Grass seed recomendation Please

[nails]

ah! I am kinda swaying to just drill some Turnips back in and leave it till late summer then, it's so dry here at the moment, and I can see a lot of hungry birds sat on the fences, I can see the whole thing going wrong.

It is still early for any grass seed especially with clover. I will be sowing mine under oats late April , early May.The cows are still clearing the Turnips even though they are bolting. I am pretty sure it is going to turn a lot wetter by early May.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

It is still early for any grass seed especially with clover. I will be sowing mine under oats late April , early May.The cows are still clearing the Turnips even though they are bolting. I am pretty sure it is going to turn a lot wetter by early May.

I am surprised you sow 100% late ryegrass mixes in Dorset . We use that mix on LFA

 

[devonbrion1998]

I really can't be taking any gambles at the moment, some of our income is off-farm work
estate maintenance etc and it's all stopped, got some super lambs this year and I look at them and wonder if they will be worth anything come September, things are bad here
at the moment, so I reckon I will look at some cheap Turnip/forage mixtures for now, and spend wisely what little we have left.

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

I really can't be taking any gambles at the moment, some of our income is off-farm work
estate maintenance etc and it's all stopped, got some super lambs this year and I look at them and wonder if they will be worth anything come September, things are bad here
at the moment, so I reckon I will look at some cheap Turnip/forage mixtures for now, and spend wisely what little we have left.

In the exact same boat as yourself on that one. A lot of my income that supports some of the farm is off farm and I have a few bits I intended to put back to grass after a brassica but they will be going back to root crop/brassica for some cheap summer grazing.

 

[Danllan]

…Do you know Westerwolds and Italian Ryegrasses can legally be sold with a minimum germ figure of 75% worst-case scenario a quarter of a 14kg bag could contain dead seed?

I know the law in my own fields - forgive the pun - but am ignorant of this... what is it, Governmental, British Standard, industry standard or just tradition that allows it?

 

[nails]

I am surprised you sow 100% late ryegrass mixes in Dorset . We use that mix on LFA

Eh? I don,t . Tend to sow mixtures with a bit of everything Intermediate perennial , late perennial ryegrass, Timothy, meadow fescue, cocksfoot little bit of red clover and white clover.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I trust everyone is aware of the variation in seed sizes and the need to adjust seed rate according so to say they so 14kg means nothing unless you know what they are sowing
Ive just looked on a well know website they have long term mixtures at 13kg and straight Italian at 14kg . Im no expert, but we used to grow a lot of straight italain and we would nearly double that seed rate

 

[milkloss]

What are the benefits of undersowing with oat/barley/rape? I know they nurse the grass but that's about it.

we have a drill with a star wheel type metering device above each coulter, coulters removed, mounted on a power Harrow. The seed falls behind the roller and we ring roll, then flat roll. Would this type of home brew machine get a nurse crop in with the grass seed at the same time as we couldn't go over twice?

thanks.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Eh? I don,t . Tend to sow mixtures with a bit of everything Intermediate perennial , late perennial ryegrass, Timothy, meadow fescue, cocksfoot little bit of red clover and white clover.

Ok . Yes . You would be putting less seed numbers per acre then than my mix at 13kg as your seed sizes are a lot bigger . They dont tiller as much ether so would need to be at a higher rate

 

[Great In Grass]

I know the law in my own fields - forgive the pun - but am ignorant of this... what is it, Governmental, British Standard, industry standard or just tradition that allows it?

The Animal & Plant Health Agency within the UK Government and in conjunction with the EU set out the rules (I think). Some UK seed suppliers have however taken it upon themselves to produce seed to a higher level (HVS) and germ figures are consistently averaging 95% for Italian Ryegrass.

I have attached pages from an APHA article you may find interesting.

You will see Kale is also listed at 75%.

 

[Great In Grass]

I trust everyone is aware of the variation in seed sizes and the need to adjust seed rate according so to say they so 14kg means nothing unless you know what they are sowing
Ive just looked on a well know website they have long term mixtures at 13kg and straight Italian at 14kg . Im no expert, but we used to grow a lot of straight italain and we would nearly double that seed rate

Seeds/kilo
Perennial Ryegrass 600,000 (dip) 290,000 (tet)
IRG 430,000 (dip) 265,000 (tet)

That's why with some of our mixtures we can quote the number of seeds sown per m2

 

[Danllan]

The Animal & Plant Health Agency within the UK Government and in conjunction with the EU set out the rules (I think). Some UK seed suppliers have however taken it upon themselves to produce seed to a higher level (HVS) and germ figures are consistently averaging 95% for Italian Ryegrass.

I have attached pages from an APHA article you may find interesting.

You will see Kale is also listed at 75%.

Thanks for that, interesting. No surprise about the origin of the rules, but I am surprised it is as low as 75%. To be honest, I'm surprised it's not 80% or more, for grasses anyway - 75% allows for quite a lot of leeway in a seller's favour.

 

[Great In Grass]

Thanks for that, interesting. No surprise about the origin of the rules, but I am surprised it is as low as 75%. To be honest, I'm surprised it's not 80% or more, for grasses anyway - 75% allows for quite a lot of leeway in a seller's favour.

As said in other circles buy the seller first, then do the business.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Seeds/kilo
Perennial Ryegrass 600,000 (dip) 290,000 (tet)
IRG 430,000 (dip) 265,000 (tet)

That's why with some of our mixtures we can quote the number of seeds sown per m2

So would Tetra Italian need to be double that of Perenial given that it does not tiller the same either

 

[Great In Grass]

So would Tetra Italian need to be double that of Perenial given that it does not tiller the same either

As we are talking about grass "mixtures" the mixes are formulated with the attributes of both Diploid and Tetraploid taken into account, persistency and palatability being two. To help with sward density either/or white clover (1,500,000 seed/kg) and Timothy (4,000,000 seed/kg) may be added to the mix.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

As said in other circles buy the seller first, then do the business.

Cant you go by the name on the bag , who bagged it

 

[Great In Grass]

Cant you go by the name on the bag , who bagged it

The green attached label will give all the info you need like lot number et cetera, not everyone will put the suppliers' name but a mixture name. As with your mix you listed above I am pretty sure where it came by varieties used.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

The green attached label will give all the info you need like lot number et cetera, not everyone will put the suppliers' name but a mixture name. As with your mix you listed above I am pretty sure where it came by varieties used.

Thanks . Ive always been a fan of Custom mixes as no two farms are the same . Soil type, rainfall, altitude , stock type . Just goes on !

 

[Agrivator]

The cost of reseeding, particularly the price/acre of grass seed, is a good reason for aiming to improve existing swards. It takes a bit of nerve and patience, but a new ley tends to deteriorate until year 7, by when it stabilises, and by year 14 it can turn into a good permanent pasture.

And on an upland farm at least, it is surprising that amount of silage you can harvest off a single cut, compared to that from a deteriorating temporary mix.

Some will disagree; but the cost of reseeding will buy a lot of lime and phosphate for existing swards. But there is room for learning how to stitch clover into them, without too much expense.

 

[hally]

The cost of reseeding, particularly the price/acre of grass seed, is a good reason for aiming to improve existing swards. It takes a bit of nerve and patience, but a new ley tends to deteriorate until year 7, by when it stabilises, and by year 14 it can turn into a good permanent pasture.

And on an upland farm at least, it is surprising that amount of silage you can harvest off a single cut, compared to that from a deteriorating temporary mix.

Some will disagree; but the cost of reseeding will buy a lot of lime and phosphate for existing swards. But there is room for learning how to stitch clover into them, without too much expense.

I get what your Saying but a new sward has a lot more feed value in the grass compared to an old sward irrespective of its yield. Try fattening lambs on a permanent pasture then put them on a new ley and watch them go.