Countryside Seeds Ltd

Countryside Seeds Ltd

As of the 1st July a slight change to the business, it's become incorporated and with it a change of name. Farm machinery sales have not been a part of Farm Equip's business for a number of years and we felt now was the time for a new name to reflect more of what we do, so Countryside Seeds Limited was born.

We still offer friendly service and advice with up to date products at keen prices.

Company History

Farm Equip was launched by myself (Kevin) on the 1st January 1980. Initially selling farm consumables from the back of a yellow transit van.

Over the past few years the business has become almost predominately the sale of seed in its varies guises where it be a single bag of lawn seed to tonnes of grass/cereal seed.

I am in the very lucky position to be a distributor for some of the UK’s leading seed houses which include Barenbrug UK Ltd, DLF Trifolium Ltd, Grainseed Ltd and Soya UK to name a few.

I am more than happy to work with the customer on compiling their own mixture.

To contact me you may PM through the forum or I am very happy to be telephoned on 07881 804442.
Email: [email protected]

As like a lot of you I'm self employed so no 9-5 here so please telephone at your convenience.
 
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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
New Barenbrug grass varieties for 2020.

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Elland Road - Leeds United | Elite Sport

ELITE SPORT selected for pitch renovations

A change to ELITE pitches at Leeds United.

When 2019 pitch renovations came around, selecting a seed mixture was a straightforward decision for Kiel Barrett, Head Groundsman at Leeds United Football Club.

Having looked at all blends on the market, ELITE SPORT from Barenbrug stood out. Kiel stated “For starters, it is the number 1 mix on the market when referring to the BSPB/STRI Turfgrass Seed publication. However, after many meetings with Barenbrug’s Phil Logan, we discussed the importance of looking beyond the booklet. For example, Barcristalla has a much darker colour and better disease tolerance then other top varieties. Sure, wear tolerance is important, but particularly stadiums need to start thinking about the new challenges we face; wear is only part of the jigsaw. We also discussed a tailored overseeding plan to ensure we are capitalising on specific cultivar traits at the time of year when they will benefit us the most, not just a one-size-fits-all approach”.

Kiel was so impressed with the product that he made the decision to change all the pitches to ELITE SPORT. That included the iconic stadium, Elland Road, and every pitch at the training ground, Thorp Arch. Deputy Head Groundsman at Thorp Arch, Stefan Jones, commented, “The germination and establishment speed was excellent, we couldn’t have asked for better. I was also very impressed with the purity of the seed; we have had very few weeds.” Kiel added, “Thorp Arch is a challenging site, in a wet part of Yorkshire that sees heavy wear combined with intense disease pressure. ELITE SPORT has stood up well to the challenge and was the obvious choice for us in our conditions”.
ELITE SPORT stands to be improved upon further in 2020 with some exciting new cultivars yet to be announced.

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Making of a Meal of it!

With DLF Fiber Energy grasses you can increase animal intake

Dry matter intake is the single most limiting factor in feeding ruminant animals, therefore it is vitally important that every kg of dry matter eaten is available for rumen fermentation.

The sole reason that ruminants evolved their multi-compartment digestive tract is to effectively process plant matter containing large amounts of cell wall material.
Because cell wall material is the single largest component of forages and contains up to 70% of the plants water soluble carbohydrate (sugars) the digestibility of forage cell wall material is a primary determinant of animal productivity and efficiency.

The plant cell wall is a complex matrix of polymers that surrounds every plant cell. Cell walls provide the physical support required for plants to grow upright and serve many other important functions, such as being a physical barrier to attack by pathogens and insects.

Cellulose is the single most abundant component in cell walls and is composed exclusively of linear glucose chains, other cell wall polysaccharides are categorized into two groups; hemicellulose and pectin.

Fiber-Energy_cows-milk-glass.jpg


Cellulose and the other cell wall polysaccharides are 100% rumen degradable, however, as the plant nears heading date it starts to lay down lignin polymers within the structure of the cell wall. These lignin bonds help to strengthen the plant and support the weight of the emerging seed head but are not degradable by rumen microbes.

This means that once lignification starts to take place the slow release, rumen friendly energy found in the cell wall fibre content is effectively locked away and therefore not available as an energy source for the animal. Not only this but the cell content of any cells not physically ruptured by chewing or mechanical grinding (up to a third of plant cells found in a typical rumen sample) cannot be accessed either.
Help is at hand though, grass breeders at DLF are breeding grass varieties that exhibit greater cell wall digestibility by reducing the extent of the lignification process, we call this concept DLF Fiber Energy.

Using DLF Fiber Energy grasses can lead to an increase in forage digestibility of between 3% and 6% and with an average increase in milk output of ¼ of a litre for every 1% increase, the cost of reseeding with DLF Fiber Energy grass varieties is covered in less than one year.
 

Great In Grass

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Location
Cornwall.
Improved soil structure, weed control and more efficient fertiliser use, are all benefits to be gained by growing a cover crop.

You can take full benefit of an ‘added value’ cover crop after cereal or maize harvest, which will maximise your soils’ potential. Soil is one of your most valued natural resources, so it’s important to make good cropping choices that will help improve its properties.

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There are many species of cover crop to choose from. Oilseed radishes (such as Edwin) have beet cyst nematode (BCN) resistance, as well as a very deep rooting system that will help compacted soils. White mustard is another useful cover crop; it is fast growing and if sown early, has bags of biomass. Varieties such as Vitaro are a non-host to both potato cyst nematode and cereal cyst nematodes.

Mixtures are also useful, especially if you are on EFA land. Sprinter is a mixture of black oat silke, and vetch. It is ideal for later sowing and acts as a good weed suppressant. The vetch is a legume species, so will produce free Nitrogen too. Lift N Fix also contains vetch, along with winter forage rye variety; Humbolt. This mixture is a highly effective Nitrogen lifter and can be grazed in early spring after the EFA period.

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Fertiliser policy is the key to making a success of multi-cut silage


Dairy farmers planning to adopt a multi-cut approach to grass silage making should be mindful of their fertiliser application policy in order to maximise the benefits.

This was the advice of Germinal GB’s Ben Wixey, speaking at UK Dairy Day, where feedback from farmers and reports from the trade pointed to the ever growing popularity of the earlier and more frequent cutting method.

“We’re seeing more and more dairy farmers adopting a multi-cut approach and, with crops being cut at optimum maturity as a result, there is evidence from this season’s silage analyses that the practice is having a positive impact on forage quality.

“This is good news for dairy farmers, as it will ultimately help to reduce bought-in feed costs, but it is important to manage fertiliser applications appropriately to get the best out of the system.”
Mr Wixey said that applying 2 units of nitrogen per acre per day (2.5kgN/ha) between cuts should be the aim, with timeliness being a key element.

“With a multi-cut system, the cutting interval should be in the region of 28-30 days, which would mean applying no more than 60 units per acre (75kgN/ha) between cuts,” he said, “and this should ideally go on as soon as the last trailer has left the field.

“Applying too much is likely to result in excessive nitrogen in the crop, which can disrupt the fermentation and lead to butyric silage. If too little nitrogen is applied, grass plants can become stressed, which usually means they go to seed prematurely. In this case, the digestibility of the silage will be reduced.

“There’s no doubting the potential rewards from a multi-cut system, but you must start with a good quality ley and pay attention to the details, including fertiliser applications.”

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Agriscot 2019

This year the team at Barenbrug UK are launching two fantastic new varieties at Agriscot.

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This year the team at Barenbrug UK are launching two fantastic new varieties at Agriscot.

Callan is a late diploid perennial ryegrass with excellent spring growth, high quality and great yields under both cutting and grazing management. Callan was bred in Northern Ireland with our partners at the Agri Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI). Alongside Callan comes Barclamp, the first Barenbrug bred hybrid ryegrass to make first choice listing on the SRUC Grass and Clover Varieties List. This diploid variety is late heading with good yields and quality. Both varieties are 100% UK produced crops and will be available via our Barforage Grass Seed range from 2020.

Regional Manager for Scotland Mhairi Dawson comments "I'm really looking forward to my 10th Agriscot with Barenbrug. It's always a busy and where we have an opportunity to speak to farmers, merchants and industry colleagues alike. I'm delighted to say its usually a very positive event, where we look forward to the new year in forage management. As well as launching our latest varieties I'm keen for every visitor to go away with a free copy of our good grass guide to help them condition score their grass and make plans for forage improvements."

The Good Grass Guide is a free tool which can be used as a field record as well as giving a lot of practical information for grass monitoring and investment that could earn huge returns.

Why not drop by Barenbrug situated at the Highland Hall, Block 131!
Date:
20th November 2019
Stand: Highland Hall, Block 131
Where: Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Newbridge EH28 8NB

Please contact us for prices and details on all Barebrug seed.

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
New improved ProNitro
®
seed coating


Having a healthy and well-established grass field is the most important job for greenkeepers and landscape architects. To achieve the perfect pitch the establishment phase is crucial. To give the seed a head start, wrapping the seed in a coating is an efficient and time saving solution for grass sowing and early plant development. A crucial factor in establishment is speed. Grass plants need to establish fast so that weeds do not stand a chance. This requires two main ingredients: fertiliser and water.
ProNitro-597x300px.jpg


Seeds without coating to the left and seeds coated with ProNitro
®
to the right
Improving soil conditions from day one

ProNitro
®
contains both fertilizer and wetting agent improving the plant establishment. ProNitro
®
is a fertilizer seed coating specially designed for grasses. Every ProNitro
®
coated seed contains a combination of both fast and slow-release nitrogen: fast-release for an immediate nitrogen availability, and slow-release to keep nitrogen up during the first weeks after sowing. Grass makes the most of this nutrient input during its early development, resulting in more and bigger plants with longer roots.
When using ProNitro
®
, there is a 4 times more efficient use of nutrients if compared to broadcast seedbed fertilization. As a consequence, less fertilizer is needed, less leaching, and less weed development. ProNitro
®
is a cost-effective solution because it condenses the grass sowing and the fertilizer application in just one field operation. The wetting agent in the coating also ensures a much more efficient use of water, because the wetting agent will lower the water surface tension, which means less water is needed during establishment.
Seeds have a better chance in the field

ProNitro
®
increases grass seed weight by 50%: the heavier the seed, the better its contact with the soil. That is a key feature for an improved water uptake, seed germination, and plant growth under competition with already established plants, as in overseeding. Heavier seeds are also easier to distribute when sowing, this increases field uniformity.ProNitro
®
improves performance of high quality seeds, so genetic potential of grass is backed up under real field conditions. ProNitro
®
grass seeds can be stored, handled, and sown as regular seeds.

Professionals cannot risk a poor establishment, and therefor they choose to invest in ProNitro
®
treated grass seeds.
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
Elland Road - Leeds United | Elite Sport

ELITE SPORT selected for pitch renovations

A change to ELITE pitches at Leeds United.

When 2019 pitch renovations came around, selecting a seed mixture was a straightforward decision for Kiel Barrett, Head Groundsman at Leeds United Football Club.

Having looked at all blends on the market, ELITE SPORT from Barenbrug stood out. Kiel stated “For starters, it is the number 1 mix on the market when referring to the BSPB/STRI Turfgrass Seed publication. However, after many meetings with Barenbrug’s Phil Logan, we discussed the importance of looking beyond the booklet. For example, Barcristalla has a much darker colour and better disease tolerance then other top varieties. Sure, wear tolerance is important, but particularly stadiums need to start thinking about the new challenges we face; wear is only part of the jigsaw. We also discussed a tailored overseeding plan to ensure we are capitalising on specific cultivar traits at the time of year when they will benefit us the most, not just a one-size-fits-all approach”.

Kiel was so impressed with the product that he made the decision to change all the pitches to ELITE SPORT. That included the iconic stadium, Elland Road, and every pitch at the training ground, Thorp Arch. Deputy Head Groundsman at Thorp Arch, Stefan Jones, commented, “The germination and establishment speed was excellent, we couldn’t have asked for better. I was also very impressed with the purity of the seed; we have had very few weeds.” Kiel added, “Thorp Arch is a challenging site, in a wet part of Yorkshire that sees heavy wear combined with intense disease pressure. ELITE SPORT has stood up well to the challenge and was the obvious choice for us in our conditions”.
ELITE SPORT stands to be improved upon further in 2020 with some exciting new cultivars yet to be announced.

View attachment 832780

that pitch looks really good.....mind you it should considering the amount of sh!t played on it :D:D:D
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Save time and money with new improved ProNitro
®
seed coating


Save both time and money with the ProNitro
®
seed coating with hydroactive water management technology. The coating contains nitrogen and wetting agent. With this combination you will ensure a much more efficient use of water, and you will get much stronger and faster establishment, because the wetting agent will lower the water surface tension.




With ProNitro
®
coated seed you get a dense lawn with less weeds in no time.
ProNitro
®
is recommended for all types of playing surfaces. On golf greens and football pitches in low-fertility, sandy soils, ProNitro
®
provides stronger and faster establishment. Sport fields sown with ProNitro
®
become playable sooner, while sod/turf producers obtain an earlier product containing less Poa annua. Click here to read chief scientific officer, Klaus K. Nielsen, explain why ProNitro ® can give you an extra 30 to 50 playing hours as well as save you time and money.

ProNitro-sammenligning-fritlagt_597x300px.jpg


Seeds without coating to the left and seeds coated with ProNitro
®
to the right.

ProNitro
®
coated seeds germinates strongly with strong root development


As the fertiliser is coated directly onto the seeds, the germinating and developing seedling receives the full benefit of the additional nutrition, not the surrounding plants. Enhanced water management improves moisture availability allowing roots and shoots to grow rapidly in the first stages of growth developing strong, vigorous plants. This is particularly important when overseeding into a competitive sward.

ProNitro-graphic_update.jpg

Coating contains 15% nitrogen in fast- and slow-acting forms

Although the concept of coating grass seed with fertiliser is not new, ProNitro
®
goes much further. It contains a combination of fast-acting and slow-releasing nitrogen that feeds the seed and seedling throughout the first crucial month. Tests show that the leaching of nitrogen is far less with ProNitro
®
than with regular grass seed and a standard fertiliser.
With its 15% nitrogen content, ProNitro
®
is also far more effective. In comparison, the nitrogen content of existing seed coatings is typically between 1% and 2%, which is why the effects are often negligible.
Increase plant survival rates by up to 34%

Very little goes to waste with ProNitro
®
hydroactive. The nitrogen in the coating goes directly to your germinating seeds and developing seedlings. Roots and shoots grow rapidly in the first stages of growth; the seedlings become strong and vigorous and competitive to weeds. After establishement the fast growth wears off as the fertilizer is used up. Rapid growth improves the take-up of all available soil nutrients and decreases nutrient losses into the environment by fixation or leaching. This is especially relevant when overseeding a competitive sward.

Tests by the Sports Turf Research Institute show that grass establishes significantly better with coated grass seed. Up to 34% more plants survive the establishment phase, creating a denser sward. These plants also have more than 30% longer roots compared to untreated seeds, resulting in better stress-tolerance.
Benefits of ProNitro
®


  • Labour saving
  • Cost effective
  • Denser lawn
  • Improved stress-tolerance
  • Increased wear-tolerance
  • Reduced levels of Poa annua and other weeds
  • Reduced nutrient losses to the environment
  • More plant establishment
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
RUAS Winter Fair 2019

This year, the Barenbrug team are launching 2 new grass varieties at the RUAS Winter Fair.

RUAS Winter Fair 2019

This year, the Barenbrug team are launching 2 new grass varieties at the RUAS Winter Fair.

Callan is a late diploid perennial ryegrass with excellent spring growth, high quality and great yields under both cutting and grazing management. Callan was bred in Northern Ireland with our partners at the Agri Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI). Alongside Callan comes Barclamp, the first Barenbrug bred hybrid ryegrass to make first choice listing on the SRUC Grass and Clover Varieties List. This diploid variety is late heading with good yields and quality. Both varieties are 100% UK produced crops and will be available via our Barforage Grass Seed range from 2020.

Regional Manager for Northern Ireland, David Linton comments "I always look forward to the RUAS Winter Fair with Barenbrug. It's always a busy show and gives us the opportunity to speak to farmers and merchants to not only thank them for their support in the past, but to let them see what is in store for next year with the launch of our 2020 BarForage mixture catalogue. As well as launching our latest varieties and mixtures, I am delighted to welcome Ruth Pollock from Braemar Farm back onto our stand. Braemar Farm are our Grass Into Gold partner farm in Northern Ireland and Ruth will be on the stand serving her delicious artisan ice cream to everyone with our compliments."

We’re getting ready for the RUAS Winter Fair here at Barenbrug. If you’re planning to visit, why not drop by the Eikon Stand EK54 to see us!
Date:
12th December 2019
Stand: Eikon Stand EK54
Where: Eikon Exhibition Centre, Balmoral Park, Halftown Road, Lisburn BT27 5RD
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Making the most of brassicas

As we head into a wet winter, Germinal GB’s Paul Morgan provides his top tips on how to maximise utilisation of brassicas, whilst minimising environmental risk.

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Choosing the right grass species

Dairy farmer James Yeatman is trying out DLF festuloliums on cold, wet, heavy clay in Dorset

Pulham, the name of the village where James Yeatman runs 320 dairy cows plus youngstock, means ‘Land of Ponds’, accurately reflecting the heavy Oxford clay soil. The ground is slow to warm up in spring and any rainfall lies on the surface. Turning the cows out depends on soil conditions and varies from year to year.

“It is very easy to poach our fields and we only graze when there is no risk of soil damage,” says James. “Last year in the long, cold wet spring, the whole farm was cut as silage first before the cows went out.”

James rents 98ha (240 acres) at Grange Farm from the Sherborne Castle Estate where the cows are kept. Eighty-one hectares of maize is grown elsewhere on the estate, which James buys to include in the cows’ winter ration.

Further land is rented for growing silage from Graham Crocker at neighbouring Manor Farm, home to Quill Productions, which manufactures products for the game bird industry.

The cows are robust, smaller-framed Holsteins, which produce 10,000 litres of milk a year from twice a day milking. The milk is sold to Muller. James is a Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group scholar and recently travelled to New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and America investigating the welfare of indoor and outdoor dairy systems.
A-trio-of-festuloliums-cope-well-with-heavy-clay-soil-711.jpg
A trio of festuloliums cope well with heavy clay soil

The herd at Pulham block calves in the autumn during a tight nine-weeks and heifers are born in a four and a half week period. Sexed semen has been used on the top performing cows for the past 20 years, with the rest bred to an Angus beef bull.

James works with nutritionist Charlie King preparing a TMR from 50% maize silage, 30% grass silage and 20% wholecrop silage. A homemade pre-mix of straights and 4kg of soda grain is mixed into a Total Mixed Ration, which is fed fresh once a day. The aim is to provide enough energy and nutrients for the cows to peak at maintenance + 38 litres of milk.

Introducing festuloliums
Grass reseeding in the past has been as and when fields have needed it, with late heading perennial ryegrass and white clover mixtures favoured. But last year, in an effort to combat the wet ground conditions, James tried a mixture of DLF festuloliums – which are crosses between meadow fescue or tall fescue and ryegrass. This creates a combination of high nutritional quality from the ryegrass with good winter hardiness, persistence and stress tolerance from the fescue parents.

The mixture contained 5kg of Lofa hybrid festulolium, which has an extended grazing season and delivers high forage yields along with stress and disease tolerance. It is very deep rooting.

Along with this was 3kg of Hipast tall fescue festulolium, which after flowering stays in a vegetative state giving excellent ground cover – which can stand up better to poaching.

Finally 4kg of Perseus hybrid festulolium, which can tolerate flood and drought conditions and 3kgs of a red clover blend – to fix nitrogen, improve soil structure and increase the protein content of the silage.

This mixture was sown on a 5ha (13 acre) field after winter wheat. Slurry was applied after harvest and the ground was power-harrowed. The seed was sown using an Einbock grass-harrow seeder.

“We were lucky that it rained at just the right time at the end of the drought and it all came up,” says James. “That is the only advantage of having clay soil, once it gets some moisture – it holds onto it.”

Eight weeks after sowing, there was unexpectedly enough crop to take a cut, producing 30 bales of silage, which were wrapped and came in handy for winter feeding.

Growth continued through the 2018/2019 winter and 87kg/ha of nitrogen fertiliser was applied in spring. The first proper silage cut was taken on 19 April, yielding 15t/ha fresh weight.

“We have been delighted with the way this crop has grown and took a second cut on 24 May.

“Silage quality is paramount – we want quality forage, not a high pile of rubbish. We want to offer our cows the very best we can for their health and welfare – as well as for milk yield.

“It is still early days for the festulolium mixture but at the moment it is doing everything Mark Simes from DLF said it would! It seems to handle the cold, wet clay well and the heading dates fit in with the other ryegrass silage crops on the farm, so the contractor does them all at the same time. I shall be looking for four cuts this year and possibly some late autumn grazing for the heifers.”

This article was first published in British Dairying, July 2019
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
The 12-year journey to breeding a leading grass variety

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Plant breeder Sarah Palmer gives a glimpse into the 12-year process of developing a new grass variety which involves continually selecting families better than their predecessors.
This enables the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University (IBERS) in Wales, to keep pushing through the ceiling for quality and yield in grass varieties.
Sarah describes how the key differentiators used at IBERS differ to most other grass breeding programmes and have led to the dominance of Aber varieties on the Irish Recommended List and Teagasc Pasture Profit Index (PPI).
For over thirty years the grass breeding programme at IBERS has focused on both quality (DMD) and yield among other traits. Many other grass breeding programmes only began to look at quality much more recently. This has helped ensure the quality of varieties being produced at IBERS is ahead of other grass varieties available in Ireland.
Leading grass varieties with the “Aber” prefix come from the IBERS grass breeding programme including AberGain, AberChoice and AberClyde to name but a few. From start to finish, it takes 12 years to develop a variety worthy of entering the marketplace, with stringent selection criteria; sometimes resulting in years of trials being scrapped, so the cycle can start over again with applied findings.
“In the first year, we sow 10,000 seedlings which are whittled down over the years to one commercial variety based on an elite combination of specific traits. This includes yield, persistency, quality, disease resistance, distinctness, uniformity, stability and seed production,” says Sarah. “It’s a very long process and requires a bit of luck mixed with a lot of science.”
Below, is a walk through the multi-year process of breeding a diploid perennial ryegrass.
IBERS1-400x500.jpg

Sarah Palmer, Forage Grass Breeder, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University (IBERS)
Year 1 – 10K Progeny Sown
The process of developing a single variety starts by hand sowing 10,000 progeny seeds from 10 families to be narrowed down to the best four. “Only one seedling can be raised in each well of a tray. It’s fiddly, time consuming work, but essential,” explains Sarah.
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Year 1 to 2 – 4K Progeny Selected
In late summer, 4,000 of the original 10,000 seedlings are transplanted into a field nursery. Rows comprise of plants belonging to the same family. Due to the more natural environment of a field nursery, the heading and flowering data is more reliable which contributes to the next key criterion for selection at this stage.
“Transplanting is again done by hand and is the most back-breaking part of the grass breeding process – it’s a job we save for a warm sunny day and everyone chips in to help. The next challenge is keeping the birds, rabbits and deer off – they know quality and home in on the most digestible plants for a snack!” says Sarah.
Year 2 – 400 Individual Plants Selected
In mid-summer, 400 plants are transferred from the field into pots and polycrossed in isolation chambers. Once the seed heads have filled, a month or so later, the seed from each plant is harvested separately. Grasses are wind-pollinated, so the filtration and positive air pressure of the isolation chambers mitigate the risk of cross contamination from wild pollen. This insurance of varietal purity is unique to the IBERS’ grass breeding programme; one that Sarah attributes to the success of varieties seen on the PPI above other breeders.
Sarah adds: “This is the busiest time of year for me as there is time pressure to get the seed threshed, cleaned and ready for sowing again – and the seed is too precious to me to trust this job to anyone else.”
Year 2 to 5 – 100 Half-Sib Plot Evaluation
Progeny of the 100 highest seed yielding plants are sown in replicated ‘mini-sward’ plots and assessed for yield, quality and persistency over a period of three and a half years.
“I spend many hours pawing over this data to ensure I choose the very best lines from which to make a new variety,” comments Sarah.
According to Sarah, “studies in the 1970s revealed that looking at how perennial ryegrasses performed in swards was far more accurate than simply looking at individual plant performance.” Sarah explained how this research and method was then adopted at IBERS and is considered a step that has led to the success of Aber varieties.
IBERS5-1024x683.jpg

Meanwhile, the corresponding ‘mother plants’ from the breeding population are cloned, trimmed by hand and combined to make a new variety. It takes an additional year in isolation chambers to produce the seed.
“Our population improvement method of grass breeding is like managing a pedigree herd. By continually selecting families which better their predecessors we are able to keep pushing through the ceiling for quality and yield in our varieties; something that has shone through on the Irish PPI. This sets the bar for ourselves and also the rest of the industry.”
Year 4 to 9 – Four variety composition and evaluation
Candidate varieties are evaluated in test plots at IBERS for the following three and a half years to decide which, if any, are worthy of being entered into national list trials conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in Ireland or the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in the UK.
Year 7 to 12 – 1 Commercial Variety
Any grass variety developed by IBERS must make it onto the DAFM Irish Grass and Clover Recommended List before it is made available to the Irish market. To make the cut, a variety is independently trialled by the DAFM for four years to test grass quality, persistence, seasonal and total yield; under both a simulated grazing and simulated silage protocol. The process is very competitive and only new varieties offering significant improvement will be added to this list. These varieties will receive a value on the PPI, providing farmers with additional information on the expected value of a variety.
Meeting the needs of Irish Farmers
Since the PPI was first released in 2015, Aber varieties have continually topped all categories (late tetraploid, late diploid, intermediate tetraploid and intermediate diploid) in terms of total PPI value (€ per ha/year). In 2019, AberGain is the leading late tetraploid, AberChoice leads the late diploids, while AberClyde and AberMagic, are the leading intermediate tetraploid and diploid varieties, respectively.
IBERS6-1024x682.jpg

Sarah concluded that all of the steps taken above and the selection pressure enforced at IBERS for key traits such as seasonal yield, quality and persistency means that key performance indicators are recognized sooner rather than later. This ensures the best chance of breeding a variety for these selected traits and breeding the top varieties on the PPI.
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Choosing the right grass species

Dairy farmer James Yeatman is trying out DLF festuloliums on cold, wet, heavy clay in Dorset

Pulham, the name of the village where James Yeatman runs 320 dairy cows plus youngstock, means ‘Land of Ponds’, accurately reflecting the heavy Oxford clay soil. The ground is slow to warm up in spring and any rainfall lies on the surface. Turning the cows out depends on soil conditions and varies from year to year.

“It is very easy to poach our fields and we only graze when there is no risk of soil damage,” says James. “Last year in the long, cold wet spring, the whole farm was cut as silage first before the cows went out.”

James rents 98ha (240 acres) at Grange Farm from the Sherborne Castle Estate where the cows are kept. Eighty-one hectares of maize is grown elsewhere on the estate, which James buys to include in the cows’ winter ration.

Further land is rented for growing silage from Graham Crocker at neighbouring Manor Farm, home to Quill Productions, which manufactures products for the game bird industry.

The cows are robust, smaller-framed Holsteins, which produce 10,000 litres of milk a year from twice a day milking. The milk is sold to Muller. James is a Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group scholar and recently travelled to New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and America investigating the welfare of indoor and outdoor dairy systems.

A-trio-of-festuloliums-cope-well-with-heavy-clay-soil-711.jpg
A trio of festuloliums cope well with heavy clay soil

The herd at Pulham block calves in the autumn during a tight nine-weeks and heifers are born in a four and a half week period. Sexed semen has been used on the top performing cows for the past 20 years, with the rest bred to an Angus beef bull.

James works with nutritionist Charlie King preparing a TMR from 50% maize silage, 30% grass silage and 20% wholecrop silage. A homemade pre-mix of straights and 4kg of soda grain is mixed into a Total Mixed Ration, which is fed fresh once a day. The aim is to provide enough energy and nutrients for the cows to peak at maintenance + 38 litres of milk.

Introducing festuloliums
Grass reseeding in the past has been as and when fields have needed it, with late heading perennial ryegrass and white clover mixtures favoured. But last year, in an effort to combat the wet ground conditions, James tried a mixture of DLF festuloliums – which are crosses between meadow fescue or tall fescue and ryegrass. This creates a combination of high nutritional quality from the ryegrass with good winter hardiness, persistence and stress tolerance from the fescue parents.

The mixture contained 5kg of Lofa hybrid festulolium, which has an extended grazing season and delivers high forage yields along with stress and disease tolerance. It is very deep rooting.

Along with this was 3kg of Hipast tall fescue festulolium, which after flowering stays in a vegetative state giving excellent ground cover – which can stand up better to poaching.

Finally 4kg of Perseus hybrid festulolium, which can tolerate flood and drought conditions and 3kgs of a red clover blend – to fix nitrogen, improve soil structure and increase the protein content of the silage.

This mixture was sown on a 5ha (13 acre) field after winter wheat. Slurry was applied after harvest and the ground was power-harrowed. The seed was sown using an Einbock grass-harrow seeder.

“We were lucky that it rained at just the right time at the end of the drought and it all came up,” says James. “That is the only advantage of having clay soil, once it gets some moisture – it holds onto it.”

Eight weeks after sowing, there was unexpectedly enough crop to take a cut, producing 30 bales of silage, which were wrapped and came in handy for winter feeding.

Growth continued through the 2018/2019 winter and 87kg/ha of nitrogen fertiliser was applied in spring. The first proper silage cut was taken on 19 April, yielding 15t/ha fresh weight.

“We have been delighted with the way this crop has grown and took a second cut on 24 May.

“Silage quality is paramount – we want quality forage, not a high pile of rubbish. We want to offer our cows the very best we can for their health and welfare – as well as for milk yield.

“It is still early days for the festulolium mixture but at the moment it is doing everything Mark Simes from DLF said it would! It seems to handle the cold, wet clay well and the heading dates fit in with the other ryegrass silage crops on the farm, so the contractor does them all at the same time. I shall be looking for four cuts this year and possibly some late autumn grazing for the heifers.”

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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