Products

Pillar Forage Rape

Fast-growing forage rape delivering high-quality summer and autumn feed. Pillar Forage Rape offers quick establishment, excellent regrowth, and high animal performance — ideal for dairy and beef systems.

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Description

Want a flexible summer feed option? Pillar delivers fast, leafy feed with the regrowth to keep production rolling.


Pillar Forage Rape is a fast-growing forage rape that delivers excellent dry matter yields and high-quality feed for finishing stock or boosting summer/autumn feed gaps. Bred by Cropmark Seeds, Pillar stands out for its regrowth ability and improved animal performance.

With a leafy growth habit and high leaf-to-stem ratio, Pillar is ideal for rotational grazing or strip grazing. It’s versatile across different systems — from dairy to beef — and performs well when sown alone or in mixtures with clover, millet, or other summer crops.

Graze when the crop is around 30–40cm tall and avoid overgrazing the stem to encourage regrowth. Always introduce stock gradually to reduce risk of animal health issues associated with brassicas.

A versatile brassica, it can be sown in either early spring or autumn. Pillar Forage Rape is available in our Top Crop Forage Blends , such as combining with forage millet in our robust Top Crop Millet & Rape forage blend. Need a custom blend? Get in touch with Notman Pasture Seeds.


Benefits of Pillar Forage Rape:

  • Quick to first grazing – ready in 10–12 weeks after sowing
  • Excellent regrowth – multiple grazings possible under good management
  • High leaf yield – improved animal intake and utilisation
  • Ideal for summer/autumn feed gaps – strong performance in dry conditions



Grazing Forage Rape

  • Introduce livestock to crop (1-2 hours a day), building up to a maximum allowance over at least a 7-10 day period to allow rumen microbes to adjust to the high quality forage.
  • Feed dry stock and dairy cows no more than 70-80% and 33% of the diet as brassicas
  • Prevent gorging & help rumen microbes adjust by feeding extra fibre prior to and while grazing forage rape crops
  • Do not feed frozen brassica to stock, feed silage/hay in the morning then shift the break in the late-morning/early afternoon.

Variety Pillar Forage Brassica
Specie Forage Brassica
Maturity 80-110 days
Sowing rate 3-6kg/ha
Sowing rate (mix) 0.5-3kg/ha
Spring companion species Chicory, Plantain, Red Clover, Forage Millet
Autumn companion species Ryegrass, White Clover, Chicory
Number of grazings Multiple