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Sowing brassica seed (like Mainstar forage rape) that features newer genetics, high palatability, and a high leaf to stem ratio, can help farmers improve their return on investment by providing ...
In 2016/2017, a study in Armidale, NSW, demonstrated sheep’s grazing preference of Mainstar, compared to other forage rape varieties.*
Here’s what happened:
Mainstar forage rape is one of the market leading, forage rapes for good reason. Amongst other features and benefits, it …
All of which lead to superior animal preference, easier grazing and more useable feed.
A common practice on farm, is to look at overall yield when tallying up the performance of a brassica crop. However, if the crop is all stem and full of unpalatable leaves, the yield quality will translate into less profit when compared to a palatable variety that offers more utilisable feed.
Ultimately, when sheep eat more of the crop, they gain more weight, and heavier sheep, equals a better return on investment for the farmer.
At the UNE campus, 26 sheep grazed on nine different forage brassica varieties. The crops were planted in 6m x 10m plots at 4kg/ha on December 1, 2016 (each plot was repeated four times for increased accuracy).
The trial utilised GPS to track the sheep, cameras to see where they grazed, and visual checks to see how much of each crop was eaten^. This was done over nine days with two grazing phases.
Mainstar forage rape has shown to be a top choice for sheep, leading to better utilisation and potentially higher profits for farmers.
For more information on Mainstar forage rape, get in touch with your local DLF Seeds Sales Agronomist here.
* This study was completed by honours student Harry Sellers and research scientist Laughlan Stewart at the University of New England (UNE).
^ Trial utilised a combination of GPS collars and video tracking of sheep location.
Note: Removed from figure 1: Pallaton Raphno®, Titan and Goliath® forage rape.
