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THIS PROMOTIONAL FEATURE WAS PROVIDED BY BARENBRUG

High-octane hybrid looks after your animals and your finances.

Controlling costs this season while still maintaining good production may sound unlikely. But in fact, there is a way to do both, and spring is the perfect time to take advantage of it. The secret lies in every tired, thin pasture on your farm.

If you can max out even a few of them with a strategic upgrade in coming weeks, you’ll save money on  supplements, give your animals the fuel they need to thrive, and ramp up efficiency.

Choose the right pasture, and you’ll reap the benefits of these gains for the next three to five years, so your business can be more resilient going forward, too.

Forwards, not backwards

No matter what or where you farm, many pastures are struggling at the moment. They’re not able to support you the way they should this season, and without help, they’ll be even weaker next season.

Yes, budgets are tight right now, but imagine what your income will look like if you keep growing less feed at home, on the farm.

The alternative? Grow more, 14% more to be precise. That’s how much extra feed you get from Forge NEA hybrid ryegrass compared to other hybrids. Put another way, it will grow around 1.6 tonnes of extra dry matter per ha, per year, over a high performance perennial ryegrass.

Efficiency

We all know the golden rule of New Zealand pastoral farming – the more feed you grow and harvest directly into your animals per hectare, the cheaper that feed becomes in cents per kg dry matter.

So, using Forge NEA to renew or undersow some of your poorest-growing pastures this spring immediately improves your feed budget, in both senses of the term, through growing more feed off the same area of land.

But the efficiency doesn’t stop there. Because it’s a tetraploid, Forge NEA brings out the best in your animals. They’re happy to harvest it, even when it gets a bit longer than would be ideal grazing height for a diploid ryegrass.

It’s good for them, too, keeping them well nourished year-round, even in the cooler months of autumn, winter, and early spring. 

Make it work

Whether you’re renewing or undersowing Forge NEA this spring, one thing is critical to achieve the best possible return on your investment: Do a really good job, and don’t cut any corners!

Tips for undersowing:

• Pick the right paddocks. There must be space for new seed to grow, so don’t undersow pastures already thick with grass or weeds.
• Order seed, and if needed, book the contractor. Weeds are poised ready to invade and set you back even further, so act fast.
• Graze paddocks, then undersow with treated Forge NEA seed at 15-20 kg per ha.
• Sow no deeper than 2.5 cm. Settle the soil and seed with a nice harrow and/or roll and watch out for slugs.
• Graze normally but be mindful. You need to treat undersown pastures as if they’ve just been renewed.

For more great advice on using Forge NEA tetraploid hybrid ryegrass to super-charge your farm for the next three to five years, talk to the friendly team at Ruralco.