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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!