Countryside Seeds Ltd

Great In Grass · Oct 22, 2018

Tall fescue PLUS

Tall fescue PLUS is a hybrid tall fescue developed by crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum). There are two types of hybrid grasses; Ryegrass PLUS and Tall fescues PLUS and both types belong to the species festulolium.

When crossing multiple species it enables us to combine the best properties from each grass. The fescues contribute qualities such as high dry matter yield, resistance to cold, drought tolerance and persistence, while ryegrass is contributes with rapid establishment, good spring growth, good digestibility, sugar content and palatability. The individual festulolium varieties contain various combinations of these qualities, but all are substantially better yielding than their parent lines.

Tall fescue-Plus varieties from DLF includes:

Morphologically and in terms of cultivation, these types resemble tall fescue.

They combine tolerance to frost, drought and heat and persistency of tall fescue with the better feed quality and rapid establishment of ryegrass. The result is a high quality “tall fescue” with excellent persistency.

Trials at the DLF research station in the Czech Republic are ongoing already for 15 years without any loss of stand or productivity.

Tall fescue-type festuloliums can be characterized by:

High seedling vigor
Earlier spring growth
High yield
High quality
Tendency for heading only in 1st cut
Very persistent
Upright growth
Tolerates drought and periodical flooding
Good winter hardiness

Great In Grass · Oct 22, 2018

Festulolium - The science behind
Hybrid grasses from DLF
Festulolium is the name for a hybrid forage grass developed by crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass
(Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum).

This enables combining the best properties of the two types of grass and it is important to know that each of these grasses has its own characteristics and should not always be compared to each other.

The fescues contribute qualities such as high dry matter yield, resistance to cold, drought tolerance and persistence, while ryegrass is contributes with rapid establishment,
good spring growth, good digestibility, sugar content and palatability. The individual festulolium varieties contain various combinations of these qualities, but all are substantially better yielding than their parent lines.

While festuloliums have been around for many years, the true potential had never been pursued in earnest but its about to change.

Comprehensive and targeted breeding programme at DLF
DLF has developed a substantial breeding program in hybrid festulolium that has produced a unique range of hybrid festulolium varieties. After initial hybridization and subsequent selection on the hybrid progeny or backcrossing the hybrid progeny to its parental lines, a wide range of varieties with varying characteristics and phenotypes has been created.

They are classified according to their degree of phenotypical similarity to the original parents, not to their genotype heritage. One can regard them as high yielding fescues with improved forage quality or as high yielding, more persistent ryegrasses.

Festulolium - high preforming grasses in all conditions
Festulolium are high preforming forage grasses and as these grasses are developed by crossing crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass
(Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and combining the best from each grass species it be referred to as multipurpose grasses.

Each festulolium grass has its own characteristic they differ alot from each other and each grass has its own attibutes and can be used for different puposes.

Increase forage quality with festulolium
Looking at forage quality it will seem at first sight as festulolium has a lower quality than ryegrass and this might the case for some types of festulolium grasses, but for other festulolium grasses the forage quality will be above the level of the parental material.

Forage quality is in general very high for festulolium grasses.

Festulolium grasses with morphological appearance as italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass or hybrid ryegrasses do in many cases have a slightly lower relative forage quality index and relative forage value than ryegrass, but there is an interesting exception with the tall fescue-type festulolium Fojtan. Tall Fescue Kora is a high quality type and not indicative for tall fescue in general.

Great In Grass · Oct 22, 2018

Festulolium – improved grasses from DLF

Higher yield, persistency and better outcome using Festuloliums from DLF

DLF is a specialist grass breeding company. Years of experience and know-how has produced successful varieties - especially our breeding programme in Festulolium has given several varieties, which are widely used across the world.

Festulolium is a cross between meadow fescue (Festuca pratense) or tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum). When this is done with skills and know-how, it will result in grasses with the best characteristics of each parent.

Depending on parental material a Festulolium will get the best qualities from both grasses but it will somewhat be more similar to either the fescue or the ryegrass type. Hence, Festuloliums can be categorized into two main types - the tall fescue or the ryegrass type - related to their characteristic and phenotypic appearance.

Characterized by high dry matter yield, high cold tolerance, drought tolerance and an overall high persistency you find from fescues, whereas rapid establishment, spring growth, good digestibility, high sugar content and palatability characterise ryegrass.

The breeding programme in DLF pursues the potential of Festulolium, which has resulted in several varieties.

The tall fescue type
Morphologically and in terms of cultivation, these types resemble tall fescue. The Festulolium tall fescue type from DLF has add-on qualities compared to normal tall fescue. Festulolium tall fescue bred by DLF has:

Higher digestibility
Faster establishment, spring and growth rate
Increased yield
Very high persistency

The deep root system and tolerance to drought from the tall fescue combined with high digestibility and yield from the ryegrass result in a persistent, high yielding grass for more challenging conditions.

Replacing tall fescue in a grass mixture with a Festulolium tall fescue type result in higher digestibility, hence an increase in intake of feed which evidently result in more milk or meat.

Our successful breeding of Festulolium and better digestibility have paid off. In resent official trials in Denmark DLF festulolium tall fescue type performs approximately 3 % better than the comparable tall fescues.

The varieties FOJTAN, HYKOR, MAHULENA and recently HIPAST are successful varieties from the DLF pipeline.

The ryegrass type

Morphologically and in terms of cultivation, these types resemble ryegrasses. Targeted breeding in relation to the Festulolium ryegrass type have also given several new and better varieties. Some of the qualities are:

Up to 25 % higher yield than perennial ryegrass
Better persistency in cold areas
Comprehensive and fast developing root system
Upright growth

The high yield, digestibility and comprehensive root system originates from the Italian ryegrass while the high persistency originates from meadow fescue.

Due to fast spring growth, it will be possible to harvest 60 % of the total yield in the first and second cut, when replacing ryegrass or hybrid ryegrass in a grass mixture with a Festulolium ryegrass type.

Breeding for high persistence and still keeping a high yield is achieved in DLF Festulolium ryegrass type. Official trials in Denmark clearly reveal an overall higher yield compared to perennial ryegrass. Compared to perennial ryegrass it is even increasing year after year.

The varieties PERUN, LOFA, PERSEUS and recently HOSTYN are successful varieties from the DLF pipeline.

Utilization of Festulolium

Festulolium will because of their genetic qualities, suit many different growing conditions and they are widely used in various forage production systems.

Festulolium and Alfalfa

Festulolium mixes perfectly with Alfalfa. The ryegrass type can work as a nurse crop whereas tall fescue type will work as an overall improvement of the forage fibre digestibility or an improvement of the persistence of the hay stand.

A combination of Alfalfa and Festulolium can increase dry matter yield with as much as 10 % compared to alfalfa-timothy or alfalfa meadow fescue combinations.

However, Festulolium will also work great in combination with other species, e.g. clover, annual and perennial ryegrasses, orchard grass, tall fescue, timothy, bromes and many others.

Further Information

If you want to know more about Festulolium and how these types of grasses can help improve your production and income please contact us.

The breeding programme in DLF pursue the potential of Festulolium, which has resulted in several varieties.

Great In Grass · Oct 24, 2018

Reseeding Grass Could Deliver Ten-fold Return on Investment
Cumbrian farmers could be missing out on thousands of pounds worth of production if they rule out reseeding grass leys - that’s the message Barenbrug UK will take to Agri Expo 2018 on Friday 2 November at Borderway, Carlisle.

http://www.stackyard.com/news/2018/10/crop/04_barenbrug_agri_expo.html

Great In Grass · Oct 26, 2018

Reseeding grass could deliver ten-fold return on investment

Farmers could be missing out on thousands of pounds worth of production if they rule out reseeding grass leys - that’s the message Barenbrug UK will take to two major agriculture events this autumn: Agri Expo on November 2, in Carlisle; and Agriscot on November 21, in Edinburgh.

The agricultural grass team at Barenbrug has calculated that farmers that reseed grass leys can expect a ten-fold return on investment as a minimum - depending on the focus of their farm. Using RGCL figures, Barenbrug estimates that reseeding can enable farmers to achieve grass yields of around 11.63 t DM/ha on a two cut silage system. That’s enough grass to generate 122,220 MJ of energy or the equivalent of:

25,150 litres of milk worth 27.7p/l = £6966
2050kg lamb worth 4.05.5p/kg = £8310
2400kg beef worth £349.2p/kg = £8380.

With the average reseed costing around £692 per hectare, that’s a huge return on investment. Commenting, Mhairi Dawson, Research & Development Manager at Barenbrug UK, said: “Future proofing your forage by investing in a reseed is a great way to improve productivity and resilience, and counter the weather-related problems we’ve seen over the past eighteen months. It can be difficult to comprehend the value of a reseed, until you see the impact it can have on production levels - particularly when growing conditions are unfavourable.”

Continuing she said: “We’ve seen record numbers of farmers reseeding this autumn with much of the UK sowing 30% more seed than normal. As well as short-term leys, we’ve seen a massive upsurge in upland / hill ground reseeding. Given the weather we’ve had this past year, these numbers are understandable. But our message to farmers is that reseeding should be a regular occurrence - not just something you do after a bad season, when you want to gain back some ground. Even using 50% independent trial data, our numbers show that the value of reseeding is worth over 500% more than the cost.”

Based on an autumn sowing of BarForage Combi, and using 50% independent trial data, Barenbrug has calculated that farmers could expect a potential grass yield of 5.82t DM/ha and an energy yield of 66,660 MJ. That amounts to:

12,575 litres of milk worth 27.7p/l = £3483
1025kg of lamb worth 405.4p/kg = £4155
1200kg of beef worth 349.2p/kg = £4190.

At Agri Expo and Agriscot, Barenbrug will also be promoting the second edition of its Good Grass Guide. Designed to help farmers thinking about a reseed, the recently updated guide includes information about reseeding versus overseeding; seed selection and managing new swards. There are pages dedicated to soil nutrition and structure; and why investing in grass is important. There are also photographs and facts and figures about productive grass species, common weeds, diseases and pests. At the back of the guide there is also space for farmers to note down observations about individual fields and pastures. Farmers visiting Agri Expo and Agriscot can pick up a copy of the guide from the Barenbrug stand or register to receive a copy.

Great In Grass · Oct 29, 2018

Forage Brassica Management Best Practice User Guide
There has been unprecedented use of brassicas this year on the back of what can only be described as a difficult spring and a challenging summer.

Generally, brassicas are most suited to grazing weanlings in situ, but there are other options available which are discussed in this booklet.

The energy content of leafy brassicas is typically higher than that of grass and is similar to that of concentrate feeds. Brassicas have a high readily digestible carbohydrate content and are low in fibre, hence it is very important to provide a fibre source to ruminants to prevent rumen disorders.

Approximate composition of brassicas

Grazing Management

Introduce animals to brassicas slowly – increasing from 1–2 hours per day to full–time access after 10 days
Brassicas are low in essential minerals – namely, iodine, selenium, copper and cobalt. Animals must be administered adequate minerals. We advise using a slow release bolus. Speak to your vet for advice.
Brassicas should form no more than 70% of the diet – with 30% coming from a fibre source such as silage, straw or hay
Always ensure constant access to fresh water
Monitor animals regularly
Brassicas should be removed from the diet of pregnant animals 4–6 weeks prior to calving

Grazing in situ
The most suitable option is to graze the brassica crops in situ, where infrastructure allows. A good electric fence and easy access to water are two critical points to consider.

Despite mature brassicas having a low DM (approx. 12% DM), animals will still require constant access to fresh water. Not all animals will take to grazing brassicas, so it is important to watch animals carefully and, where necessary, remove any animal that is not grazing the brassica.

Out–wintered cattle will have a higher energy requirement compared to those housed indoors, requiring approximately 3% of their bodyweight to be allocated in daily dry matter intake.

At this stage, the crop is sown and should be growing well. Brassicas should only be sown in free–draining soils with good pH (6.0–6.7) and where soil is at P & K index 3. Steeply sloping sites should be avoided to reduce the risk of run–off.

Top tips for grazing brassicas
There are a number of points to consider before you begin grazing brassicas, such as kale, rape or hybrid brassica.

Only healthy animals in good body condition score should be considered for out–wintering
Do not out–winter in–calf heifers or thin cows
Introduce stock slowly, on full stomachs – allow 1–2 hours access with runback to grass and build to full–time access after 10 days
Do not turn hungry stock out to brassicas as they may gorge themselves and cause rumen disorders
Brassicas should form no more than 70% of the diet, with 30% coming from a fibre source such as silage, hay or straw. Bales should be placed in the field around sowing, as this will simplify management when animals are grazing the crops (see Fig 02.)
Always ensure constant access to fresh water

Bales placed in the field during dry weather reduce soil damage and workload in the winter when grazing the crops

Strip grazing will maximise utilisation and minimise wastage. Offer fresh feed to the animals at a similar time each day (twice daily in wet weather conditions)
Graze the field in long narrow strips. This has multiple benefits
- All animals will have access to feed at the same time
- Reduces trampling of the crop and wastage of the feed
Measure the yield of the crop to determine allocations and how much the fence should be moved each day (see How to measure the dry matter yield of your crop below)
Measuring the yield of the crop allows you to monitor utilisation of the crop and estimate if feed allocations are correct
- If a lot of feed is ungrazed, it is likely animals are being overfed and the crop is being wasted
- If animals consume all feed and appear hungry you may be under allocating feed to your animals
Very tall crops may earth your electric fence. To overcome this, some farmers travel through the crop on the fence line with a quad/light tractor, to knock the crop before putting the fence up
A single strand of electric wire will be sufficient for cattle, allowing them to graze under the fence. A double strand will be necessary for sheep
Avoid feeding brassicas when the plant is frozen. If this is the case wait until mid–day when there is a thaw and offer the fresh break when plants are defrosted
In spring brassicas can mature and flower. Do not feed the crop if the plants have gone to flower
Have two fences up in front of animals – this way if they break ahead, they won’t trample a large proportion of the field (and animals will be easier to find!); and secondly, it is quicker (and safer) when leaving them into a fresh break
On sloping fields, graze from the top of the field to the bottom, this will help reduce run–off

Cross compliance

Example of field plan

Have two fences up in front of animals – this way if they break ahead, they won’t trample the whole field; and secondly, it is quicker and safer for you when you are offering them fresh break

How to measure the dry matter yield of your crop
Equipment Needed:

A 1m square frame
A large bag e.g fertiliser or seed bag
A pair of garden shears
Scales

A number of samples should be taken from each field, picking representative sampling points

Place the frame in your forage crop
Use the shears to cut each plant within the frame (about 10cm from the ground) and put the harvested crop in the bag
Weigh the harvested crop and record the crop weight per m2
Calculate the DM yield per hectare by multiplying the fresh weight per m2 by 10,000, then multiply by the expected crop DM percentage

How to measure the dry matter yield of your crop

Calculating daily feed allocation
Calculating daily feed allocation

Zero–grazing
There is some interest in zero–grazing brassicas, generally in situations where the crops were sown on tillage ground and there is limited fencing/access to water.

There are a number of points to bear in mind if zero–grazing brassicas, and this should be considered only in situations where in situ grazing is not an option.

Take care to avoid soil contamination of the feed
Avoid excessive mechanical damage to the crop and do not chop. Disengage the conditioner on your mower
When introducing brassicas into the diet, do not offer to hungry animals as they may gorge themselves, and this may cause digestive upsets including bloat
Introduce brassicas slowly into the diet – increasing from 10% of the diet to no more than a maximum of 70% of the total diet (with the remaining 30% coming from silage, straw or hay)
For milking cows, do not offer brassicas as more than 20% of the diet as it can cause milk taint
Brassicas are high energy crops and may not be suitable when cows are being dried off due to excess energy being provided in the diet
Speak to your animal nutritionist to ensure animals’ dietary requirements are being sufficiently met
Brassicas are low in essential minerals namely, iodine, selenium, copper and cobalt. Animals must be administered adequate minerals – speak to your vet for advice, as it may be influenced by the proportion of brassica in the diet
Due to the low DM% of the crop, brassicas can be prone to heating. Keep this in mind when determining quantity of brassica being zero–grazed
Avoid feeding brassicas when the plant is frozen. If this is the case wait until mid–day when there is a thaw and zero–graze the crop then, so defrosted plants are offered to your animals
In spring brassicas can mature and flower. Do not feed the crop if the plants have gone to flower

Ensiling
By early October the opportunity for ensiling or baling hybrid brassicas has passed, and it should no longer be considered as a viable option. The low DM of the crop, combined with the limited opportunity to achieve a minimum two–day wilt, means ensiling these crops is no longer viable.

We have provided some advice for feeding brassicas which have being ensiled. Brassicas are low in DM (approx. 12%). This can result in saggy bales or a difficult to consolidate silage pit. The following points assume that an adequate preservation of the silage was achieved. Always ensure there are no issues with mould/heating when feeding the brassica silage to your stock.

Remember it is a different feed to what your animals are accustomed to, so the rumen needs time to adjust. Introduce the brassica silage slowly
Brassicas will create a high energy silage. It is best suited to animals who have a higher requirement (and less suitable to dry cows etc)
Due to the difficulties ensiling brassicas, it is probably best to utilise them earlier in the winter, rather than wait until spring to feed the silage

Baled brassicas

Animal health tips
If proper management has been followed animals grazing brassicas tend to do well over the winter, and once they are turned out to grass they thrive. In addition to best practice in terms of feeding and managing animals on brassica crops, there are some additional animal health tips which it is worthwhile to be aware of.

Most animal health problems are seen in the first few days of grazing the crops so watch animals particularly closely in the early days. Animals should always be checked at least twice a day when grazing brassicas. Following the advice above will minimise the risk of a problem arising – do not introduce hungry animals to brassicas, introduce the crop slowly over a 10–day period. Always provide a fibre source in the diet and ensure adequate minerals are provided to animals. Pregnant cows should be transitioned off brassicas approximately 4–6 weeks prior to calving. It is unusual to see any of these health conditions once best practices are applied.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome may develop when cattle are given sudden access to brassicas (more common in turnip fields) following relatively dry, high fibre diets.

Reduce the risk: Never introduce hungry animals onto brassicas. Introduce the brassica into the diet slowly over a period of 10 days or more and ensure the brassica comprises of no more than 70% of the diet.

Symptoms: Affected animals stand with extended heads, dilated nostrils and open mouths with protruding tongues. Death may occur quickly.

Treatment: Remove animals displaying symptoms immediately, increase fibre supplement to the remainder of the herds diet and speak to your vet.

Hypothyroidism and Goitre
Brassicas contain glucosinolates, which block the uptake of iodine from the diet. In addition, the crops are low in iodine, thus increasing the risk of iodine deficiency. Pregnant animals grazing brassicas are most at risk and may give birth to hypothyroid offspring with a goitre, resulting in weak calves or still births.

Reduce the risk: Due to the low mineral profile of brassicas, it is advised that all animals (pregnant or not) should be given a suitable iodine bolus. Speak to your vet to identify the most suitable product.

Milk taint
A section of the human population (determined by their genetics) can taste the bitter phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) chemical present in brassicas, therefore this should be taken into account by milk producers in particular (and others fattening animals on grass while also grazing brassicas).

by milk producers in particular (and others fattening animals on grass while also grazing brassicas).

Reduce the risk: Ensure brassica comprises of no more than 20% of the diet of milking cows.

Bloat
Introduction of a new feed always presents the risk of digestive/rumen upsets. A sudden change in the diet can cause bloat and death of the animal. Brassicas can be rapidy degraded in the rumen thus further increasing the risk of bloat.

Reduce the risk: As with any change in diet it should occur slowly. Never introduce hungry animals onto brassicas. Introduce the brassica into the diet slowly over a period of 10 days or more and ensure the brassica comprises of no more than 70% of the diet, with 30% coming from a fibre source such as silage, hay or straw.

Symptoms: Easily recognisable to most and caused by a build–up of gas in the rumen, bloat is often first seen as swelling on the left abdomen and can cause death.

Treatment: Remove animals displaying symptoms immediately, increase fibre supplement to the remainder of the herd’s diet and speak to your vet.

Anaemia
Forage brassicas contain S–methylcysteine sulfoxide (SMCO). The SMCO is converted to dimethyl disulfide in the rumen. When absorbed into the bloodstream, this can cause anaemia.

Reduce the risk: Risk is greater when animals are on a pure brassica diet – remember brassicas should not form more than 70% of the diet, with the remaining 30% coming from a fibre source such as silage, hay or straw. Introducing animals onto the brassica gradually over a period of 10 days or more will also help reduce the risk. SMCO content is higher in flowering crops. Brassicas tend to flower around late February – aim to have all the crop grazed by this time. Do not feed animals a flowering crop.

Symptoms: Similar to redwater, the urine will be dark brown to red. The animal will not thrive and will have pale or yellow mucous membranes.

Treatment: Remove animals displaying symptoms immediately, increase fibre supplement to the remainder of the herd’s diet and speak to your vet.

Nitrates
Brassicas can be high in Nitrate–N which can cause nitrite poisoning when nitrate is converted to nitrite in the rumen, particularly when young, leafy brassica crops are fed and the diets are also low in soluble carbohydrates. Ensure crops have adequate time to utilise nitrogen. The plants will use approximately 2 units N per day. Redstart takes 90–100 days to reach maturity, forage rape takes approximately 110 days.

Reduce the risk: Never introduce hungry animals onto brassicas. Introduce the brassica into the diet slowly over a period of 10 days or more and ensure the brassica comprises of no more than 70% of the diet.

Symptoms: Clinical signs of nitrite poisoning include gasping and rapid respiration, a rapid heart rate, muscle tremors and weakness.

Treatment: Remove animals displaying symptoms immediately, increase fibre supplement to the remainder of the herd’s diet and speak to your vet.

Clostridial diseases
Clostridial diseases are predominantly caused by spores in the soil. Animals outdoors on any feed including grass and brassicas can contract them. The organisms are highly infectious but not contagious. The spores may be ingested in feed or water. Clostridial diseases can be vaccinated against relatively cheaply, and this is the best means of avoiding a problem. Speak to your vet for advice.

Great In Grass · Nov 5, 2018

Zero-grazing DLF's Rampart Forage Rape is both cost effective and convenient for your animals. This video shows zero grazing and feeding of Rampart Forage Rape.

Great In Grass · Nov 5, 2018

Weed Control in Grass by DLF's Damian McAllister

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

Tall Fescues PLUS in ForageMax mixtures
Are you also looking for superior persistence, stress and disease resistance in your field? Try our ForageMax with Tall Fescue PLUS.

Tall fescue PLUS, enhance ForageMax mixtures be bringing superior persistence, stress and disease resistance.

They are ideally suited to medium-long term grazing mixtures where they can be a valuable source of trace elements due to their deeper rooting system, but are also suitable for hay or silage.

Tall Fescue PLUS in mixtures
Tall Fescue PLUS varieties are suitable to go into all types of mixtures. They can be used as a replacement for perennial ryegrass, meadow fescue and tall fescue and complement perennial and hybrid ryegrasses along with lucerne or red clover.

They increase the persistency of a mixture because they are able to tolerate challenging and stressful conditions. This is because they have a deeper rooting system, which means a greater tolerance to dry conditions

Tall Fescue PLUS features in VersaMax - Robust
VersaMax - Robust is designed to be used where stress tolerance to disease, dry conditions and frost is needed. Therefore the Tall Fescue PLUS is an ideal component.

VersaMax - Robust is designed mainly for permanent pastures, but is also very suitable for one or two early cuts of silage or hay.

VersaMax - Robust is ideal, not only for cattle grazing but also for sheep and horses as it tolerates close grazing. The feed from VersaMax - Robust is palatable, but also supplies the animals with necessary fibre.

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

Tall fescue PLUS
Tall fescue PLUS is a hybrid tall fescue developed by crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum). There are two types of hybrid grasses; Ryegrass PLUS and Tall fescues PLUS and both types belong to the species festulolium.

When crossing multiple species it enables us to combine the best properties from each grass. The fescues contribute qualities such as high dry matter yield, resistance to cold, drought tolerance and persistence, while ryegrass is contributes with rapid establishment, good spring growth, good digestibility, sugar content and palatability. The individual festulolium varieties contain various combinations of these qualities, but all are substantially better yielding than their parent lines.

Tall fescue-Plus varieties from DLF includes:

Morphologically and in terms of cultivation, these types resemble tall fescue.

They combine tolerance to frost, drought and heat and persistency of tall fescue with the better feed quality and rapid establishment of ryegrass. The result is a high quality “tall fescue” with excellent persistency.

Trials at the DLF research station in the Czech Republic are ongoing already for 15 years without any loss of stand or productivity.

Tall fescue-type festuloliums can be characterized by:

High seedling vigor
Earlier spring growth
High yield
High quality
Tendency for heading only in 1st cut
Very persistent
Upright growth
Tolerates drought and periodical flooding
Good winter hardiness

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

Ryegrass PLUS
Ryegrass PLUS is a hybrid ryegrass developed by crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum). There are two types of hybrid grasses; Ryegrass PLUS and Tall fescus PLUS and both types belong to the species festulolium.

When crossing multiple species it enables us to combine the best properties from each grass. The fescues contribute qualities such as high dry matter yield, resistance to cold, drought tolerance and persistence, while ryegrass is contributes with rapid establishment, good spring growth, good digestibility, sugar content and palatability. The individual festulolium varieties contain various combinations of these qualities, but all are substantially better yielding than their parent lines.

Ryegrass-PLUS varieties from DLF includes:

Morphologically, these varieties resemble italian ryegrass but with a persistency of up to four years. This type is suitable for both cutting and grazing.

The object of the DLF Breeding program is to retain the italian ryegrass yield and quality combined with resistance to rust and xanthomonas plus winterhardiness and persistency from the fescue.

In general, ryegrass-plus can be characterized by:

High seedling vigor
Very early spring growth
Very high yield
Slightly lower energy concentration and sugar content than ryegrass
Tendency for heading in regrowth
Upright growth
Better persistency than their ryegrass parent lines
Susceptible to winter kill in absence of snow cover

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

Festulolium - The science behind
Hybrid grasses from DLF
Festulolium is the name for a hybrid forage grass developed by crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass
(Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum).

This enables combining the best properties of the two types of grass and it is important to know that each of these grasses has its own characteristics and should not always be compared to each other.

The fescues contribute qualities such as high dry matter yield, resistance to cold, drought tolerance and persistence, while ryegrass is contributes with rapid establishment,
good spring growth, good digestibility, sugar content and palatability. The individual festulolium varieties contain various combinations of these qualities, but all are substantially better yielding than their parent lines.

While festuloliums have been around for many years, the true potential had never been pursued in earnest but its about to change.

Comprehensive and targeted breeding programme at DLF
DLF has developed a substantial breeding program in hybrid festulolium that has produced a unique range of hybrid festulolium varieties. After initial hybridization and subsequent selection on the hybrid progeny or backcrossing the hybrid progeny to its parental lines, a wide range of varieties with varying characteristics and phenotypes has been created.

They are classified according to their degree of phenotypical similarity to the original parents, not to their genotype heritage. One can regard them as high yielding fescues with improved forage quality or as high yielding, more persistent ryegrasses.

Festulolium - high preforming grasses in all conditions
Festulolium are high preforming forage grasses and as these grasses are developed by crossing crossing Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratense) or Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) with perennial ryegrass
(Lolium perenne) or Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and combining the best from each grass species it be referred to as multipurpose grasses.

Each festulolium grass has its own characteristic they differ alot from each other and each grass has its own attibutes and can be used for different puposes.

Increase forage quality with festulolium
Looking at forage quality it will seem at first sight as festulolium has a lower quality than ryegrass and this might the case for some types of festulolium grasses, but for other festulolium grasses the forage quality will be above the level of the parental material.

Forage quality is in general very high for festulolium grasses.

Festulolium grasses with morphological appearance as italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass or hybrid ryegrasses do in many cases have a slightly lower relative forage quality index and relative forage value than ryegrass, but there is an interesting exception with the tall fescue-type festulolium Fojtan. Tall Fescue Kora is a high quality type and not indicative for tall fescue in general.

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

Fiber energy for a higher meat production
Look for our new brand if you want to increase your meat production with homegrown forage grasses.

DLF Fiber Energy is the new badge on our range of highly digestible forage varieties. These are the varieties that release more energy from every mouthful of grass.

Farmers are often looking for possibilities how to achieve high energy concentration in the foreage to increase the high daily live weight gain of beef cattle. Adding more concetrate with a high energy source from sugar and starch is often connected with an increase risk of acidosis. The price of concentrate is furthermore high and rather flucturating and has a negative effect on farms profitability. One way of dealing with alle these these issues is to use homegrown forage of high quality.

The best way how to improve forage and energy level without increasing content of sugar and starch is using forage with high fiber digestibility. Grass with high digestibility is fundamental to the performance of dairy and beef herds.

More Meat by DLF
Beef cattle is usually known as a category of cattle with a request for a more deffienciated forage quality and nutrient concentration compared to dairy cows. Farms with beef cattle often use maize silage but maize with high starch and sugar content can easily be replaced by grass and this already done in many regions in Europe where it has become tradition to use grass in diets for beef cattle.

Improving the cell-wall digestibility of grasses increases the overall feed value of every single mouthful. It raises the maximum energy uptake, giving animals more energy from the same amount of feed. The results are clear to see: higher liveweight gain per day.

With DLF fiber Energy grasses farmers now has the possitbility to choose grass with impressive yield, persistency and disease resistency with unique forage quality not based on high sugar content but on fiber digestibility.

Look for the Fiber Energy symbol

DLF offers an extensive portfolio of Fibre Energy varieties for both cutting and grazing and these varieties can easily be mixed with clover or alfalfa to add protein to your mixture. In the right porportions you will get a perfect combination of energy from grass and protein from cloers or alfalfa.

We have made it easy for you to select grasses with fiber energy by giving giving our grasses a new logo; DLF Fiber Energy. Now everyone can benefit from an easily recognised symbol for a highly successful science-based breeding programme, and the top-quality grasses it produces.

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

More Milk With DLF
A profitable farm business starts with more milk from dairy herds, and more meat from beef herds and sheep. With grass grown from our seed we help you gain a more profitable farm business.

It is all about science, rigorous testing and optimal management. Our intensive worldwide breeding and product development programme produces improved grasses and more efficient grassland-management techniques. Wherever you farm, there is a seed that is ideal for your soil and climate – a seed that increases your yields and reduces your production costs.

In short, you get more milk (or meat) with DLF.

Watch our video to learn more.

Top varieties for a higher yield
High performing varieties give you more forage energy and protein for your livestock. If you want to optimise grassland production for greater self-sufficiency and become less reliant on bought-in feed and volatile forage price, you have advantages choosing seed from DLF.

Top quality for a higher output

Dairy and beef herds perform better when their forage is highly digestible and the protein content is high. Our top quality grasses improve nutritional intake and boost milk or meat yields. It is the surest way to maximise output without increasing input costs.

We will help you produce more milk or meat
Every farm is different. Finding the right grass for your soil, climate, and livestock should not be a matter of trial and error. In our seed catalogue, there is a grass mix that is right for you and we will be glad to help you find it.

Call us for advice on choosing grass that boosts your output.

Research improves your milk production
The team in our fields and labs is on your side. While you are working to achieve the best milk or meat yields through efficient farm management, we are working equally hard to develop the next generation of robust, high-yielding grass varieties.

Each year we test several thousand results of new crosses. In 2014, we streamlined the process by integrating Genome Wide Selection (GWS) into our breeding programme. GWS technology speeds up the detection of crosses with a high genetic potential for improvements in yield, quality, disease-resistance, or stress-tolerance. It helps us give you better seed, faster.

Discover our ForageMax range of grass mixtures.

Want more milk from your grass?
Read our tips and techniques.

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

DLF%20All%20You%20Can%20Eat_incl%20logo.png

More milk with DLF Fiber Energy
High digestibility equals a higher feed intake.

In order to achieve high feed intake, organic matter digestibility of pure grass should be between 78 and 81%.

If there is between 30 and 50% clover in the clovergrass mixture, we need "only" 76-80% digestibility of the organic matter as clover passes more rapidly through the rumen. For this reason you will be able to reach a much higher level of forage quality just by adding clover into your grass mixture.

If we want to understand what affects organic digestibility of grass, we must go to the cellular level and see how the grass plant cells are built.

A plant cell may be divided into cell content and cell wall:

The content of the cell consists mainly of protein, crude fat, starch and sugars, all of which have a constant and high digestibility close to 100%, see table below.

This means that the cell content in general has a constant and high digestibility.

In the cell wall, which consists of β-glucanes, pectines, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, it is quite different.

Pectines and β-glucanes have a high digestibility (100%), while the digestibility of lignin is 0%. The digestibility of cellulose and hemicellulose varies, which means that the digestibility of these components in practice are determent for the overall digestibility of grass.

Hemicellulose and cellulose together with lignin is what we often refer to as the cell wall (Neutral detergent fiber). Summed up, a high digestibility of NDF is synonym with a high digestibility of organic matter. The content of NDF can be determined by lab analysis which is important as digestibility of NDF is calculated from the content of NDF.

More Milk with fiber Energy varieties from DLF
The digestibility of cellulose and hemicellulose depends, among other factors, on cutting time, weather and fertilisation, but we have also seen a difference between grass varieties, when they are compared under the same growing conditions.

We test all varieties for feeding quality, and those showing to be high above average concerning digestibility of NDF are marked with our cell wall logo.

Photo: Erik Nissen

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

FOJTAN Festulolium All-round variety for dry or wet areas.

Great In Grass · Nov 7, 2018

HIPAST Festulolium: Hipast = resistance + persistency + digestibility + yield

Great In Grass · Nov 14, 2018

What a difference 2 weeks makes to bulb production in Samson stubble turnip crops!

The image is taken from LG's Twitter feed.

Great In Grass · Nov 14, 2018

Looking for a new way to optimise your production?
Look for DLF Fiber Energy – it optimises your profit by extracting more energy from forage grasses without increasing your costs.

DLF Fiber Energy

combines:

More energy from each kg dry matter fed and
Increased intake due to faster digestion

These two elements are not the only advantages. Optimised energy vs. fiber ratio is also known to maintain animal health, meaning thatwith DLF Fiber Energy you also increase animal welfare.

The water, nutrients and light (radiation) used by forage plants for photosynthesis, turns into plant cells composed of cell contents (easily digestible) and cell walls which are slowly or not digestible.

DLF breeding goals

DLF Research and development departments are focusing on releasing a higher fraction of the energy contained in the cell walls for the ruminants. Our breeding programme have already given us several forage grasses with this characteristic. We have grouped all these grasses within the same concept and we call this concept “DLF Fiber Energy”.

The science behind DLF Fiber Energy grasses is obtained by increasing the digestibility of the fiber fraction – something that seem very easy to explain but actually is very complicated and takes several years to develop.

We have tried to illustrate the importance of increasing digestibility of grasses:

Usually grasses give you the energy marked by light green, but DLF Fiber Energy grasses will give you additional energy by decreasing the yellow area further. DLF Fiber Energy will give you the dark green area which is substantial higher in digestibility.

For you this will result in more energy from the same amount of grass or what we call more energy from each mouthful.

Great In Grass · Nov 30, 2018

AFBI unveils Ballintoy and Gosford – new ryegrasses for spring 2019
Date published: 29 November 2018

Area of Expertise:

Grassland and Plant Science

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) will launch its most recently developed grass varieties, Gosford and Ballintoy, at the 2019 Winter Fair on 13th December.

Ballintoy and Gosford are the newest varieties to be released from the AFBI grass breeding programme at Loughgall. The varieties will be marketed through AFBI’s commercial partner Barenbrug UK Ltd and limited quantities of seed will be available in spring 2019.

Ballintoy
Ballintoy is an important new addition to AFBI’s late tetraploid perennial ryegrass portfolio. Data from across the UK, published in the independent Recommended Grass and Clover Lists (England and Wales), show that Ballintoy is particularly high yielding, especially under silage management (106% compared with controls). Ballintoy combines a high grazing yield with outstanding quality (D-value of 78.1) to produce high metabolizable energy yield per ha. Ballintoy also has an extremely high early grazing yield (112% compared with controls), and is therefore an excellent choice of variety due to increased spring growth coupled with the benefits of late maturity for extending quality in swards. This new variety, which has taken almost 15 years to develop, is a further addition to the extensive portfolio of high performance grasses which have been bred by AFBI specifically for use on local farms.

Gosford
Gosford, with a heading date of 28th May, is another excellent addition to AFBI’s successful intermediate diploid perennial ryegrass portfolio. Gosford is not only highly productive under both grazing and silage management, but also produces high quality grass, particularly under grazing (D-value of 77.3), and is highly resistant to crown rust disease. Crown rust (Puccinia coronata) is characterised by small orange powdery pustules on the leaf surface and is becoming an increasing problem on farms throughout Ireland due to the detrimental effect of the disease upon both sward production and palatability. The release of Gosford represents the concerted long-term effort of AFBI to produce highly productive, disease resistant varieties for use on farms across Northern Ireland. To breed disease resistant varieties, AFBI evaluates all new breeding material with Barenbrug in France and the Netherlands, where foliar diseases are endemic. The results of these trials are combined with data from Loughgall trials to identify high yielding, disease resistant germplasm for further use in the programme.

The AFBI grass breeding programme
Gosford and Ballintoy hail from a long line of excellent varieties produced by the highly successful AFBI grass breeding programme at Loughgall. Advances in grass breeding research mean that new varieties coming onto the market show improvement in yield and nutritional quality compared with varieties currently available. AFBI grass varieties are used in 70% of seed mixtures in Northern Ireland, and are extensively used across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Ten new varieties of perennial ryegrass have been recommended by NIAB over the past 4 years, with many more in the pipeline. The AFBI Grass Breeding programme is extensive, with over 10 hectares of grass trials in 3,000 plots. In addition, further testing of new varieties and breeding lines is carried out by commercial partner Barenbrug on sites across the UK and continental Europe and also on Irish farms. Genetic material used by AFBI is of diverse background, making use of winter-active material for New Zealand, winter-hardy varieties from Eastern Europe and disease resistant lines from France. Furthermore, all AFBI varieties are currently evaluated under grazing conditions, to ensure that varieties are sufficiently persistent, palatable and suitable for use under grazing conditions in N. Ireland.

The future
Grass is the most important crop on farms in Northern Ireland and one of the most efficient ways of improving productivity from grass is to breed varieties which are well adapted to local farming conditions. The investment to date in the AFBI Loughgall grass breeding programme has ensured a steady supply of new varieties like Ballintoy and Gosford that can meet the ever changing demands of the grassland industry.

Commercial enquiries for seed of Ballintoy or Gosford should be made with David Linton, Area Manager, Barenbrug UK Ltd., Tel. 07740 063315, or call at the Barenbrug UK stand at the Winter Fair at Balmoral Park on 13th December.

Notes to editors:
AFBI carries out high quality technology research and development, statutory, analytical, and diagnostic testing functions for DAERA and other Government departments, public bodies and commercial companies.

AFBI's Vision “Advancing the Local and Global Agri-Food Sectors Through Scientific Excellence”.

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