Forage Maize Seed - Growing Quality Feed for Cows
Our interest in Forage Maize seed arises from the belief that forage quality is key to the performance of high yielding dairy cows.
Starting with the right variety of forage maize seed is a major factor which determines the nutrition of the forage maize when it is fed to the dairy cow.
Finding that many dairy farmers were not growing the best forage maize seed varieties available, Richard Webster Nutrition teamed up with Oliver Seeds to supply a range of outstanding forage maize varieties, which we believe offer clear advantages for the dairy farmer.
Why RWN Forage Maize Varieties are best?
- The true value of a variety can be measured in terms of tonnes of digestible yield and tonnes of starch produced per hectare. As well as starch we select maize varieties for TOTAL DIGESTIBLE YIELD / ha. This represents the product of Dry Matter yield / ha and energy density of the whole maize plant, not just the starch content.
- Total Dry Matter Yield / ha is by far the biggest factor in determining the cost / tonne of dry matter of growing forage maize. Yet much of the UK market has become focused on growing relatively lower yielding Maturity Class 10 and 11 maize varieties prone to early die back.
The
importance of good maize variety selection cannot be over emphasized. A 20% increase in
maize yield, as a result of sowing an improved variety is worth around £100
/ acre before taking into account increased feed value. - Having selected the best variety, attention to detail is needed to realise the varieties potential. Getting forage maize off to a good start with rapid establishment can have a massive impact on yields. A whole range of factors are involved including: site selection, sub-soiling, seed bed preparation, sowing date, crop rotation, fertiliser and nutrient requirements. Every year we see large acreages of maize are sown well after the optimum sowing date as well as suffering from inadequate weed control and nutrient deficiencies especially with potash.
- Even on some very marginal sites RWN Forage Maize Varieties selected for high Dry Matter Yields along with Whole Plant Digestibility, Early Cob Ripeness and Starch Yield have consistently produced both Dry Matter and Energy Yields 20% - 30% higher per acre than the best Ultra-Early Maize Varieties available. This obviously results in a 20% - 30% reduction in the cost per tonne of dry matter of growing a crop forage maize.
- Far too much emphasis in the UK has been placed on whole plant dry matter and starch percentage. Quality and feed value is influenced as much by fibre digestibility as it is by starch. The range of digestibility on approved maize varieties can account for 1600 litres of milk per ha, or £400 / ha income. Cob ripeness is far more important than percentage dry matter of the whole plant (Maturity Class), which is often influenced more by premature die back of leaves than it is by good cob ripeness. Official trials which sow maize relatively late and harvest all the varieties in one go consistently under value dry matter yield, starch percentage, energy value and earliness of high yielding modern stay green maize varieties.
- RWN Forage Maize varieties are selected for consistent high DM yield, and whole plant digestibility over a wide range of sites and conditions.
- RWN forage maize varieties are also selected for early cob ripeness with stay green characteristics giving a wide harvest window. This avoids the problem associated with many early maize varieties, of rapid die back producing excess dead material that is colonized by high populations of yeast and moulds, rapid dry down, over ripe grain, poor silage chop and poor consolidation resulting in poor fermentation and unstable heating silage.
- Over several years RWN Maize Varieties grown commercially on marginal and very marginal sites, have out performed every other maize variety that we have grown them against, at times by as much as 50%, giving us yields well over 25 tonnes / acre. Whilst yields have been much higher than the so call Ultra-Early varieties cob-ripeness on marginal sites have usually been as good or at most within about 7 - 10 days of the very earliest varieties.
- Open sown these big yielding RWN Maize Varieties have generally out yielded maize sown under plastic on marginal sites, by a considerable margin without the £120 / acre cost of the plastic although the plastic sown maize has been around 2 weeks earlier on cob maturity.
RWN
Forage Maize Seed
Over several years Richard Webster Nutrition has been trialling a range of the most promising new forage maize varieties with the potential to reliably produce huge yields with very early cob ripeness together, high whole plant digestibility and good starch levels. We have found that often top varieties on the national lists do not perform well on commercial less favourable sites, but other varieties have massively out performed many top listed varieties. This additional commitment to sourcing the best varieties for our customers has enabled us to offer maize varieties which consistently out perform maize from most other suppliers.
Ascender, Ormeau, Aritzo, ES Regain, Twixxi, Surehand, Castro
These new maize varieties all have extremely good early vigour, and are suitable both for favourable and marginal sites. We place great importance on selecting varieties which will grow locally rather than relying on official trial data only.
By trialling across a large number of commercial farms locally we aim to continuously upgrade our varieties to provide farmers with outstanding results designed to both reduce the cost of growing forage maize and to improve the nutritional characteristics of the maize silage in the pit.
Ascender -
a brand new improved KWS variety which replaces the very successful Kadenz. Ascender has
a much higher relative digestibility than most other maize varieties and like Kadenz, Ascender is expected
to perform particularly well on very difficult, heavy, marginal sites. Ascender has all the best
characteristics of Kadenz but is bigger, earlier and with higher starch yields (6.2 to 6.6 t/ha) and
excellent lodging resistance.
Ascender is in its final year of NIAB trials before being listed. Results so far show exceptional starch and energy yields per ha, together with exceptional ME and starch % when harvested. Very good DM yields combined with very large cobs with very early maturity. This should prove to be a truly exceptional forage maize variety.
Ormeau - looks to be an exceptional new variety which Richard Webster Nutrition is currently trialling along with Aritzo on local farms.
Early indications show exceptional starch and yield with large cobs and excellent early maturity. Ormeau
is predicted to have highest starch yield of any variety of its type (7t/ha). Cob weights and crop yield
should compare well with Kadenz but with earlier cob maturity. Cob maturity this year were in line with
Avenir, ES Regain and Ixxes on less favourable sites. Ormeau is currently in the NIAB descriptive list
trials for 2012.
Aritzo - Is a brand new maturity class 9 variety currently under going trials. Early indications are maturity as early as ES -Regain, Ixxes and Crescendo and should be the highest yielding maturity class 9 currently available. Early vigour is above average and should do well on less favourable sites. In RWN trials this year and well worth a try.
ES Regain - is Oliver Seeds biggest selling variety by a mile. Whilst not quite as big as some of our other varieties it is very reliable and very early. Maturity class 9. Exceptional energy yields at 212,000 MJ/ha less favourable). Unlike other varieties which generally produce one cob, ES Regain typically produces two long thin cobs per plant. It has the highest starch yield in its class on the NIAB list at 6.5 t/ha on less favourable sites. ES Regain has one of the earliest cob ripeness scores but much higher yielding than most ultra-earlies. Particularly useful for an early sowing to harvest early and feed ahead of the main maize crop or for use to bring forward the maturity of a late field in line with the main maize harvest.
Twixxi - is a brand new hybrid currently in NIAB Descriptive
List Trials. Early indications show that it has exceptional yields combined with starch
and excellent ME output. On trials
Twixxi also out yields it's reliable
and early sister variety Ixxes and with dry matter yields around 20 tonnes DM / ha and
Maturity Class 8, Twixxi is a good contender to beat a wide range of early varieties.
Digestibility is also well ahead of many other varieties on both marginal and favourable
sites.
Surehand - is a brand a new addition to the 2010 NIAB Descriptive List as first choice for both favourable and less favourable sites. Very high dry matter yields. Huge ME and starch yields, with excellent early vigour and standing power. We expect it to do well locally being higher yielding and better quality than its excellent sister variety Surprise.
Castro produces enormous yields, with an early cob. Used widely in Holland and Germany, Castro is grown for its reliability both for its potential to produce massive yields of bio fuel for bio-gas production and for it extremely high starch yields and excellent feed value for forage maize. Castro was the highest energy yielding variety on Oliver Seeds official trials in both 2007 and 2008. Very stay green and with good drought resistance. Copes well on heavy marginal sites but does however require bright, sunny conditions for optimum performance.
These New RWN Forage Maize Varieties - Ascender, Ormeau, Aritzo, Twixxi, ES Regain, Surehand, and Castro all satisfy our selection criteria for reliability, early vigour, enormous yields, early cob ripeness, high starch yields, exceptional digestibility and energy yield per acre with good standing power without premature die back.
With the cost of land, fertiliser and other inputs increasing the cost of growing forage maize can only be controlled by growing higher yielding varieties and growing them well. We are confident that our best new forage maize varieties will prove far more profitable for farmers to grow than other varieties currently available.
Full nutritional support package free of charge to customers along with the most extensive range of high quality feed inputs available
For more information on successful maize growing contact Richard Webster.