A medic with a relatively high percentage of soft seed compared to Santiago, which will result in more densely regenerated second year pastures. Cavalier has pest and disease tolerances, a broad range of maturity and the percentage of hard seededness provides both persistence through cropping phases and a better response to environmental variations.
Key attributes
- Annual pasture legume with high protein
- Fixes nitrogen for cereals grown in rotation
- More acid tolerant than barrel and strand medics
- Good waterlogging and salinity tolerance
- Spineless burr is easier to handle
- Palatable at all growth stages
About this variety
Cavalier is a spineless burr medic, and both halves of that description matter. Burr medics are annual pasture legumes for neutral to alkaline soils in the mixed farming zone; the spineless trait removes the burr's hooked spines, which otherwise contaminate wool and make seed harvesting difficult.
It is more acid tolerant than the barrel and strand medics, which extends its range onto country those species cannot handle, and it offers good waterlogging and salinity tolerance alongside that, so it suits variable paddocks rather than only the best ground.
Nutritionally it is a high protein annual legume, palatable at all growth stages including senesced dry matter and seed pods over summer, so it continues to contribute feed after it has finished growing. That summer contribution is often overlooked and is one of the real advantages of a medic in a mixed farming system.
Where effectively nodulated it fixes atmospheric nitrogen, benefiting the cereal crop grown in rotation after it, and as a grass-free legume phase it also functions as a disease break. Cavalier replaced Santiago on the strength of superior dry matter production.
Planting & grazing notes
Defer grazing in first year until plants well established, then graze lightly until flowering; remove stock until medic has finished flowering and set pods to maximise seed-set; do not "crash" graze or cut for hay in first year if stand is expected to regenerate. On infertile soils likely to require topdressing with superphosphate and potassium; soil testing recommended.
Disease & pest resistance
Major diseases: Phoma black-stem (Phoma medicaginis), rhizoctonia bare-patch (Rhizoctonia solani), powdery mildew (Erysiphe trifolii), Pratylenchus neglectus root lesion nematode. Major pests: red legged earth mite (Halotydeus destructor), lucerne flea (Sminthurus viridus), blue green aphid, spotted alfalfa aphid (Therioaphis trifolii), cowpea aphid (Aphis craccivora), sitona weevil (Sitona discoideus). Sensitive to boron toxicity. Livestock disorders: photosensitisation in horses, occasionally red gut in sheep, bloat in cattle.
Stand life
Hard seeded and once established maintains a bank of seed reserves in the soil, self-regenerating from that soil-seed bank; some tolerance of false breaks as seed softening tends to occur later in summer/autumn; regenerates from soil-seed bank after short cropping phases of typically 1-3 years
How it's sold
| Form | Pack | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Coated | 25 kg | In stock |
