Tree Lucerne:

www.Treelucerne.co.za http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boom-LusernTree-Lucerne/236632356385580

Wonder Fodder Tree

Scientific names:Tagasaste Chamaecytisus palmensis, Chamaecytisus proliferous, Cystisus proliferous

What exactly makes Tree Lucerne so wonderful?

1. It has the same nutritional value as normal Alfalfa Lucerne, but without the risk of bloat. It grows as a shrub, evergreen, perennial, allowing for a 12 month nutritional plane.

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Tree Lucerne has no negative toxins and cattle can be set stocked on it, with mass gains in the order of 1 kg per per day. Unlike normal Alfalfa Lucerne, there is no risk to the animal, or to the fodder (unexpected rain). This means it is a low risk high potential fodder. Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) puts between 80 and 300N with of Noritogen into the soil per hectare per annum because it is a legume. This stimulates the grasses in the interrow and equals a saving of R1000 to R3000 per ha in Urea fertilizer. Tree Lucerne lives for 60-80 years, which means that once established, it is a perennial long lived Tree Lucerne Orchard yielding annual production, for the full 12 months of the year, with ultra low input costs and low effort. Fat healthy and fertile animals come out the other end. Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) typically increase carrying capacity roughly ten fold. This is typically from veld that yield 1 ton per ha to roughly 8-10 tons of eatable Tree Lucerne material per ha. The limiting factor is water. Tree Lucerne yield roughly 1 ton of eatable greenfeed material for every 100mm of water (whether rain, irrigation, in the soil profile, or a perched water table-in which case Tree Lucerne produces at roughly double the annual rainfall). All this, all year, every year, for 60-80 years, with just a single establishment. Tree Lucerne performs best in deep sand or well drained soils/loams with a PH of 4-8. It can stand intensive cold down to minus 9 degrees Celcius if a mature plant, after which the tip of the new shoots will die off (only to grow out again when the weather improves). Young seedlings are vulnerable to frost when just planted. Note that Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) is a desert plant able to survive the typical desert temperature swings from extreme cold to extreme heat with very little moisture. Once established it is ultra hardy. It is recommended that you systemtically establish up to 10% of your property with Tree Lucerne, in order to double your carrying capacity with livestock. The ability to rest your grass and veld at critical times is a big help. Livestock remain in condition in and out of season, and start off in the best possible condition when spring breaks. This positively effect fertility and health. The main benefit is a 12 month growing season to your animals. You produce livestock gains year round, instead of just 6 months of the year. The minimum water requirement is around 200mm per year, with the maximum around 3500mm per year (typically drip irrigation). Commercial offtake happens from around 300mm. The recommended row spacing is 10 meters apart, with a plant every 2-3 meters in the (single or double) row. This yield a density of roughly 500-1000 Lucerne Trees per hectare. The interrow is typically a perennial grass like Smutsfinger grass or Erogrostis. These perennial grasses outperform as a companion fodder because of the roughly 100N nitrogen that the Tree Lucerne harvest from the atmosphere and put into the soil. The recommend grazing strategy is intensive gracing in a rotational system, with up to 1000sheep or 40 cows per ha in a single block for 3-4 weeks. This ensure that the Tagasaste/Tree Lucerne do not grow away from the animals and it takes on a short shrubby broccoli form factor. Regrowth depends on rainfall and water, but could be in as little as just six weeks, after which it can be grazed again. With driplines this period can be shorter. The plant is easiest established as a seedling, and may be lightly grazed for the first time after just 10 months. This encourages coppicing. Commercial offtake is roughly from year two onwards.

The Wonder Action of the Wonder plant Tree Lucerne/Tagasaste:

1. The wonder action is called hydraulic lift. This takes place when the 10 meter deep sinker root (taproot) suck up moisture from down deep, which is then leaked out via the horizontal feeder roots (up to 15 meters away from the plant). This accomplishes Underground Irrigation that recycle and wash out nutrients. This is then made available to the ecosystem closer to the surface. In places with a fertilizer history (such as old lands) the historic phosphates and nutrients that have leached down into the soil/clay is recycled and made productive again. The question is no longer that nutrients and water are available in the top 30 cm of soil to the grass roots, but what water and nutrients are available in the soil profile 10 meters deep. That is a different scenario altogether, setting new standards in production and profitability. It is a good answer to have when drought comes around, or lean times. 2. Rhizobium nodulate on the Tree Lucerne roots, and these micro organisms harvest nitrogen out of the atmosphere. It is then made available to your commercial fodder plants for free and converted into meat. Every R1000 of free fertilization that the 1/3 Tree Lucerne plants put in the ground feed the 2/3 grass on each hectare. This account for maximum grass and shrub growth from sustainable microbial soil action. It is a sustainable alternative to R1000 worth of ureum fertilizer being mechanically spread on your pastures. For more information on these wonderful rhizobium workers slaving away underneath Tree Lucerne see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagasaste 3. Mychorrhizal Fungi grows into the roots of the Tree Lucerne. It increases the feeder network of the plant roots by up to 7000 times. These Fungi collect water, nutrients and sought after compounds, which it trades with the plant in a symbiotic relationship in exchange for sugers and nitrogen. Mychorrhizal Fungi are able to extract moisture and water from material such as clay, which plants roots are not able to do. This vastly increase the capability and reach of the Lucerne Tree itself and these workers act as a force multiplier. For more information look at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_fungi There is a symbioses between the Fungi and the Tree Lucern plant with a small ecosystem developing that improves microbial soil life, plant health and the sustainability and profitability of the entire enterprise below and above ground. Over time, the increase in dung on the ground leads to a leveraged increase in carrying capacity, thanks to intense levels of healthy vigorous microbial life. Funcgi plas a central role in mining and harvesting things that the plant can not do.

Summary:
4. It is the combination of Underground Irrigation, Nitrogen fixation and Mychorrhizal Fungi that help to make the plant so rich in Protein (15 to 30%) for 12 months of the year, even in severe drought and water scarcity that would kill most other plants. 5. Tree Lucern is able to provide a 12 month Nutritional Plane to your animals because the roots, Rhizombium and Fungi provide the plant with a 12 month nutritional plane. It is able to mine water and nutrients in the earth that other plants can not, and that is what puts money in your pocket.

Dramatic Visuals: Tree Lucerne impact on the environment

Bob Wilsons farm during the mid 1980s during a great Drought. Serious topsoil wind erosion

The same camp with Tagasaste in the 1990s!

The same Bob Wilson sandplain farm today, without erosion, with 2000 Ha of greenfeed year round which is used to agist/round off thousands of head of cattle.

Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) Summary in Short: It has the same nutritional value as normal Alfalfa Lucerne, but without the risks of normal Lucerne (bloat and unforeseen rain spoiling cuttings). Tree Lucerne is a living haystack with year round greenfeed. Livestock enjoy substantial daily weight gains. Ruminants have twins and triplets with ample milk thanks to the 12-month nutritional plane, even in winter. There are two types of Tree Lucerne, a larger phenotype more suited for Cattle (Cattle type) and a smaller phenotype (Sheep type). If not planted as a hedgerow it grows out as a 4-6 meter high mature tree. Note how livestock then clip level the underside of the tree.

Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) allowed to grow out as a normal 4-6m tree.

Cattle phenotype Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste):

This stand of Tagasaste has been mechanically cut and kept short so that it forms a dense shrub Plant density in the row encourages this type of growth form factor. The Tagasaste is kept in check with intensive livestock grazing which encourages coppicing.

Grazing Strategy: Feedlot in the Veld!

Cattle:
Cattle can be set stocked on Tagasaste for 12 months of the year as they do not have the ability to remove every single leaf as happen with sheep. Sheep has to be removed every 6 weeks in order to prevent them from stripping the bark from the Tree Lucerne and killing the plant. Sheep thus has a higher need for control mechanisms such as fences, paddocks and grazing management Maximum growth takes place when palatability and nutrition is at its highest, which is early in spring and early summer.

During autumn and winter the Tree Lucerne has to be supplemented with a high energy (molasses) supplement or lick in order to maintain the same high growth rates. This requirement is in order to be able to metabolise the 25% protein of the Tree Lucerne. It is necessary to provide energy and lick, but this will lead to the maximum possible growth rates, otherwise the livestock will just be maintained without fattening up. With Cattle the core focus is on liveweight gains of 1 Kg per animal per day. Lick or a energy supplement help with making more protein available in a digestible format to the animal. The plant has 15-30% protein and roughly 70% of the plant can be eaten.

Tree Lucern (Tagasaste) and Kikuyu

Sheep Phenotype Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste):

Sheep type Tree Lucerne that have been grazed hard

The very same stand of Sheep Tree Lucerne just 6 weeks later!

Sheep Focus:

Sheep can add up to 850 grams liveweight gain per day as if on normal Alfalfa Lucerne, but without the risk of bloat that goes with unregulated feed intake. There is also none of the baling and feeding cost, nor any of the risk related to untimely rain on a fresh cutting. Sheep will kill the Lucerne Trees if they were allowed access all year. The plant need to be hard grazed and then removed so that it may recover, then the sheep can be let in again so that the process repeat all year long. In this way the plant is stimulated and it doesnt make flowers or set seed, with all energy directed into new growth. This is what delivers maximum yields. When the new growth has been mostly removed, chase the sheep into the next bock. Fire: Tree Lucerne is both a drought reserve as well as a fire break. Green plants do not burn and the perennial evergreen Tagasaste thus act as a physical fire barrier. It is well worth planting this as

a hedge along all your firebreak and roads. It has a way of acting as a wind break that block blowing embers during a veld fire. Afterwards, it is the only freenfeed left standing. Drought: In dry years the Tree Lucern and fungi mine and reuse water available in the soil profile that have leached beyond the reach of most other plant and grass roots. You have a available water reservoir in your soil profile ten meters deep, and even if it doesnt rain this year, it did last year, and thus you can still produce regardless of rainfall. Normal subsoil water often last for up to 3 years in a drought. This creates an important feed and drought buffering mechanism and provide ample peace of mind to the risk averse livestock farmer. The plant also provide a very good windbreak against ice rain and ice winds. It also prevents erosion.

Lambing: Tree Lucerne basically replace hand feeding and grain supplements to ewes and lambs. Ewes are able to rear their lambs while feeding on Tree Lucerne, even in the middle of the dry lambing season. Tree Lucerne make possible a 12 month lambing period. Simply chase the heavily pregnant ewes into the Tagasaste lambing paddock. Tree Lucerne = twins = profit.

The major difference between Tree Lucerne and conventional farming fodder is that it puts more money into the farmers pocket, instead of money to the fertilizer company, the seed company, the diesel fuel company, the tractor agency and so forth. It is also the reason there is such a deathly silence from these companies regarding this wonderfull fodder. They dont make money if the Farmers grows it himself and the livestock it eat themselves and the plant fertilize itself. It is a organic sustainable farming model instead of conventional input intensive commercial livestock farming (relying on cheap grain and cheap fuel). Why feed pellets and bales if you can give animals live greenfeed instead? Why wastage, effort, cost and risk if you can establish a Tree Lucerne Orchard as a once off and enjoy 60-80 years of sustainable low cost production from it? The Ram, the Bull and the Tree Lucerne is meant to do the heavy lifting...

Lambing paddock with a Tree Lucerne hedge overlaid with chicken wire. Ideal for wild game, livestock, horses and browsing females with young ones.

Grazing Strategy: The sheep phenotype is better for smallstock because of its shrub like form factor and bite height. It is not as available as the Cattle phenotype. Both cattle and sheep are able to make use of both types of Tree Lucerne. The difference is that the sheep type is more expensive and harder to find, with a slightly lower yield. The main advantage is that it will never require mechanical cutting. It is mainly recommended for professional people with limited time, or in locations where no mechanical cutting would be possible or feasible. The cattle phenotype is more vigorous and have greater volume, but it may gow away from the animals unless it is grazed hard. If you have the livestock for it, go for the Cattle type. The best grazing strategy is intensive rotational cell grazing, with sheep allowed unto the Tree Lucerne for no longer than six weeks at a time. After six weeks of rest it may be grazed again, whenever ready. It is important that not all the leaves on a plan are removed, so that it may continue with photosinthesis. When feed become low in a paddock, chase the animals out and allow time for regrowth and rest to occur. This will stimulate the plants unto a higher plane of production. It grows ever more intensely. The more Tree Lucerne is eaten, the more vigorous the plant becomes and the higher the production due to the stimulation. Over time the dung and droppings feed the micro soil organisms and this lead to a higher carrying capacity. With time the additional nitrogen in the soil lead to more carbon, better water retention, more microbial life and an even higher carrying capacity. Look at the pictures if you dont understand this cycle. Over time carrying capacity will increase on soil that could carry 1 sheep per hectare on 550 mm of rain (veld) to 10 sheep per hectare (young Tree Lucerne block), and then after a few years to 15 sheep per hectare and eventually to 20-25 sheep on that very same hectare. If interplanted with Honey Locust (30% suger pods) this is even more true. The ideal is to end up with perennial grass as the roughage component (2/3 of the hectare) and tree Lucerne (protein) interplanted with Honey locust (every 5th tree) that provide Protein and Sugar on the remaing 1/3. With Roughage, Proteine and Sugar growing on the same hectare, and with rhizobium and two types of nitrogen fixing trees (one a shrub form factor) yields and drought resistance is maximized. The sugar from the Honey Locust pods typically allow the ruminants to metabolise the Tree Lucerne for maximum feed conversion effectiveness. Be sure to contact us for more information on the Millwood Honey Locust cultivar (200kg of pods per tree). The grass use the water in the top 30 cm of the soil, the Tree Lucerne the water in the top 10 meters of the soil profile and the Honey Locust the water 30-60 meters down, deep ground water. More is used, less is wasted, 3 storeys up and 3 storeys down. The same with sunlight above ground, the light shade provide a better growth environment and less evaporation take place. Over time this ecosystem takes a 1 hectare =1 sheep environment to one with 1 hectare of orchard to having a carrying capacity of 25 sheep, or a great many more

if just used for supplemental feeding. Tree Lucerne is a key component in symbiosis with grass and Honey locust. The above Orchard can be further expanded using drip irrigation, and the use of superphosphate. At 3500mm of water Tree Lucerne has a potential for 35 tons of green feed. Note that more water shortens the recovery period considerably. Water is also a very effective medium with which to apply bio and other types of fertilizers. The maximum profit strategy is to use superphoshate which increase palatability and volume with Tree Lucerne. This is the one element that lead to maximum weight gains with livestock. It has been found that cattle typically add a extra kilo of liveweight gains per animal (30 animals) with each additional kg of superphosphate that are added to a hectare of Tree Lucerne. The key question remains, what water and nutrients are available in the soil profile 10 meters deep. This is especially true in areas with a fertilizer history. The Tree Lucerne mine with a 10 meter long taproot and with feeder roots that extent up to 15 meters away from the plant. Profit and production depends on what these roots can reach down to and wash out. Keep in mind that nitrogen fertilizer is not needed. Compost and composted farm manure is a much better soil additive which feed the rhizobium and rhizophere. It is advised that you make use of EM (Efficient Micro Organisms) as a bio fertilizer. It feeds soil microbes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_microorganism

Weed Potential?

Very low. See http://informedfarmers.com/tagasaste/ for more info. Ability to spread Limited, but occasionally seedlings will strike in the absence of grazing. Weed potential Low, though can establish in bushland.

The reason for its low weed potential is that South Africa is generally a water scare country and that Tree Lucerne is mainly used in moisture deprived environments. It is especially vulnerable as a very young seedling that has just germinated, and needs to be protected against browsing animals such as rabbits, hares, porcupines, deer and the like, rowise it will fail to establish. Any young sapling is quickly eaten as a pudding snack. The challenge generally is not keeping the plants in the paddock, but to keep all the animals of Africa out of the Tree Lucerne.

The plant has been in South Africa for more than 30 years and it has not become an invasive weed in any of th locations established, even in the very wet and humid Natal Midlands. It is recommended that it be established in controlled paddocks that can keep animals out, more than 50 meters away from the 100 year flood line. It is a legal fodder plant, but appropriate care must be taken to prevent it from being established next to waterways and it becoming invasive. Appropriate grazing is the most effective tool preventing problems. The main reason why it doesnt become an invader is that it doesnt flower and set seed if grazed by livestock(it remains in a vegetative state). South Africa has an above average density of hungry grazing animals, both wild and domestic. As a grazing fodder the risk is very low. Birds, Bees, hares, rabbits, deer, and every other plant eating mammal known to man loves Tree Lucerne. This is why seedlings are better than direct seeding for establishment. Tree Lucerne can be lightly grazed for the first time after roughly 10 months. From year two it can be grazed hard.

Where do you buy it and what does it cost? Seedling Costs:

Seedlings are available through this website as well as http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tree-Lucerne-Boom-Lusern/236632356385580 Seedlings are priced at R7 for the Cattle phenotype and R10 for the Sheep phenotype.

Orders are executed through our Nurseries. You need to pick up seedlings or arrange transport from close to Nampo in Bothaville in the Free State/ Or from Bultfontein.

Seed:
Inoculated Seed is priced at R5 for the Cattle and R7 for the sheep phenotype, and is dispatched via the Post Office. If you order seed we recommend that you start making preperations right away for instance pest control, grass control, compost and seedbed preperations. We recommend that you use the biofertilizer EM (Efficicient Micro Organisms).

Ordering:
Go to Contact us and provide your details, your questions and the number of seedlings you want. Minimum orders are R1000 for 200 seeds, and R3500 for 500 seedlings. This is enough for 0.5 to 1 hectare. We recommend a planting density of 500-1000 plants per hectare for maximum productivity. We only have 500 000 seedlings available this year and thus work on a strictly cash on order basis. It is planting season and you need to order/pay to reserve your seedlings. Tree Lucerne doesnt flower and set seed if grazed by livestock. It takes roughly 3 years to grow your own seed, and there are various seed germination and quality issues. Commercial establishment is best done with seedlings, with easier establishment and a shorter time to first graze. Growing from seed entails risk such as hail, fire, animals, moisture stress and weed and grass competition. On clay soils seedlings are the best option.

Tree Lucerne seedlings

Large Tree Lucerne seedlings (too large for a rabbit to kill) Proper Establishment Principle: Do it right, do it once, and write off the cost over 60-80 years.

Impact on Carrying Capacity:

It is recommended that you establish 10% of your property with Tree Lucerne in order to increase your carrying capacity with 100%. This is because you can rest your grass at criticall times. The Tree Lucerne will provide an effective drought reserve and management option for 1-3 generations. During drought years you will be able to buy in and agist animals, while others are forced to sell due to lack of feed. The most economical usage is to operate a feedlot in the veld, buying in weaner calves, fattening them up and selling them, without your own herd. The focus is on feed conversion and 1 kg per animal per day, without sentiment or excuse. When ready, sell, for 12 months of the year. The question is how many animals can you fatten on the feed you have, not how many can you breed. Another good business model is to agist cattle for other owners during the dry season, and to get 30% of the weight increase per animal as payment. This is a popular model in Australia. The best place to establish Tagasaste/Tree Lucerne is within existing perennial grass paddocks. Basically 1/3 of the paddock is then planted to Tree Lucerne at a density of 500100 plants and 2/3 are left as perennial grass (such as Smutsfinger or Erogrostis). The volume grass which is lost is made up with the nitrogen to the remaining grass. Water remain the limiting factor.

The Tree Lucerne is greenfeed and the grass roughage. It is not recommended that you cut and bale the Tree Lucerne, as this cost money, involves wear and tear, wastage and the best feed is fresh direct from the plant itself. That being said, it can be cut. It is much cheaper to expand your business vertically by increasing your carrying capacity on hectares you already own, than to buy in new land. The political realities also favour this approach. Use Tree Lucerne as a once off capital investment that yield yearly greenfeed as a return on investment, without further planting related establishment costs such as diesel, seed, tillage and labour. With Tree Lucerne you need a good gate opener long term.

Benefits of Vertical Expansion:

It is easier to manage 15 sheep in South Africa on 1 hectare, than to manage it on 15 hectares (risk of theft, predators etc). It is even better to have 100 sheep on 1 hectare for 30 days, and to move to the to the next paddock for a month, and having 12 such paddocks in a rotational system. Or you can bring in 2000 sheep unto a block for a short time. It is more profitable to increase production on what you already have, than to have to buy in more land at existing market prices. Work out what 1 hectare of Tree Lucerne will cost you, and what 1 new hectare of land will cost you at current market prices. Economics and politics favour vertical expansion, especially if it is once off with benefits for generations to come. It is cheaper to balance and restore your soil health with a process that feed microbial life, than to maintain commercial production levels with ureum on grass pastures. The latter have long term negative effets on both finances and soil health (declining earthworm and microbial life ). The best way to maximize profit is to use existing resources more effectively by mining leached nutrients and fertilizer from the soil profile 10 meters deep, rather than buying in another 1 hectare of veld nad using it extensively. You can still use your other feed such as annuals, crop residues and the like, but you now have an additional low cost long term greenfeed option. When all else failsTree Lucerne. The grass only use the top 30 cm worth of water and nutrients, while the Tree Lucerne will go down 10 meters. If used with Honey locust, it can go down 30-60 meters. This means you have a grass under storey, a Tree Lucerne middle storey and a Honey Locust over storey. You use the light that comes down on 3 levels, and the water that drains down 3 times. You harvest free nitrogen from the atmosphere with a legume, and nitrogen fixing plant and perennial grass. Any opportunistc rain and water is put to maximum use. You convert sunlight into meat much better this way. You also put water to much better use. One word, symbioses. Tree Lucerne is a mind shift that fits in with organic sustainable farming, whereby you put more into the soil than you take out of it. It is a sound principle on which to build a business and a

legacy. The onus is on working capital in the soil. You farm with earthworms, that feast on microbial life, and which feed plants that feed animals and which put money in your pocket. It is a sustainable ecosystem that converts the energy of the sun into meat and into money in your pocket. That is the Tree Lucerne Business, and the Business of Tree Lucerne.

Silvopasture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvopasture
http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/practices/sp.php Silvoposture is a form of Forestry where the tree products are harvested by livestock, typically sheep and cattle. Planting Tree Lucerne is such a form of Forestry. You are a livestock farmer that farm with microbial subsoil life, which feed your earthworms. Your healthy soil feed your plants, which feed your animals, which feed your bank account. The idea is to make a capital investment with a long term return on investment, benefiting your childrens children. You dont see the meat price coming down with more people around, do you. The focus is on capital underground, with more being put into the soil than what you are taking out. Tree Lucerne is the key. The economic perspective is once off establishment with a 60-80 year harvesting process through livestock. It is the lowest possible risk to the animals, drought proof, fire proof and fool proof. The hassle and cost of establishment fade over the lifetime of the plant. Organic farming makes more sense than farming with chemical inputs, that require annual ivestment, management and risk control. Rather have a living haystack than a baled one. When drought, fire and unforseen circumstances come around you will be better off.

Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) up close

Tree Lucerne correctly spaced and managed in dry times

Tree Lucerne during drought, when you need it most

Biggest challenges when establishing Tree Lucerne

It is a pudding that can be killed off by rabbits, porcupines, jack rabbits and deer. If you establish via seed, be sure to launch an effective pest control program before hand. PMP. If planting a seedling, it is already past the most vulnerable phase where a single bite from any animal would kill it off. Dont forget about hungry guinea fowl. Keep all grazing animals away untill properly established. It puts the young seedlings back if they are grazed prematurely. The main challenge is moisture stress from veld grass and other plants. Kill them off with Round-up or mechanical discing 2 meters wide in the row. This allows more moisture to enter the ground to be available to the plant during the critical first year.

Wikipedia background on Tagasaste, 100 000 ha in Australia History of introduction into Australia
The potential of tagasaste as a Spanish fodder was identified by Dr Perez, a medical practitioner, based on La Palma island in the Canary Islands in the 1870s, and Spanish cattle farmers. He wrote to the Spanish authorities promoting tagasaste as a fodder shrub but could not get them interested. He then sent seed to Kew Gardens in England. Kew Gardens tested tagasaste and then sent seed to all its colonies around the world. In Australia, tagasaste's potential was promoted by a number of individuals over the next century (e.g. Dr Schomburge in South Australia and Dr Laurie Snook in Western Australia) but was not adopted on a large scale until the 1980s in Western Australia. The first 2 ha of tagasaste in the West Midlands was planted by John Cook on his farm near Dandaragan in 1982. The success of this small paddock excited the interest of other local farmers and researchers. Before this the farming systems in the region were totally based on annual pastures and crops. The region has strongly winter dominant rainfall, with up to 8 months without rain over some summers. Until the development of tagasaste it was believed it was not possible to grow perennial pastures in this region.

In 1984 the 'Martindale Research Project" was started by the University of Western Australia with a large grant from Sir James McCusker. This project encouraged the participation of local farmers and the Western Australia Department of Agriculture in the research and development. Farmers such as John Cook and Bob Wilson at Lancelin developed seeding and mechanical cutting equipment that allowed tagasaste to be sown and managed cheaply by farmers on a broadacre scale. The Martindale Research Project resolved many issues relating to the agronomy, animal production and economics that resulted in a reliable package that farmers could adopt with confidence. The Western Australia Department of Agriculture also conducted trials on their Badgingarra Research Station and at Bob Wilson's farm at Lancelin. Local farmers and researchers formed the West Midlands Fodder Shrub Improvement Group. This later evolved into the Evergreen Group (http://www.evergreen.asn.au/index.htm), which expanded its interests to include a range of other shrubs, grasses and perennial legumes. There are now about 100,000 ha planted to tagasaste in Western Australia. In WA it is mostly grown on deep, infertile sands in regions nearer the coast with 350 to 600 mm rainfall. Most of the tagasaste in Western Australia is in the West Midlands sand plain to the north of Perth.

Contact Us: Ordering Procedure:

1. For commercial orders of 200 seeds (R1000) or more, or 500 seedlings (R3500) contact me on Justice Malanot +27 82 3245982 Or Malanot@lantic.net or http://www.facebook.com/justice.malanot 2. Bank Account details: Absa Brooklyn Pretoria Branch, Current Account account nr 4059501706 . It belongs to Blue Magnolia Trading. We are situated in Bothaville in the Free State. 3. Reference number is your name. 4. Email proof of payment to Malanot@lantic.net with your order details. 5. We work on a progressive number system. First money in =first plants out, with deposits the only way to reserve seedlings and seed. All unpaid seedlings and seed are up for sale and walk in customers. 6. Allow a 2-3 week delivery period. 7. With seedling orders we expect you to collect close to Bothaville and Nampo, or Bultfontein, in the Free State. Coordinate transport with us. 8. We provide inoculated plants and seed.

9. Remember, Tree Lucerne prefer soil with a PH of 4-8. It doesnt like water logging and should be planted in soil at least a meter deep. If you have clay, dig a 1 meter deep hole and add compost and EM. 10. See our download sections for further information.

Greetings

Justice Malanot, Working with Anton Kordier, Michris Janse van Rensburg and Marriete van Dyk www.boomlusern.co.za www.treelucerne.co.za http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boom-LusernTree-Lucerne/236632356385580 http://www.facebook.com/justice.malanot Contact Justice Malanot on Malanot@lantic.net or 082 3245982