allen has 160 acres of Ins 400acre property under lucerne. This year he has conserved 4500 bales of hay, each bale weighing about one twentyfifth of a ton. In the 100-acre area the lucerne is cut and stacked or baled in the paddock, the stacking being hurried along with an ingenious lifter made out of some old harvester parts, trace chains, and odds and ends. It is 40ft. long and 30ft. high, and can lift hay to the top of the stack as quickly as two men can fork it off a waggon. The lucerne is stacked in a third of the time formerly taken by the same number of men.