03/07/11
Impressive Ability In Spring
Feast II tetraploid Italian ryegrass's impressive ability to quickly get going in spring and grow well all year round has made it an automatic choice since it became commercially available, says Alex, who leases his family's sheep and beef property at Glentunnel.
"It gives you a feed bank for early lambing stock", with his earliest mob of ewes lambing from mid-August. The 400 hectare property carries 1500 ewes and 100 breeding cows as well as finishing surplus brought-in lambs and cattle.
The long-time Feast II tetraploid Italian ryegrass user says it is used as an intermediate grass to clean up weeds before a paddock is returned to permanent pasture. While used as a two year grass at Glentunnel, it could be carried on for longer, he says. Often planted with a multi-graze rape, it is used to finish lambs, as well as winter grazing. It is also cut for baleage or silage in spring once the rape has been eaten out.
"It's a very quick grass out of the ground in spring."
