Agricultural Species Guide

Duration 6 years +

• Most effort by plant breeders has been concentrated on PRG
• Establishes rapidly, even from late Autumn sowing
• High yields in first harvest year
• High sugar content makes it good for silage-making
• Produces dense and persistent swards so useful for long term leys and establishing permanent pasture
• Good for all types of management e.g. silage or hay production, extensive or intensive grazing

Intermediate Perennial Ryegrass Head last 2 weeks May

• Intermediate varieties have a more dense, prostrate growth habit compared to early PRG
• Persistency is good and yield potentialis high especially mid-season
• Intermediate PRG often added to help put ‘bottom’ into short term mixtures

Early Perennial Ryegrass Head 1st 2 weeks May

• Early flowering varieties have an erect growth habit and the ability to bulk up quickly
• Grown well in early spring which is a valuable cutting or grazing attribute

Late Perennial Ryegrass Head Mid June

• Late PRG varieties have good forage quality and palatability
• Dense growth habit gives extremely good tolerance to treading
• Yield is generally high and exhibit good midseason and end of season growth

Italian Ryegrass

Duration up to 2 years

• Produces heavy crops of silage or hay
• Most popular species for regular cutting
• Very good early and late season growth
• Very responsive to fertility
• Good for cutting, but can also be used for intensive spring grazing

Hybrid Ryegrass

Duration up to 4 years

• Better ground cover and longer lived than IRG
• Good winter hardiness and disease resistance
• Mid-season digestibility better than IRG, but poorer than PRG
• Increased ground cover compared to IRG
• More drought resistant than IRG
• Good for silage production and rotational grazing

Timothy

Duration 6 years +

• Very winter hardy and persists well in wet conditions
• Maintains production on poorer soils and better palatability compared to other species during summer months
• Grows at lower temperatures than ryegrass so can be good for early season grazing, especially in cold, late springs
• Good winter hardiness and ground cover
• Can be slow to establish and yields are likely to be lower than PRG
• Good for extensive grazing and hay production

Festulolium

Duration 3-4 years

• A hybrid cross between a Ryegrass and a Fescue with similar yields to Ryegrass
• The Fescue qualities improve the drought and flood tolerance compared to straight Ryegrass
• Generally lasts 3- 4 years though there is some variation between varieties depending upon the parent combination
• Versatile species which can grow on a variety of soil types
• Potentially high yielding with good forage quality

Meadow Fescue

Duration 6 years +

• Nutritious and leafy species traditionally sown with Timothy in grass/clover leys
• Less vigorous and lower yield than Perennial Ryegrass
• More suited to extensive rather than intensive grazing systems
• Popular in species rich and non-ryegrass mixtures
• Will tolerate wetter soil conditions

Cocksfoot

Duration 6 years +

• Has very good winter hardiness
• Although it has some very good attributes it very easily becomes tussocky and unpalatable if uncut or grazed
• Cocksfoot is generally limited to leys where it has a particular contribution
• Good drought tolerance, traditionally added to leys sown on lighter soils can boost mid-season production potential

Westerwolds

Duration 1 year

• Annual species which achieves rapid production within 12-14 weeks of sowing
• Regular cutting or grazing is essential to prevent serious decline in digestibility due to prolific heading ability
• Rarely used in longer term ley mixtures due to short life span and fast growing ability meaning other species suffer
• From a spring sowing of Westerwolds you would expect a typical silage yield of 13.5 tonnes DM/Ha
• Can be susceptible to winter kill

Red Fescue

Duration 6 years +

• Winter hardy, early growing species used sparingly in modern mixtures
• Will maintain production on poorer soils, very hard wearing
• Invariably thrives in cold, wet conditions
• Requires tight grazing to maintain leafiness and quality

Red Clover

Duration 2-4 years

• Popular inclusion for silage leys due to high protein content, can also be used for aftermath grazing
• High protein content up to 19% in silage depending on percentage in sward
• High yields, even with no or low N fertiliser the Nitrogen fixing qualities can help with rising fertiliser costs
• Modern Red Clovers easily produce two main cuts and a smaller autumn cut
• Competes well when grown with aggressive short term species such as Italian & hybrid ryegrasses
• Good for cutting and finishing stock in Autumn

White Clover

Duration 6 years +

• Most commonly included in medium and long term leys
• High nutritional value, particularly protein and mineral content
• High palatability providing good animal performance
• Good drought resistance, frost tolerance and naturally nitrogen fixing
• Can provide 150kg/ha (120 units/acre) of nitrogen for grass growth
• Match leaf size to stock (small for continuous, hard sheep grazing; medium for frequent cutting and rotational mixed grazing; and large for cutting and cattle grazing)
• Good for grazing and cutting