SUBMENU
TESTIMONIALS
Adopting the latest innovative grasses is just one of the projects being tackled in a major development programme on the property of an award-winning Maori farming partnership north of Gisborne.
Pakarae Whangara B5 Partnership is midway through a $2 million, five-year development including fencing, fertiliser, regrassing and reticulated water systems for stock. The extensive 5600 hectare hill property has 11 full-time staff and carries 50,000 stock units following the joining of two neighbouring Maori incorporations of Ngati Konohi in 2006 to provide economies of scale.
Richard Scholefield with Joanne Amyes
- Scientifically shown to improve animal performance
- Excellent dry matter production and ideal for high quality silage
- Best summer quality of all high yielding Italian ryegrasses
- Enhanced palatability and acceptance
- Superior disease resistance and enhanced persistence
More rapid and reliable establishment than diploid types The tetraploid nature of Feast® II ryegrass can lead to improved animal intake through enhanced palatability.
Feast II can be used as a specialist crop for livestock or silage production, while many farmers undersow Feast II annually into existing pasture to provide extra winter growth of high quality forage. Feast II can persist for 2-3 years in summer moist environments, with low insect pressure.
Summer Persistence
Under a dairy grazing trial at Ruakura (Waikato), Feast II showed significantly better summer persistence than Moata, Tama and Archie and was not significantly different from Tabu, Galaxy (without endophyte) and Flanker. Summer persistence score taken on the 19th of February, 11 months after sowing. (Source NFVT Trial A301RUA).
Disease Resistance
Under a dairy grazing trial at Ruakura (Waikato), Feast II showed significantly better disease resistance than Tama, Galaxy (without endophyte), Flanker, Moata and Tabu. (Source NFVT Trial A301RUA).
Dry Matter Production
Results of the National Forage Variety Trials (NFVT) show that Feast II was in the top significance group (ranked third) in the short term ryegrass trials across New Zealand and topped the Canterbury trials, proving that Feast II™ continues to perform as a high dry matter producing cultivar.
Summer Quality
Improved summer pasture quality can be achieved by sowing cultivars with low aftermath heading. Low aftermath heading cultivars, when compared with standard varieties, produce a smaller number of seed heads following the initial seed head flush in late October/early November. This in turn increases the digestibility and metabolisable energy of the pasture and will ultimately lead to improved stock performance as a result of higher quality pastures.
Feast II tetraploid Italian ryegrass has been selected for low aftermath heading and improved summer quality. To measure the difference in aftermath heading between Feast II and Tabu, a trial was run in Canterbury over summer 2002/2003. Feast II™ produced significantly more leaf and less seed head than Tabu.
Sowing and Establishment
Feast II seed is heavier than diploid seed, so ideally should be sown at a 40% higher rate than that of diploids. Sow at a minimum of 25 kg/ha as a specialist crop, or 12-18 kg/ha using SUPERSTRIKE® treated seed, in an undersowing situation.
Grazing Management
Feast II is best suited to rotational grazing. For best persistence avoid hard grazing over summer. Feast II is primarily used to significantly increase the winter and spring production of a pasture. For spring conservation, back fence during winter break feeding.