13. Summer crop planning – The journey from seed to feed

Spring is just around the corner and before we know it, it’ll be Christmas. It’s never too early to be planning for your summer forage crop requirements to keep your sheep, cattle and/or deer happy, well fed and content through the summer months. In this episode, Dr Charlotte Westwood is joined by Paul Greenbank, agronomist and farm systems guru with PGG Wrightson Seeds based on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Paul steps us through the planning process for getting a spring planted crop into the ground - ready for your lambs, cattle or deer to enjoy a cost effective, tasty and nutritious summer forage crop.  All manner of topics are discussed in a practical, down to earth manner. Everything is covered from paddock selection and preparation for cropping through to looking after your new crop plants as they get up and running during the days and weeks after planting. Later in 2022 we’ll feature a couple of crop-focused episodes that’ll discuss the assessment and grazing of different crop types. We’ll target the various tips and tricks around how to convert your forage crops into highly efficient animal production. Keep an eye out for those episodes! In the meantime, we need to get the seed in the ground to get the summer feed! We hope that you enjoy this episode.