Description

High yielding, flexible Kea Kale

Kea Kale is a high-yielding, intermediate kale bred for strong dry matter production, a high leaf percentage and excellent regrowth.

Spring-sown Kea can be grazed as soon as needed, with no ripening requirement. Its strong regrowth from successive Summer and Autumn sheep grazings provides flexibility for managing feed budgets and adapting to unpredictable seasons. This flexibility also reduces the risk of animal health issues associated with grazing immature rape crops. Grazing can start as early as 50 days post sowing for multi-grazings or be delayed until 220 days with no loss in feed quality.

Why choose Kea Kale?

• High dry matter yield potential
• High leaf-to-stem ratio
• Excellent regrowth after grazing
• Rapid early growth
• Very good disease tolerance
• Strong winter hardiness
• Suitable for dairy, beef and sheep systems
• Flexible single or multiple-graze option

A different way to use kale

Kea opens up more options for incorporating kale into Australian forage programs.

For a traditional winter feed crop, Kea can be grown through summer and autumn to produce a high-yielding bulk feed source for the cooler months.

Where moisture is available, earlier sowings can also be strategically grazed through summer and autumn, allowing farmers to utilise high-quality leafy forage before carrying regrowth forward for subsequent grazings.

This makes Kea particularly useful where farmers want more flexibility from their summer forage area rather than relying solely on a single final grazing.

High leaf percentage

Kea has been selected for leafiness as well as total yield.

A higher proportion of leaf helps improve feed quality and crop utilisation compared with excessively stemmy forage. Australian farmers can therefore target both bulk dry matter production and a crop that livestock can utilise effectively.

Where does Kea fit?

Kea is well suited to high-fertility paddocks where good summer moisture is available through reliable rainfall, irrigation or effluent.

Consider Kea for:

• Summer and autumn forage production
• High-yielding winter feed
• Multiple-graze forage programs
• Dairy support areas and effluent paddocks
• Beef finishing systems
• Paddocks requiring a productive break crop before returning to pasture