The selection of individual varieties of ryegrass and how they will complement other grass species has been refined by the observations and data from our own grazing trial plots at Upper Nisbet in The Scottish Borders.
With species selection for individual Castle or Saltire mixtures, we have generations of knowledge and experience on what are the best combinations and plant densities to achieve optimum performance on a site given its soil type, location, height, and other climatic constraints.
When we choose certain varietal combinations for our mixtures, we are looking at independent trials data from the SRUC sites, AHDB (NIAB-TAG), AFBI, & Teagasc for The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
We established 30 individual varieties of perennial ryegrass in 5 paddocks. Each of these 1 hectare paddocks comprise of 6 single stand varieties that are grouped by heading date. The range is 21 days, from 35 days Relative Ear Emergence (REE) in plot 1 to 56 Days in plot 30. Diploid varieties were established alongside tetraploid varieties at a calculated seed rate to give the same theoretical plant density.
By rotationally grazing these paddocks with bulling heifers we have been able to measure the yield, quality and most importantly the palatability by recording the residual grazing heights each time the animals move on to the next paddock. We also have 3 one hectare paddocks with our bespoke Castle Mixtures with a range of grass species, legumes and herbs.
These trials are now in their 3rd year of production and we will now be able to observe any differences in persistency over the next couple of years. By using animal intervention rather than the cutting and measuring with a Haldrup harvester, we feel that our trials are adding a new dimension that reflects more accurately what happens out in your fields.
We are selecting the combination of varieties that will have complementary strengths at different points in the growing season for yield and quality. Our trials have allowed us to identify those varieties that are consistently grazed to low residuals and recover for the next round of grazing.
