Carlisle farmer extends grazing
Following the successful introduction of a New Zealand-type grazing system at his Carlisle farm, leading dairy farmer Robert Craig has sown a further 20 acres of the mixture that has brought about the dramatic extension of his grazing season.
Bred by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) and Barenbrug, and supplied by Carrs Billington, Cairn Head Farm’s extended grazing mixture is designed for maximum season long production and includes Tyrella, Portrush and Dunloy late-heading ryegrasses, Kilrea early-heading diploid perennial ryegrass and Malone and Dunluce intermediate-heading tetrapolid ryegrasses.
Having previously sown 50 acres of pasture with the mixture, Robert is reaping the benefits of the sward. His herd of 350-head dairy cows is currently producing over 5,000 litres of milk from forage, with an impressive 4,500 litres coming from grazed grass. The milk, which is used to make cheese, has a quality of 3.5 protein and 4.2 fat.
Barenbrug’s agricultural product manager David Long recently visited the pasture and believes Robert will continue to benefit from the mixture. "The reseed looks excellent," he reveals. "Very leafy with virtually no stems or seed heads to be seen. I’ve no doubt it will produce top quality grazing and silage. It is relatively easy to maximise growth in the main growing season, but this mixture was designed to give maximum possible production at the very early and very late ends of the grazing season, thereby increasing the total number of cow grazing days."
David says that the varieties used deliver maximum production on a very long growing season, combined with high digestibility and palatability. "They have also been bred to have a very low level of re-heading, which means that once the flowering stem has been grazed off, the plant will grow vegetatively rather than reproductively. This produces a sward that is dense, leafy and easy to manage instead of one that is trying to set seed and creating a stemmy sward, allowing for maximum dry intake by the grazing cow."
