From the field...

Kia ora <<First Name>>,

Plenty going on with Quorum Sense at the moment: we have 2 live events in July plus new podcasts and a webinar available for replay. Details below along with a report from the recent Quorum Sense farmer steering group meeting and finally, release details for the comprehensive viticulture case study series.

Looking for a new way to winter cattle?

Come along to the bale grazing field day on Thursday 7 July in Southland, hosted by dairy farmers Dylan & Sheree Ditchfield, AgResearch and Quorum Sense. This high quality field day will cover a wide range of topics from the practical implementation of the system to the results from early scientific studies comparing bale grazing with standard kale crops. Register here

2 podcasts released this month

The first (episode #16) guest is Jodi Roebuck, market gardener and regenerative land use advocate. Jodi explains how he generates a $250k turnover on one tenth of a hectare, and the huge value gained from improving soil, fine tuning systems and building relationships. He also talks about the resilience and adaptability built into his approach to farming and business.


 
The second podcast, this month, (episode #17) guests are Tim and Camilla Rutherford who explore what it takes to bring regenerative practices to high country Merino production and how it's benefited business, personal and family life. A wonderful conversation, it covers the introduction of mob grazing, the challenges of high country water supply, and the move away from cultivation, mono-cropping and chemical use.

Adaptive grazing management webinar - building resilience into NZ grazing system - is now available

Listen to the webinar here

This is a great opportunity to hear New Zealand farmers sharing their challenges, learnings and of course successes as they take on managing livestock and pastures to promote health, resilience and performance on farm.

Heads up: webinar on pastoral nutrition and minerals for animal health on 18 July

Our next webinar is on 18th July, 6pm with guest Emily from Fifth Business Agri and others tbc. More details will be posted on our FB page closer to the event.

Farmer Steering Group meeting report 

"Our newly established Farmer Steering Group met in person for the first time this month, hosted at Mangaroa Farms in Upper Hutt. The group's purpose is to help advise and support our ongoing Knowledge Hub development. It was a full-on but rewarding 24 hours that generated a heap of ideas and feedback for the team to take away. I found the commitment, openness and creativity of the group to be really inspiring and it will take this project to another level! We're hoping the first stage of our re-imagined Knowledge Hub will be live within a couple of months"
- Sam Lang

(Pictured from left to right: Ross Johnson, Becks Smith, Roger Small, Rachel Short, Michael Reilly, Chloë Dear (QS), Jules Matthews (our wonderful host), Sam Lang (QS), Dylan Ditchfield, Robert Holdaway, Lance Gillespie)

Regenerative Viticulture Case Study

The QS team has been working on the viticulture case study for most of 2022 and it will be released on the 11th July. The case study looks at the regenerative innovation occurring on two very different vineyards - a large family owned and operated vineyard in Marlborough producing high quality Sauvignon Blanc, and a smaller vertically integrated vineyard in the Waipara Hills producing a diversity of organic wines.

Expect a newsletter dedicated to the case study release on or about the 11th July; also look out for it on the case study page here.

Finally, some insight into the QS team's own regenerative goings-on :

Nick Tucker:
"We have 34 mixed aged Red Devon cows and replacements grazing down the 'rested' kikuyu pasture. Lots of organic matter getting trampled down (by the cows), lots of trampling to clear the lower electric fence wires (by us!) and plenty of fibre in their pre-calving diet."



Deane Parker
"We've been wintering on essentially grass well, with the recovered mown crop providing the green feed. It's great seeing content animals sitting on the grass residual."