Green Globe turnips are a reliable winter performer on the Landcorp sheep and beef property, Wilanda Downs at Ohai in western Southland managed by Neil Hassall.

The 2000ha property lambs 8500 ewes and calves 450 beef cows, as well as finishing 26,000 to 30,000 lambs and cattle each year, with the extra finishing stock sourced from Landcorp farms around Te Anau.

Green Globe has been grown at Wilanda Downs for 10 years, with 60ha grown each year in a mix with Major Plus swedes. Sown in mid-November, it is grazed by weaned calves from early May through to September 20, with the stock also fed baleage.

"We have 120 days without regrowth here, so we like to have stock on crop," says Neil. Winter-hardy Green Globe copes with the cold conditions and doesn't deteriorate. "Stock do well on it - it's very palatable. Calves will put on 20kg to 25kg over winter, grazing Green Globe."

Barkant turnips are used to promote summer milk production, at a time when grass quality is declining on the Dannevirke dairy farm of Jeff Ball and Tracy Hautapu. Their 175ha milking platform this year milked 460 cows.

Each year 15ha - three to four paddocks - is put in summer turnips. Earlier sowings are in Barkant, followed by later maturing Green Globe.

Turnips are grazed from January until late March, with cows fed 3-4kg/cow a day. "They go straight on after the morning milking. They are usually on there by 7.30am and come off at 9am. On the last paddock we usually leave them on all day and feed them 3kg of baleage as well, as this helps extend our round out for autumn."

While they have trialled different turnips over the years, the couple have stuck with Barkant since it became commercially available 10 to 15 years ago. Barkant regularly yields 10 to 12 tonnes dry matter/ha, provides a relatively cheap, but high quality feed option and fits in well with the farm's pasture renewal programme. "They are brilliant, absolutely brilliant," Jeff says.

Goliath rape has been a staple winter forage crop on Mount Benger for the last three years - setting up rising two-year-old steers for sale in spring.

 At least 20ha is grown in Goliath, with this year's crop, sown on February 20, yielding 10,300kg drymatter/ha.

 "We've found Goliath very good. It grows well into the winter and is always very palatable - stock seem to do well on it - and there is no residual left," says Matt, equity manager at Mount Benger, a 2800ha hill and riverflats property on the south bank of the Hurunui River near Culverden.

 Goliath is grazed from early June until around the first week of September - "so it plugs that feed gap over winter. We found they were putting on weight even over winter.

 "We have found brassicas such as Goliath build the rumen capacity in steers, so when they go on to grass they achieve significant weight gains." Some steers are sold straight off Goliath and the remainder by November.

Lawrence sheep farmer Jim Roughan says Titan provides guaranteed feed for finishing lambs even if it gets dry.

Jim and Karen Roughan, who farm 4100 ewes in conjunction with son Simon, use brassicas to finish lambs over summer and autumn.

Titan is fed alternatively with Pasja, with 9ha of each sown on the same day. Pasja is fed first, from the start of January, followed by Titan. "By the end of March after three grazings, the Pasja is finished, but Titan will get another grazing and be good again for winter. If you don't chew the stalk down too much you get good regrowth. It also handles the dry well.

"We put 1200 to 1300 of our lightest lambs on the brassicas which brings them up to the others. Otherwise, our only other option is to sell them as store lambs.

"Titan is a multi-purpose plant, providing feed in winter as well as summer finishing. It is also multi graze, with quick regrowth," says Jim.

Brothers Peter and Andrew Currie know how to grow a bumper crop, after winning the Southland  A & P winter feed competition in 2009 with a Gruner crop in excess of 19 tonnes dry matter/ha. "It was as high as our heads," says Peter.

 Their Gore property, farmed with input from father Allan, carries 3400 ewes and 850 hoggets, as well as winter grazing 650 dairy cows. Gruner is also used as a second-year crop afer Aparima Gold swedes, with 32ha of each planted for winter grazing.

 Gruner, used for its reliability and high yields, is fed to wintering cows for 10 weeks at 10kg DM/cow/day in addition to 4.5kg/cow/day of hay and straw. "Stock do very well on it. A dairy farmer we deal with was so impressed he has come back for another year and increased his cow numbers. It also copes with frosts and snow.

 "We are rapt with it," says Peter.

A move to wintering all their cows at home led Mid Canterbury dairy farmers the Copland family to grow 50 hectares of kale for the first time last winter. Their fully irrigated farm, Copland Dairy, milks 800 cows on 214 effective hectares. Michael Copland, who manages the family farm, says the recent purchase of two nearby run-off blocks prompted the move.

Of the 50 ha, 20ha was grown in Regal kale, which met their requirement for a high quality feed, with cows particularly liking its leafiness. As the heifers, in particluar, needed to put on weight, these were grazed on Regal kale, lifting three-quarters of a condition score to 5.5. Another 100 mixed age cows were later added to help clean up the crop. Grazed from May until the end of July, it had excellent feed utilisation as it didn't get stalky, he says.

"I'd definately use Regal kale again and recommend it as well."

Aparima Gold swedes play and integral role in wintering dry cows at the Southland Demonstration Farm at Wallacetown, Southland.

 The 295ha farm last season grew 28ha of winter crop to winter the dry mixed age cows on farm. Aparima Gold swede and kale crops are expected to yield close to 15t DM/ha annually, a target that has been achieved for the last two years. Previous history of the brassica paddocks is varied with a potential disease risk from clubroot and dry rot expected, so Aparima Gold as a first crop option is the swede of choice to help mitigate this disease risk whilst still achieving the required 15t DM/ha. This year the area of winter crop has increased to 36ha and includes fodder beet as part of the wintering crop. Aparima Gold is offered to the cows at 10kg DM/cow/day with 4kg DM/cow/day offered as baleage, with the aim of getting the older cows and heifers to condition score 5 and 5.5 respectively at calving.

 Aparima Gold has proven to be a reliable, high yielding swede on the Southland Demonstration farm and continues to be the swede of choice.

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Bill, who farms the family farm 'Blink Bonnie' at Fordell near Wanganui had heard good things about chicory for finishing lambs, so set up a programme in 2007 to sow Puna II in 2008. Bill had phenominal growth following sowing, with lambs grazing in 48 days.

In January this year Bill weighed the lambs on and off his best clover flush pastures and his 20ha Puna II chicory block. The lambs gained 355gms LW per day on the pasture block and 310gms LW per day on the chicory. The difference was the stocking rate on the Puna II block which was 3 times the rate which could be fed on the pasture.

"We recognised there is some maintenance required to keep a stand of Puna II & clover in good order, but we are now well set up to go into our third season later this year. Kilos of quality lamb out the gate is the real advantage we can see for chicory, the results speak for themselves."

Mark farms at Elsthorpe in Hawkes Bay. The inclusion of summer crop in the farm plan is an important component, both for lamb finishing and for the ongoing pasture improvement programme.

Mark plans to sow Pasja in early November for the first grazing with 24/25kg lambs brought in 6-8 weeks later, after having been weaned onto grass first. Mark has subdivided his lamb finishing paddocks into 2-3 hectare blocks which allows for grazing on a rotational system, providing the best quality Pasja with the best recovery. In January we are normally drafting every 10 days at our 45kg LW target weight with 99% of our lambs finished before the end of March.

Apart from the excellent finishing results Mark gets with Pasja, it really suits his farm due to the ease with which he can return paddocks to new grass without the stalk or stem sometimes associated with other summer crops.

"We just love Pasja, and have done for 20 years now" says Mark. "We've tried one or two other cultivars and crops but have had the best experiences and confidence with Pasja."

Congratulations to John & Bee Blundell, winners of the 2010 Mystery Weekend Competition. John and Bee farm a 680ha sheep and cattle finishing property in the Ponatahi Valley near Martinborough in the Wairarapa. They have won accomodation, airport transfers and flights to a mystery destination in New Zealand for two people!