09/13/11
Goliath rape - exceeding expectations
James and Marita Lundy farm at Okuku, just north of Christchurch. As well as running an agricultural contracting business, providing hay and baleage making and cultivation, the couple also graze dairy stock on an additional lease block at nearby Loburn.
Since trying Goliath for the first time three years ago, it has exceeded the Lundys' expectations for growth. "The dairy cows are arriving (late May) and the Goliath is 1.2m high now and it hasn't been in the ground 100 days. Goliath regularly yields 7000kg of drymatter/ha on the dryland block," says James.
Goliath is also grown on the home block to summer graze deer. "It very much responds to water. If it rains you can virtually watch it grow.
"It is more leafy than stalky and the stalk is no way near as coarse as others. You only have to look at the animals to see how well they have done."
