Cleancrop Firefly Kale Case Study

Farm Type:  Sheep, Beef and Dairy Support 

Hectares: 637

Location: Gore, Southland

Andrew and Sarah Currie are operating a 637 hectare farm near Gore in Southland. Their farm is made up of sheep and beef as well as dairy support. The current stock numbers on sheep and beef side are made up of 2500 breeding ewes, 750 hoggets and 170 beef. The dairy support side currently includes stock of 140 dairy heifers and 700 dairy cows. The dairy support side currently includes stock of 140 dairy heifers and 700 dairy cows.

Andrew and Sarah have been growing Cleancrop Firefly kale for their winter feed since they first planted in spring 2017. The decision was made to utilise the benefits of Cleancrop Brassica System through the use of Cleancrop Firefly after they experienced a failed conventional kale crop. They purchased their Firefly seed with Ultrastrike brassica seed treatment to support the establishment of the crop in the early stages against insects and fungal diseases.

“We have found that Cleancrop Firefly kale provides us with excellent weed control against wild turnip, shepherd’s purse, Californian thistle and rayless chamomile which has proven to be issues on our farm in the past” says Andrew and Sarah.

The Firefly was sown in late November 2018 and is set to be grazed through winter by their beef calves. They have also found that this crop is a great option to control weeds following fodderbeet. Cleancrop Hawkestone swede is another variety of the Cleancrop Brassica System they use in their rotation and they’ve found the system performs well for them and they will continue to use Cleancrop varieties.