Lucerne regrowth in 25 days!

Thanks for helping, R.U.M.!

Drumborg in Victoria's far south west, is an area mainly known for high quality, cool-climate vineyards... and dairying.

On his 150 acres of dark loamy country, Bruce Donovan is milking 110 cows this year and has grown 6 acres of winter-active 'Aquarius' lucerne to support them.

Bruce says, "There hasn't been a lot of lucerne growth in the district but I've just put in my own 60 megalitre dam which goes a long way to solving our water problem. I use R.U.M. Liquid Plant Food and 'pasture booster' to bring the lucerne back after grazing and at the moment I've got it down to a 25-day turnaround."

"The 5L/ha of R.U.M. goes out through a boom spray but I'm looking to inject it into my travelling irrigator."

Drumborg dairyman Bruce Donovan with his quick recovery lucerne

When Bruce put in 5 acres of turnips sown with DAP, he also sprayed on 5L/ha R.U.M. at the 4 weeks stage. Subsequently he grazed 110 cows on the paddock for 30 days.

Lentils and R.U.M. are the right combo in South Australia

The prospect of prices of around $500 per tonne encouraged many South Australia farmers to plant lentils last season. On the Yorke Pennisula, Barry Lutze, 'Gwendon', Ardrossan, followed suit. Sowing his lentils with 3L/ha R.U.M. and 80kg/ha of double super, Barry applied a further 2L/ha R.U.M. with his Verdict herbicide, at the 8 week stage. His yield of nearly 11.6 bags/acre (a 4 bag increase on his agronomist's pre-harvest estimate) more than justified his decision to dedicate 20ha of his prime barley country to a very profitable experiment. A good 20" of rainfall didn't hurt either but Barry stressed that he couldn't grow lentils just anywhere. "They don't like waterlogging so it's important to pick the right paddock."

When Beaulieu's Peter Irwin commented on the heavy podding, Barry insisted that he had 'sown light' at a bout 46kg/ha against advise to go heavier with his seeding. Where the local average pod-count was 50, Barry counted up to 150-180 on his lentils. A final price of $540 tonne left a smile on Barry's face and a decision to put in a few more lentils next season.

Peter Irwin and Barry Lutze check Barry's first crop of lentils

R.U.M. goes Round and Round...

If you're ever travelling north up the New England Highway, past Glen Innes, you could do worse than drop in on Jock Cunningham at Deepwater. Provided of course that you want to know how to turn out those big round hay bales that average about 500kgs.

To grow his 10 hectares of Blackbutt oats Jock applied 5L/ha of R.U.M. Liquid Plant Food prior to planting. Try these statistics for size.