RD1 Yellow Pasture Pack

Bealey goes the distance

Tetraploid ryegrass, pumice soils, Central Plateau, close to 900 cows and three summer droughts back to back? It may sound like an unhappy combination but for one Taupo family, it's been anything but.

Admittedly, John, Josie and Michael Sargent are in no hurry to test their drought management skills yet again.

But after some challenging years, and over 100ha of Bealey tetraploid ryegrass with NEA2 endophyte, they say they have faith in Bealey's ability to go the distance, as long as they look after it.

"It's a good grass. We know the ball is in our court when it comes to managing it to get the best out of it. If it's not performing we need to look at ourselves," John says.

As of mid December, they like many others in the region had put the dreaded d-word to the back of their minds for the interim and were enjoying an excellent first half of the season, with plenty of rain and 13.3% more milk.

Peak milking 875 cows this season, the family runs a self-contained, full-feeding system with the advice of consultant Parry Matthews. The home farm, west of Taupo, totals 430ha rolling to steep hill, of which 320ha is milked. All wintering and grazing needs are met by a separate 135ha support block. Last season, with a peak of 855 cows, and half the herd on OAD from early October, production still reached 360,218kgMS and their empty rate for 2011 was just 5.4%.

Annual feed inputs include 350kg/cow barley and approximately 350tDM home-grown grass silage, plus 23ha each of winter and summer brassicas.

Then there's the grass, sourced from Ian Millar at RD1 Taupo. As part of the RD1 Yellow Pasture Pack, Bealey's palatability, quality and yield is the key to optimising cow performance on the challenging soils and hills of their milking platform, the Sargents say.

"We've gone towards diploids on the run-off for wintering but here, under our management, three, four and five year old Bealey paddocks are going brilliantly," John says.

Over-grazing - which he describes as the 'death knell' of young grass - is avoided at all costs. In summer, cows are given their pasture DM allowance then shifted onto turnips with extra supplement if required to make sure they're not treading Bealey and eating it too low.

All Bealey paddocks are cropped first and the first grazing is carefully timed, with young stock brought from the run-off to do the job.

"We can get a feed pinch in April, when we're still milking, and we have 23ha out for new grass. But over the past few years we've tried to set things up so there is always enough supplement on hand to get us through any tight patches."

SPECIES: Perennial Ryegrass

ENDOPHYTE TYPE: NEA2 or Without

STOCK SUITABILITY: All

DIPLOID/TETRAPLOID: Tetraploid

SEASONAL GROWTH/FLOWERING DATE: Very late flowering (+25 days). Bealey gives a good feed for longer, delivering high yield, excellent winter and summer growth, palatability and feed quality.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Bealey is a new generation of tetraploid perennial ryegrass combining high yield, high metabolisable energy (ME) and high palatability. It's particularly suited to high animal performance. Bealey is available with NEA2 endophyte, for staggers-free grazing with good control of adult black beetle. It is the cornerstone of the RD1 Yellow Pasture Pack.

Pack contents:

Agriseeds Bealey Perennial Ryegrass  22kg
Agriseeds Kotare White Clover  1.5kg
Agriseeds Weka White Clover  1.5kg
Total pack weight 25kg

Interested in trying a Bealey mix? Contact RD1 for more information on the Yellow Pasture Pack, exclusive to RD1.