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ONE50 PROVING TO BE ATOP PERFORMER IN THE VAT

Kerri Ross has found One50 perennial ryegrass with AR37 endophyte to be the best fit for their dairy operation at Bald Hills, just north of Ballarat. Kerri manages the dairy component of the family’s 1200 acre mixed farming operation which is made up of owned and leased land. 240 acres of this land is used to produce supplementary hay, silage and wheat for the cows with another 240 acres used as the milking platform for the 200 Holsteins. With no irrigation on the property the Ross’s are reliant on summer rainfall, with Kerri commenting that “it wasn’t a typical year for rain with 4 ½ inches of the farms 25 inch annual rainfall coming in under an hour.” This moisture held relatively well in the properties clay to light red soils setting the farm up for early summer growth.

Kerri milks the 200 Holsteins year round under their stud name Kelenmar and Jaslana Holsteins. Animal health and productivity is a key driver on the farm and continual problems with heat stress attracted the Rosses to One50 perennial ryegrass with the AR37 endophyte. ”We didn’t realise until went to a field day run by Davies and Rose Rural in conjunction with Stephen Pasture Seeds the effect that the standard endophyte in Vic rye could have on milk production and impact on our cows. As we hadn’t been doing a lot of pasture renewal we went home and did some thinking and thought AR37 was worth a trial”.

“We looked at a few options but One50 perennial ryegrass with AR37 was the best fit for us. We normally just resowed with Vic Rye and annuals especially after the 2006 drought but after our 35 acre trial split into two paddocks it convinced us about the One50 AR37. The results speak for themselves - within two days of the cows grazing the new One50 AR37 pasture we noticed a 2 litre increase per cow per day in the vat compared to Vic rye and clover pastures. We also noticed the milk fat percentage rise from 3.9% to 4.1% and the protein levels also rose from 3% to 3.2%. The milk yield increased straight away and the protein and fat gradually increased over the first 2 weeks of grazing the new pasture,” commented Kerri.

Kerri is excited about the future opportunities that One50 AR37 offers their milking potential. “Those results were from one grazing per day so we are excited about what 2 grazings per day could deliver. We also noticed the cows did a great job eating the grass down; it just seemed to be more palatable. We had been having problems maximising grazing utilisation but have kicked massive goals improving pasture utilisation with the One50 AR37. We also found that with the early rain the One50 AR37 took off before the others so we were able to graze these paddocks first.”

“As far as the temperament of the cows, they have improved no end. We have always had massive herd health effects in the cows, a few strange illnesses and heat stress on the Vic rye but we saw initial improvements from the first grazing on the One50 AR37. The cows were out grazing longer – they didn’t seem to be so hot and bothered. We have also noticed a difference in the shed, the cows always seemed to be a bit on edge. After a few weeks of grazing the One50 AR37 we have found them to be a lot calmer. As a result we have also been able to reduce their dose of magnesium Kelly commented that the cost of the pasture renewal was initially off-putting, “While we were concerned about the profitability to begin with, the proof is right there in the vat and the seed has paid for itself in terms of production and animal health benefits. We are going to sow another 42 ha’s, with the long term plan to use One50 AR37 across the entire milking platform but it is all about getting the pastures ready first to maximise the results.”

Kerri Ross in One50 AR37 Pasture

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Birchip Cropping Group Lamb Liveweight Gain Case Study 2012 (145KB)

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Tonic Plantain – just the tonic for milk production.

View the attached footage from Winn TV on Terang Demo Dairy featuring perennial herbs performance (Tonic Plantain from Agricom) and improved milk production. (Win News, Thursday 25th August 2011).

Tonic Plantain – Prime Lamb Finishing

Read about Ararat farmer Paul Harrington’s prime lamb finishing success with Tonic plantain (Stock and Land article) More..

Winfred Brassica – A Lamb Finishing Winner

Mark Green is a prime lamb and certified seed grower at Forbes in central west NSW. After seeing the results a fellow producer gained from using Winfred Forage Brassica, Mark knew straight away that it could work for him. Mark had this to say after his first time using Winfred,
“The Winfred was ready to graze the first week in June after an early autumn sowing on irrigation. Winfred produced a lot of feed at a time when there was not much else available. I was able to take a lot of pressure off our other country by introducing 400 crossbred ewes and 600 second cross lambs to the 23 hectares. This filled a huge feed gap by sustaining them for 6 weeks. The lambs we took off the Winfred were beauties and the ewes were in very good condition. After fertiliser and water applications and minimal rainfall, we achieved another 3 grazings. The feed we received could not be beaten by anything else and was available when we needed it. We will be sowing a lot more area down to Winfred this year. In our cropping program as we can see the extra benefits Winfred brings from a crop rotation and pasture renovation view point, not to mention the amount of feed it provided.”

Using basic calculations, the Water Use Efficiency (WUE) from this particular crop was estimated at 850 – 900kg/DM per 25mm of Rainfall. The Gross margin calculations showed that in this particular case, the break – even figure was exceeded during the first grazing. Winfred is a profitable crop rotational tool available to farmers. For more information contact your local seed retailer or your local Agricom Territory Manager.

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Thinking of spring sowing forage brassica or herbs this spring?
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