RWN News Digest
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Interest in high sugar grass has grown rapidly since the first
"Aber" High Sugar Grass
varieties, bred for elevated levels
of water soluble carbohydrate, were introduced by the Institute of
Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER).
The levels of sugar in any grass variety will vary according to the seasonal conditions and growth period. Aber High Sugar Grass varieties consistently contain higher levels of sugar than other grass varieties. Differences in sugar as small as 4% can have a marked effect on animal performance. Aber HSG varieties can be up to 50% higher in sugar than conventional varieties and can show up to 2.5 litres more milk, with dry matter intakes up by 2kg / head / day and live weight gains in youngstock increased by 20%. Aber HSG diploid varieties such as AberDart have consistently higher sugar contents than both other diploid varieties and tetraploid varieties which in the past have mistakenly been considered to be higher in sugar than diploids. Aber HSG varieties have also recorded by far the highest scores for NIAB's Cut Six D-Value for simulated grazing management as well as demonstrating excellent characteristics for a dense, persistent grazing sward. HSG varieties are equally suited to silage making. Silage made with HSG grass has been shown to retain up to 7 times more sugar than silage made with conventional grass and up to 18 times more sugar when the High Sugar Grass was treated with a silage inoculant. Fermentation quality and nutrient levels were also improved both by use of High Sugar Grass and by use of an inoculant. There has been much interest in providing increased levels of sugar in the diets of high yielding UK dairy herds. Normally livestock only utilize around 20% of the protein in grass. With HSG grass varieties this can be more than 50% higher. Sugars provide a source of readily available fermentable energy allowing the rumen microbes to process more forage and to make use of a higher proportion of the degradable protein in the diet in order to produce an increased level of quality microbial protein. When selecting High Sugar Grass varieties check that they are genuine "Aber" varieties, which are proven HSG varieties which have been evaluated for sugar content. Not all Aber varieties are high sugar varieties, but Aber varieties have been bred specifically for UK conditions over a 20 year breeding program. Aber varieties are now at the forefront of the NIAB listings and last year AberDart was awarded the NIAB Gold Cup, the first time ever that this award has gone to a grass variety. RWN Grass and Clover Mixtures have been developed specifically to suite the needs of high yielding dairy farms. RWN mixtures are based on Aber High Sugar Grass and Aber Clover varieties and are designed for maximum D-Value, Sugar levels, disease resistance, and persistency as well as forage DM yield. Our focus is on increasing milk yields and profitability of our customers by the use of sound nutrition. Profitability of dairy farms is governed by high volume, cost effective milk output. It makes sound economic sense to drive milk yields by achieving maximum output from high quality home grown forage. With our advanced silage inoculants we now have the means to preserve more of the sugar and other nutritive characteristics of the growing crop. For an in depth consultation contact Richard Webster. Working together for a more profitable future |
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