Establishment Guarantee ®
At S&W seed company we are so confident in our see genetics and the quality of our proprietary products, we will replace seed at half the original purchase price if it fails to establish satisfactorily.
Cost effective, reliable and robust alternative to Aurora
Seeding Rate - Dryland (kg/ha)
4 - 8
Seeding Rate - Hay Production (kg/ha)
25 - 30
Seeding Rate - High Rainfall/Irrigation (kg/ha)
10 - 20
Winter Activity
7
Goldstrike LongLife® XLR8™
Beef and Sheep
Dairy
Lucerne
Silage and Hay
Perennial, year round production Deep rooting, extracts water and nutrients from depth, restricts water table recharge Moderate tolerance of soil salinity Responds quickly to spring and summer rainfall (or irrigation) Dual purpose (grazing and hay) Highly productive High nutritive value
Susceptible to waterlogging Needs rotational grazing Can cause bloat in cattle
Deep rooted, upright, perennial legume.
Erect from 40 to 80 centimetres high at 10 per cent flower.
Comprise three smooth, slightly toothed, oval, wedge shaped to pointed leaflets, sometimes with white crescent shaped markings. Leaf veins strong, straight with little branching. Broadly triangular stipules with 1 or more small teeth occur at the point of leaf attachment to the stem.
Pea flowers, mostly purple in colour, and about 8 millimetres across, borne in clusters up to 4 centimetres long at the tops of branches.
4 to 5 coils in a spiral, spineless with a hard outer surface; produced in clusters; 1 to 5 seeds per pod.
Small, green to yellow to light brown in colour; kidney shaped; 440,000 to 500,000 seeds per kilogram.
Medium term perennial (3 to 5 years); year-round production, predominantly in the spring/summer but with varying levels of winter production (winter activity). Used for conservation, particularly hay production; as a ‘ley’ legume in cropping rotations (often called a ‘phase’ legume in such systems in southern and western Australia); and as a medium-term legume in long term grass pastures in the subtropics.
In rain grown stands, 500 to 1200 millimetres annually (subtropics); 250 to 800 millimetres annually (southern and western Australia).
Lucerne requires deep, well drained soils (sands to moderately heavy clays) with a slightly acid to alkaline pH. It is intolerant of high levels of exchangeable aluminium and even short periods of waterlogging.
Optimum temperatures for dry matter production range from 15 to 25°C in the day and 10 to 20°C during the night. However, this will vary with the winter activity level of the cultivar.
Lucerne is often sown as a pure sward. It is very competitive but if sown at a low rate it will grow with species such as early flowering sub clover/annual medics, phalaris and Mediterranean types of tall fescue to boost winter production. It can be grown with chicory and a range of tropical grasses.
2 to 12 kilograms per hectare for dryland hay or grazing, depending on annual rainfall. 8 to 20 kilograms per hectare for irrigated hay production. Sow into a finely worked, moist, weed-free seedbed at 1 to 2 centimetres; cover with light harrows/weldmesh. On light soils rolling is desirable to improve seed moisture contact. Direct-drilling can work but failures occur and caution is warranted.
0.25 to 1 kilogram per hectare in a grass pasture, depending on the makeup of the legume component of the stand.
Early autumn to early winter; late April is ideal. In southern Australia districts with an eight month or more growing season, lucerne is best sown between late August and October, ideally on a winter fallow. Late Spring sowings are dictated by wet years.
Goldstrike LongLife® treated.
On marginal fertility soils, responses to magnesium, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, boron and copper can occur. Establishment on acid soils is often made possible following the spreading/incorporating 1 to 5 tonne lime per hectare. Aluminium toxicity can occur on soils with pH of lower than 5.5 (water) or 4.7 (calcium chloride). Based on soil test, potassium (K), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) levels need to be maintained at the following levels: K: 0.3 metres. Equivalent to 100 grams; P: 25 milligrams per kilogram; S: 10 milligrams per kilogram.
Alfalfa mosaic virus, lucerne yellows, bacterial leaf and stem spot, witches broom, common leafspot, Stemphylium leaf spot, Leptosphaerulina leaf spot or pepperspot, rust, downy mildew, Cercospora leaf spot, Phoma black stem, powdery mildew.
Phytophthora root rot, Colletotrichum crown rot, Rhizoctonia canker (most significant,) violet root rot, Acrocalymma crown and root rot, Stagonospora crown and root rot, Fusarium wilt, bacterial wilt, Sclerotium blight and Sclerotinia rot.
Lucerne is highly digestible (60 to 75 per cent), is a good source of crude protein (15 to 25 per cent), and has high levels of metabolisable (8 to 11 megajoules per kilogram dry matter).
Very Palatable.
Daily live weight gains for beef cattle range between 0.7 kilograms per head per day from stemmy lucerne to 1.5 kilograms per head per day from young, leafy regrowth. Live weight gains of 300 to 400 grams per head per day are achievable with lambs.
There are few problems. To avoid cattle bloat, nitrate poisoning and red gut, do not graze immature/lush lucerne, especially with hungry stock (pre-feed with dry roughage).
Get in touch with your local S&W Territory Manager
Ensure a successful growing season with our technical guides and argonomic insights.
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Start planning for a successful lucerne season today!
Grain Sorghum Options by S&W Seed Company.
At S&W seed company we are so confident in our see genetics and the quality of our proprietary products, we will replace seed at half the original purchase price if it fails to establish satisfactorily.
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Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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14 | Shane Kable | South Western |
Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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1 | Michael Christensen | Wide Bay Burnett, South East, Central, Far North |
2 | Chris Hoad | Southern & Central |
Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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15 | Michael Christensen | Northern Territory |
Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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12 | Millie Moore | Fleurieu Peninsula, Upper South East, Mid North, Adelaide Hills and Riverland, Yorke Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island |
13 | Sam Linggood | South East |
Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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3 | Dan Sweeney | North Coast & Hunter Valley |
4 | Shane Kable | North West |
5 | Gavin Milne | New England |
6 | Jack Edwards | Central |
7 | Hugh Graham | Southern |
Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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8 | Hannah Messner | Gippsland |
9 | Dean Lombardozzi | Northern |
10 | Millie Moore | Mallee, Wimmera |
11 | Sam Linggood | South Western |
Region | Territory Manager | Territories |
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16 | Hannah Messner | Tasmania, King Island, Flinders Island |
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