The following pages have been put together as a guide to choosing the right forage, and from there, the right variety. We hope you find this guide useful and informative if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact the seed office or your usual Bartholomews representative.
Seed Department Tel: 01243 755620 Email: seed@bartholomews.co.uk
Forage crops such as stubble turnips, forage rape or kale are ideal for feeding livestock as they are both flexible and offer good quality feed value. Grazed forage crops can be some of the cheapest forms of feed. With sowing time frames from May up until August, these crops offer a flexible solution that can fit in with most operations. Depending on the sowing time, these crops can be used as an outwintering option. These crops offer good quality feed, especially when forage-stock might be a bit low. You would need to aim for 85 - 90 % crop utilisation on these species. Choose a species and variety that fits in with your requirements. Choosing a species • How long do you want the first grazing to be? • Look at your feed deficit and when the feed will be required – either late summer grazing or outwintering • Bulk feed for a short period of time? Stubble Turnips are a great option and will be ready in 12-14 weeks. • Late maturing option? Forage Rape • High yielding single graze? Kale Variety choice Things to consider when looking at a different variety within the species: Yield – Fresh and DM, winter-hardiness, growing height and versatility.
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