Profitable Grass and Clover
The importance of continued re-investment in your business can never be over emphasised. Any business must continually move forward in order to maintain profitability as competitors increase their output and efficiency.
To do nothing is to fall behind. The purpose of this release is to convey what is a real opportunity to increase both the output and efficiency for the dairy farmer.
RWN Grass Seeds Mixtures have shown spectacular results
Grass and grass silage account for more than half the diet on most dairy farms. In order for cows genetic potential to be realised, it is essential that grass which is grown has the highest possible nutritive value in terms of D-value and intake characteristics. Older leys (8 years +) will usually comprise 50% weed grasses or more. Response to Nitrogen fertilisers is 5 times greater in modern ryegrasses than weed grasses. Aber High Sugar Grasses are typically 15 D-value units higher than weed grasses.
The benefits in terms of forage yields, D-value and animal performance resulting from the Best Grass Varieties Available compared with older varieties is massive
Growing top quality forage has enormous potential to lift milk yield, to reduce purchased concentrate usage and to increase profitability. This can only be achieved by reseeding old worn out grassland with the latest
grass seed varieties and by managing grassland as a crop, growing productive varieties and by paying attention to fertiliser nutrient requirements, soil structure,
pH, grazing management, harvesting the crop at it's best and using efficient conservation techniques.
There is a vast difference in farming grassland as you would farm an arable crop using 100% selected productive varieties and simply utilising self sown wild grasses and weeds which happen to have grown over many years on a block of land. Much of the difference between farms with the highest and lowest levels of profitability is down to how well grassland on those farms is managed. High quality forage will support high levels of milk output, using less bought in concentrate and at lower feed costs per litre.
RWN Grass Seed Mixtures are designed specifically for high yielding dairy herds. We formulate to the highest possible D-value and sugar levels, as well as for yield, disease resistance and persistency.
Outstanding New Grass and Clover Varieties.
There have been tremendous advances over the past 20 years, in developing better yielding grass and clover varieties specifically for UK agricultural conditions, with improved nutritive characteristics as well as greater yield, disease resistance and persistency.
Download the Aber High Sugar Grass Brochure here.
New varieties have demonstrated up to 2.5 litres more milk and 20% increase in liveweight gain when compared with conventional grass seed varieties.
High Sugar Grasses (HSG)
- High Sugar Grasses have up to 50%
higher
sugars than standard grass seed varieties - Milk yield benefits of up to 2.5 litres / cow / day
- Dry matter intake increased by 2kg / head /day
- Diet digestibility increased by 3%
- 20% increase in daily liveweight gain in youngstock
- More sugars retained in inoculated, High Sugar Grass silage
- Rapid regrowth after cutting or grazing High Sugar Grass
- Very high forage dry matter yields / ha
- Extremely good persistence with good resistance to disease and winter kill
Hybrid Ryegrass
- Hybrid ryegrass has the same yield of Italian ryegrass with the quality of perennial ryegrass
- Hybrid ryegrass varieties are up to 10% higher yielding than perennial ryegrass
- Aber Hybrid ryegrass produced 33% greater yield than existing leys on MDC 'Practice into Profit' farms
- Ideal for 5 year leys, for cutting and rotational grazing
White Clover
- Aber white clover has a longer growing season and greater persistency than conventional clover
- They produce higher yields and much greater clover content
- Overall yield of up to 13.5% more per ha than grass only swards
- Nitrogen tolerant
- Aber white clovers have shown increases in milk yield of up to 3.5 litres / cow / day
- White clover mixtures allow greatly reduced nitrogen application
- Aber clover mixtures withstand shading by heavy crops making them more versatile
- Heavy invasive stolons quickly fill gaps in the sward and are beneficial to soil structure
Major opportunities to increase profitability
Milk
output is the major factor in determining the profitability of most dairy farms. Many UK dairy farms
are achieving well over 9000 litres per cow. Large increases in both milk yield and milk quality resulting
from well-managed reseeds as compared with old pasture can have a dramatic effect on profitability. It
makes sound economic sense to increase emphasis on reseeding and improved grassland management in order
to both increase overall milk output and to control rising feed costs in agriculture.
Don't delay reseeding until profitability in the industry improves.
Reseeding is an investment in your future profitability
I urge all dairy farmers to walk their grassland regularly. Ask yourselves, have I scope to lift milk yield from forage in order to boost milk yields, either by tightening my grassland management or by reseeding to improve the quality as well as the quantity of the forage that I grow? Aim to renew 10% - 15% of your grass leys every year.
Now is the ideal time to reseed.
Remember never use anything but the best grass seed available.
For more information or for an in depth consultation contact Richard Webster.