With a particularly dry summer and autumn for farming in Southern Victoria creating a reduction in feed options over the coming months, farmers have increasingly been looking at cheaper and quicker home grown feed options.
In many cases, it has become evident heavily grazed paddocks haven’t bounced back so there has been a focus on boosting home grown feed supplies before soil temperatures cool down and growth rates slow.
The introduction of fast growing annual ryegrasses is a key component of many pasture programs especially whenever there is a need to bump-up production levels to crease extra supplies.
Key features are their speed of establishment, high growth rates over autumn, winter and late into spring, coupled with high pasture quality and palatability.
Annual ryegrasses such as Bullet, a rapidly establishing tetraploid annual ryegrass, with superior speed of establishment, cool season performance and excellent pasture quality provide an ideal hay & silage combined with balansa and shaftal clovers.
It is crucial to sow whilst there is warmth in the soil and as soon as when those autumn rains arrive. Sowing at this stage is important to ensure valuable feed supplies in early winter months are available.
Notman Pasture Seed’s Peter Notman explains how tetraploid annual ryegrasses can be so helpful in sustaining the growing demand for quick winter feed within 6-8 weeks of sowing.
“Annual ryegrass variety Bullet has been bred specifically for superior speed of establishment, cool season performance and excellent pasture quality. It’s an ideal 6-9 month specialist high quality winter feed performers and suited to all areas growing ryegrasses”
“Bullet has been a major success in Southern Australia it delivers exceptional early vigour and with a good ability to maintain its quality all the way through to early spring and summer”
Good grazing & weed management gives the potential for multiple grazing, plus silage or hay. It crucially important sowing at the right time of year.
