When all the sales reps say they have the best grass for you – here’s what to consider when choosing the right perennial ryegrass for your farming operation. Five main points you have to consider when choosing a perennial ryegrass: Endophyte strains Choosing and understanding the correct endophyte strain is important for the longevity of your pastures with insect pests stripping valuable dry matter and can even kill ryegrass pastures. Black beetle, cockchafers, lucerne flea, grass grub and field crickets (just to name a few) pressure the persistence of perennial pastures. SE, AR1, AR37 and NEA2 are all novel endophytes and have been developed by plant breeders to help protect grasses from insect attack. Learn more about endophytes Heading date Standard heading ryegrasses […]
Category: Pasture Advice
Growing demand for Bullet ryegrass for fast winter-feed
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 […]
Grass Endophyte Explained
Endophyte in grass play an important role in resisting insect attack in pasture but there is a price to pay in ryegrass staggers and reduced animal performance. Seed breeders develop “novel endophytes” that protect the grass against a greater range of insect pests, with no negative impacts on ruminant health or performance. Grass plants may contain an internally growing fungus called endophyte. Different strains of endophyte are available in many of the grass cultivars. Standard Endophyte An option where price is crucial and high animal production is not a major issue. Stock grazing these pastures can often suffer from ryegrass staggers and experience reduced weight gains throughout the warmer months. The Standard strain (SE) implies that the cultivar contains a wild […]
Research and development at Notman Pasture Seeds
Many pasture and forage varieties available from Notman Pasture Seeds are thoroughly trialled and tested on farms throughout Australia & New Zealand to assess their performance capability under varying farming conditions. Notman Pasture Seeds continue to work with our main suppliers to trials and demonstrate new & existing forage products. Forage varieties are evaluated in these trials for a number of performance- related criteria, including dry matter yield and seasonal performance, pasture quality (including metabolisable energy, digestibility, protein, NDF, etc), persistence, and susceptibility to plant diseases and insect pests.Where necessary, the company undertakes animal performance trials to assess the impact of its varieties on livestock performance and health. All trials are conducted to strict industry-designed protocols, and managed by the […]
Italian ryegrass delivers Surge in production
WHEN MATT Loader started doing second cuts for silage he knew he was onto something good. Four years ago he started using Surge – a high yielding diploid Italian ryegrass – on out blocks and parts of his main milking area at Krowera in south Gippsland to improve the quality of the silage. “Since then I’ve done a second cut every year for the last four years on the out blocks,” Mr Loader said. “The quality is always good. It just grows, even on one of my blocks that’s quite steep. I’ve put it on all the ridge paddocks and even in a hot summer it still keeps on growing.” The success rate continues to get better. “Last year I cut it three times, that was the first time I’ve done that. It […]