Drought resistant grazing - Cocksfoot stand?

[crashbox]

3rd dry spring/summer in a row for us now...

I know ryegrasses outperform others when conditions are right, but here it is just too dry in the growing season to achieve those high yields.

So, has anyone done a Cocksfoot based ley for grazing? Or anything else?

We are south coast, light sandy soils.

Grazing for Holstein dairy cattle and youngstock, if that makes a difference.

Cheers

 

[glasshouse]

3rd dry spring/summer in a row for us now...

I know ryegrasses outperform others when conditions are right, but here it is just too dry in the growing season to achieve those high yields.

So, has anyone done a Cocksfoot based ley for grazing? Or anything else?

We are south coast, light sandy soils.

Grazing for Holstein dairy cattle and youngstock, if that makes a difference.

Cheers

Have seen cocksfoot in the mix doing a job in the drought

 

[Northeastfarmer]

What about chicory

 

[jondear]

What about chicory

We started planting cocksfoot (danata) 5 years ago . Only thing green in 2018. Planting chicory now but only planted on may 2 undersown bit to dry for that Now!

 

[Northeastfarmer]

We started planting cocksfoot (danata) 5 years ago . Only thing green in 2018. Planting chicory now but only planted on may 2 undersown bit to dry for that Now!

Have you planted just chicory or added it to the mix?

 

[Macsky]

Lucerne?

 

[crashbox]

Lucerne?

Yeah I thought about that, considering for silage.
Not heard of anyone grazing cattle with it though?

 

[HarryB97]

Lucerne will outperm anything else by some margin. People quite often drill a bit of cocksfoot with it but that soon gets swamped out. Paddock graze it and it'll last very well, cocksfoot always becomes clumpy and to dominant in most mixed leys.

 

[jondear]

Have you planted just chicory or added it to the mix?

Added chicory and plantain to mix 1kg of each

 

[ploughman1963]

WE have a couple of our most drought prone fields with cocksfoot in the mix - as said, can become very clumpy - needs to managed by grazing rather than cutting ideally IMO

 

[jondear]

The variety Danata doesn't get clumpy

 

[yellowbelly]

The variety Danata doesn't get clumpy

That's good to know - always been put off by big tussocks of unpalatable cocksfoot here.

 

[Optimus]

Use a high % cocksfoot an Scots Timothy mix on some fields.usually does really well but old man was saying some of it was burning up.its on light sandy/gravel

 

[M-J-G]

I first put new variety cocksfoot in about 10 years ago on very sandy land, nothing compares to it in dry conditions once established.
Very tough in winter and is good for winter stockpile grazing, as well as being very capable at handling dry weather.

It's nothing like the cocksfoot from days of old, cattle and sheep find it as palatable as any other grasses.

I have sown chicory along with reseed and DD into existing awards, I don't see any major advantage over well managed grass as a forage, but they work well as a soil conditioner and grass does well after the chicory has died off.

 

[Skimmer]

We are on blow sand and cocksfoot/timothy mix hasn't performed any better than ryegrass, if fact without water there would be nothing. lucern has being a poor first cut but responds better to irrigation better in extreme conditions as heat stops grass growing.

 

[Pan mixer]

I have found festoloium much better than ryegrass, not sure about it for grazing though as mine is in a cutting field with no fences.

We have plenty of Danata/timothy mixes too, they are still growing but so is the ryegrass currently, it is the meadow grasses that are dead

 

[M-J-G]

I have found festoloium much better than ryegrass, not sure about it for grazing though as mine is in a cutting field with no fences.

We have plenty of Danata/timothy mixes too, they are still growing but so is the ryegrass currently, it is the meadow grasses that are dead

I've found Festulolium to be a bit less palatable for grazing.
Cows on paddock grazing want off them quicker than with most other grasses.

 

[som farmer]

been cutting some old pp, its a once a year cut, no grazing cheap keep, the cocksfoot clumps, are very obvious, and very green, so on some poor pp, its coping well ! Festulolium let us down last year, its a job to know what to do, as above, this is looking to be the 3rd serious dry summer, and it hurting, the extra money spent, reseeding, buying forage, before lost production is counted, is considerable. Its all very well for the 'experts' to say, this new grass will outdo that old grass, but the reality is, some of those 'old' grasses, cope much better in dry weather, and for us, that is more important, than a mythical extra yield. We have put some leys in, this spring, with cocksfoot, and timothy in, with some 'drought' resistant prg. But, for us, new best, is not the best !

 

[Pan mixer]

As shown in TAW this was some old meadow grass last week.

Just about expired above. Below, some 2nd year Tim/Danata mix not 200 yards away on the same day.

and festololium baled the day before.

 

[Cornish bob]

We put 1.5 kg of cocksfoot on top of every normal mix ,yes it stops growing when it is really dry but it recovers immediately after any rain.also in marginal drought conditions it carries on growing giving cover for orther grasses ,it also keeps standing well making hay easier to cut cleanly.