Forage cereals include varieties of oats, barley, triticale and ryecorn are a very reliable option for prolific winter and spring forage. Growth rates can vary based on the species, but generally cereals offer flexibility to any farming operation through sowing, grazing and silage or hay. Forage oats are a economic, flexible and easy to establish annual cultivar that are suited to grazing, hay, silage, pasture renovation. Popular varieties include: Cooee OatsSaia OatsWintaroo & more Forage Barley provides excellent forage for grazing, hay or silage with good feed quality. Barley has fast establishment and winter production. It is best suited to late planting situations where its quick early growth under cold conditions is an advantage over other forage cereals. MagnateDictator II Forage Triticale combines the quality […]
Tag: Agronomy
Cricket Bait for Victorian farmers
Cricket Bait is an insecticide treated grain product for the control of black field crickets in pasture. Black field crickets pose a insect pest threat to newly sown and established grass pastures over the late summer and autumn period. Cricket Bait is highly palatable and has a rapid knockdown effect on the target pest. PASTURE LOSSES A field population of 20 crickets/m2 could cause a pasture loss of 1600 kg DM/ha in 98 days. The actual loss in anyone season could, however, be as low as 860 kg DM/ha or as high as 2450 kg DM/ha depending on availability of feed (Blank, 1985). Severely defoliated ryegrass plants will be slow and many plant can die. Cricket-damaged pasture that do recover […]
Ryegrass staggers? Our top management tips
Throughout south east Australia, perennial ryegrass has stood as a vital component of pasture systems, offering a rich source of high-quality feed through Autumn to early Summer. However, its symbiotic relationship with endophytes can lead to a condition known as perennial ryegrass staggers or toxicity in grazing animals. This presents a significant challenge for farmers, particularly during late summer and autumn when the risk of staggers peaks. Fortunately, advancements in endophyte research has yielded some promising solutions to reduce lower levels of alkaloids and thus reduce the likelihood of ryegrass staggers. Endophyte technology has advanced significantly since the 1980s with plant breeders such as Cropmark Seeds and DLF Seeds continuing to help develop novel endophytes that provide long-term pasture persistence […]
Spring sown pasture tips
Enhancing your perennial pastures with spring oversowing in September and October whilst sufficient soil moisture is available for emerging seedlings is a common practice for south east Australian farmers looking to drive more production. Here Notman Pasture Seeds explores the advantages, disadvantages and in-depth suggestions on optimising spring sown pasture. Spring sowing advantages Spring sowing disadvantages Enhance harvest density and quality Improve silage and hay DM yields with spring sown italian ryegrasses such as Surge Italian Ryegrass. Over sowing with fast establishing italian ryegrasses provides exceptional yield, and luscious leaf growth. Surge is ideal in this scenario this September as it will improve pasture density when it comes time to harvest for silage & hay. And with soil temperatures & daylight […]
Combating winter grass in perennial pastures
As we move into late autumn and early winter, a range of winter grasses and broadleafed weeds begin to germinate in our pastures. Light green in colour with tufted growth habit and seeding from late winter throughout spring and early summer, Poa Annual matures quickly and seeds profusely making them an agressive weed difficult to control. Grazing or mowing is ultimately ineffective in their control as they begin to choke up your pastures. Preventing winter grass establishment is a key component in maximising the performance or your pastures. As you can see by the images below: WINTER GRASSES TRIAL Using Scanner 500 herbicide, Notman Pasture Seeds trialed its effectiveness on winter grasses last season here at Larnder. As you can see there […]
Why combine Diploid & Tetraploid ryegrasses in mixes?
Diploid ryegrasses have two sets of chromosomes per cell, compared to a tetraploid which has four. Diploids combine yield and robustness whilst Tetraploid’s are extremely tasty and palatable. Blends of diploid and tetraploid ryegrasses can achieve a more balanced pasture on your farm. The high sugars and leafiness of tetraploids combined with the persistence and standability of diploids makes an ideal blend with the best of both worlds. For example, combining ryegrasses such as Matrix SE (a diploid) and Base AR37 (a tetraploid) in a perennial ryegrass blend delivers high levels of dry matter production, improved balance of quality feed, high levels of persistence and grazing flexibility. We offer blends of diploid and tetraploid ryegrasses such as Vatbuster, Megabite, Winterbite […]
Weed control in new pasture
Weed Control in Pasture – the importance of controlling weeds early. Planning a weed control programme for new grass will help you grow strong, healthy and persistent pasture. TOP TIPS IMPACT Short term: Seedling weeds vigorously compete for nutrients, moisture, light and most importantly, space. Early removal of these weeds allows for more rapid and even establishment resulting in an increased amount of dry matter for your stock. Long term: Poor establishment of newly sown pasture results in a decrease in pasture productivity and an increase in chemical costs from the extra weed control requirements down the track. PRE GRAZING Ideally, you need a herbicide that will not damage the newly established pasture while providing effective weed control. SPRAY GRAZING Spray grazing is an excellent and […]
Stamina grazing tolerant lucerne varieties
In our experience in grazing Lucerne is generally grown on sites that will not support good stands of permanent pasture year round due to lack of summer moisture and or poor soil moisture holding profile. High yielding lucerne provides 3 to 4 and sometimes even 5 cuts per year and it will persist for at least 4 years and in some cases has been known to continue good high quality production for up-to 5 or 6 years. It is extremely robust with exceptional drought resistance due to its deep roots which often reach deep throughout the soil profile, which is ideal for farms that dry out significantly over summer. Why is drought tolerant? Lucerne relies on stored energy (carbohydrates) in its root […]
Using summer forages – agronomy with Andrew Allsop
Read the latest on the use of summer forages with thoughts from Andrew Allsop, a member of our Western Victorian pasture team Spring and early summer paddock renovation provides an opportunity to establish home grown feed for summer, autumn and if intended winter forage. Spring and summer sown forage can be used for a variety of reasons, but the main reasons are to form part of your annual pasture renovation program and the other to produce valuable feed at key times when permanent pastures are of low quality and quantity. At Notman Pasture Seeds, both our Gippsland & Western Vic teams have access to a wide range of cultivars – it’s just a matter to constructing a plan that suits […]