The inaugural scholarship was open to all people eligible to do postgraduate research at Lincoln University whose research used Farmax software.
Farmax general manager Gavin McEwen said Smith’s research stood out because, though focussed on Canterbury it had the potential to help all New Zealand pastoral farmers.
It addressed an emerging environmental issue and has potential to help farmers further increase profit from pasture management to the benefit of individuals and the country.
Smith thanked Farmax for its support in furthering his research, which he hopes will one day translate into farm extension.
Lucerne has been widely used on South American farms, on its own and within pasture mixes to provide quality feed to extend lactation and increase milk production, Farmax says.
Smith says because Canterbury farms need irrigation in summer, and because water access, supply and irrigation grow more costly and unreliable, drought tolerant species can be used to make farming systems more sustainable and productive.
His research project is in the second of three years. A farmlet study last season examined milk production, urinary nitrogen excretion off lucerne and ryegrass, and monitored the seasonal growth rates of lucerne versus ryegrass pastures.
This summer Smith will examine the effects of different feed allowances of lucerne on milk solids production. All the results will be used to model animal and economic performance under different whole farm system scenarios, including the amount of lucerne in the milking platform pasture, with adjusted stocking rates, calving dates, supplement and nitrogen use.
He says this would not be possible without the modelling capability of Farmax, which will be specifically used to model the economic effects on the base farm in the different scenarios. He expects to finish his research in 2014 and his PhD in 2015.
He will seek to have his research published.
