Tree Lucerne (Tagasaste) Tubestock

Starting at: $49.00

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Note to Overseas & TAS & WA Customers - Live plants cannot be exported to your country/state. Please do not order this product. It is available for dispatch to Australian customers only in states of Victoria, SA, NSW, ACT and QLD.

 

Tagasaste is a fodder food. It grows as a shrub or small tree and can reach a height and crown diameter of about 5m, often with long, drooping, leafy branches. This legume, belonging to the family Fabaceae, has been variously called 'tree lucerne', 'false tree lucerne' and 'lucerne tree'.

 

In Australia it has been planted around homesteads for windbreak and decorative purposes and shade in fowlyards, and it is used for fodder. Tagasaste, being an evergreen, can provide green feed at any time of the year. However, experience suggests that, because of its relatively slow growth rate and recovery after cutting during winter, its main role could be the provision of high quality fodder during summer and early autumn.

 

Your Alpacas will love it!

 

Need Commercial Quantities? These can be ordered and grown by special arrangement.
Please e-mail us 
to discuss your commercial needs.
 

Free Delivery Applies on this Product to Victoria, SA, NSW, ACT and QLD

 

Don't forget to order number required at bottom of page

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

GrandeVerge gratefully acknowledges Carolyn Jinks of Benleigh Alpaca Stud who authored and supplied the following article 'Eat it Neat' for reproduction at our website. 

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                          Eat it Neat!

by Carolyn Jinks
Benleigh Alpaca Stud
Geelong, Vic.
 
Many visitors to Benleigh Alpaca Stud comment on the surrounds of the ‘maternity paddock’. The great interest as well as the animals ~ THE TAGASASTE HEDGE! (pronounced “tagga-sass-tee”).
 
At Benleigh Alpaca Stud, Allan Jinks commenced the layout plan 10 years ago, when he planted Tagasaste, more commonly known as Tree Lucerne around the perimeter of a paddock.
 
Two barriers of chicken wire, 60 cm apart and 1 metre high protected the young plants, with the intention of allowing the alpacas to eat the tops as they grew, thus making them more bushy. Ultimately more chicken wire was placed over the top, and the bushes grew to fill the wired cavity.
 
The result has developed into an alpaca-manicured “box” hedge.
Diet supplement,perfect protector from wind and sun, as well as a great double-fenced divider, which also offers a safety zone for anyone with fear of neighbouring roaming dogs.
 
What a bonus! During the recent excessively dry summer throughout Victoria, the “hedge” has been a blessing, giving green pick at all times.  
 
Cria as young as 10 days are often seen nibbling beside their mothers on the leaves or just resting in it’s shelter.
The whole concept works easily and has definitely been a worthwhile exercise many breeders may wish to add to their management scheme in the coming season.
 
Dr Laurie Snook, an agricultural researcher has written a book on Tagasaste, with much data regarding the nutritional benefits for both livestock and in aquaculture. 
 
The Tagasaste, (botanical name Chamaecytisus palmenis) is an evergreen leguminous tree-shrub which produces masses of white flowers in early spring. Originating in the Canary Islands, and introduced to Australia in1879, it has been planted in Australian gardens as an ornamental, on farms as a wind break and has been utilised as food value by pastoralists for many years. It is a habitat for native birds and provides winter nectar for bees.
 
Apart from the obvious benefits for alpacas, in other areas of our farm the Tagasaste has long been used to form edible windbreaks for stock, but the ‘hedge’ created with the help of the alpacas is different from mainstream farming.
 
Since the original ‘pilot scheme’, progressive plantings border many of our paddocks.
 
Stud males can be separated by this nutritious barrier, weanlings are secure, and all enjoy the flavour as they neatly prune leaves as they protrude through the wire.
 
Tagasaste grows easily in many soil types and climates, can be germinated from seed or started as seedlings. It has been recorded that livestock producers in WA are expected to plant more than 30,000 hectares of tagasaste during the coming year and that Eastern states are following this revolution as an aid in improving landcare.
 
Growth is rapid, and Autumn plantings will mean that 18 months later, an effective hedge will be forming,
 
It is seen to have multiple benefits for most livestock, and from personal experience, we consider it excellent ~ aesthetically attractive, nutritional as well as functional, and the alpacas clearly approve as they “Eat it Neat”.
 
 
 
 
 
    
 
Joshua and an Alpaca friend stand in front of a very neatly eaten 'Tagasaste' hedge at Benleigh Alpaca Stud on the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong. Photo by Carolyn Jinks.

 



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This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 03 June, 2009.

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