DRY AUGUST SEEDBEDS FORCE FORAGE CROP RETHINK

With farmers in many parts of the UK forced into later sowing of forage crops due to dry August seedbeds, greater care will be needed in deciding what to grow and how best to use it in order to combat predicted winter feed deficits.

So says Francis Dunne of FD Seeds, recognising the critical nature of these choices and urging a best practice approach to all future sowings.

Investing in the right species for your objectives, and sticking closely to optimum drilling dates and seed rates, will ultimately prove to be the most cost-effective approach, he adds.

“If farms have been unable to drill in August due to a lack of moisture, the traditional favourites such as forage rape and stubble turnips may well no longer be viable, because it’s too late,” he advises.

“Whether growing a crop for winter grazing, an early spring silage cut, or fulfilling a SAM 2 cover crop action within an SFI agreement, it could be that farms need to look at alternative options to those that they are used to managing.

“With September planting, few can expect significant production this side of Christmas, though there will still be ample opportunity to shorten the winter with significant dry matter in the early spring.”

Mr Dunne points to three species groups that are ideally sown in September and will provide hardy winter cover but offering their main forage production in the spring.

“Italian & Westerwold ryegrasses, forage cereals, and hardy vetches should be the main considerations,” he says. “These can all either be sown as standalone crops, or in mixtures, and will offer the potential of over four tonnes of dry matter per hectare, with high protein and energy at a time when forage stocks may be dwindling.

“The short-term ryegrasses really should be sown in the first two weeks of September to allow sufficient autumn root development to achieve very early spring growth. Beyond mid-September, forage rye and forage triticale are the best choices, and these can be grown with winter hardy vetches, ideally Hairy or Pannonic vetch, as a companion.

“With rye and triticale, it’s important to grow forage types, as opposed to grain types, as these will have far greater vigour, active winter growth, and produce significantly greater spring biomass. These forage types will also have the earliest spring growth, which will provide March grazing or an April silage cut.”

Where drilling is delayed until late September or early October, it is still possible to achieve exceptional winter cover by growing T101 forage triticale, a specialist variety bred in New Zealand, Mr Dunne adds.

“This variety is now grown widely in New Zealand, following maize,” he says, “and it has been a proven performer in the UK. It establishes very quickly and is extremely winter hardy, and the earliest drilled crops can provide the option of a light, late autumn grazing. In most cases, however, the main grazing period will be the end of February to mid-April.

“Alternatively, T101 forage triticale could provide a silage cut from as early as mid-April, with similar nutritional quality to Italian ryegrass. It will deliver up to five tonnes of dry matter per hectare and has been shown to out-perform forage rye in the UK. Also, with a large volume of seed now in production, it is a cheaper drilling option than forage rye.”

For those requiring earlier grazing, species like white mustard, Ethiopian mustard and fodder radish are fast growing with good grazing characteristics, but they are not winter hardy and therefore need to be grazed by November, and certainly before the first hard frosts.

“Later flowering varieties can be more winter hardy, and grazed later, and can be a useful companion crop to ryegrass or forage cereals sown in early September, to provide early winter grazing,” concludes Mr Dunne.

A forage crop selector, summarising species options, optimum drilling dates and utilisation periods, is available by contacting Francis Dunne at FD Seeds at fd@fdseeds.co.uk