Fast pasture saver
With strong cool season growth and year-round yields, hybrid ryegrass Frenzy's fast establishment makes it ideally suited for stitching into old or run-out pastures or it can serve as a short term (two-three years) option in specialist pastures.
FRENZY IS A GAME-CHANGING hybrid ryegrass and the first hybrid ryegrass that Cropmark has released into the New Zealand market.
Frenzy is a high-yielding tetraploid short rotation ryegrass containing the NEA endophyte for excellent livestock performance. It is the only five-star-ranked variety in the DairyNZ Forage Value Index for 12-month feed.
With strong cool season growth and year-round yields, its fast establishment makes it ideally suited for stitching into old or run-out pastures or it can serve as a short term (two-three years) option in specialist pastures.
Speed of establishment and winter yield is its main point of difference with other hybrid ryegrasses. This is derived from its high percentage of Italian ryegrass in its breeding.
With all the wet weather we have had this winter Frenzy is ideal for stitching into damaged pastures. It is also a great option to sow into old run-out pasture for a short to medium-term production boost.
Being a tetraploid, Frenzy offers very high energy feed and is extremely palatable to sheep, cattle and deer.
Typically, Frenzy can be sown alone at 25kg/ha or in a mix at 20kg/ha with clovers and herbs. Another option is to stitch it into existing pasture on its own at 15kg/ha.
Cropmark says seed is limited this spring.
Kokomo fodder beet
New from Cropmark is Kokomo, a low – medium drymatter mono-germ variety with the latest fodder beet genetics.
It will be available to the New Zealand market this season.
Kokomo has a large red, tankard-shaped bulb that sits about 50% above the ground, which gives livestock the ability to access it.
The bulb delivers a drymatter range of 14-16% and the plant has a large top growth to balance out the bulb’s nutrition.
Kokomo fits in between the traditional low DM and medium DM bulb types.
It offers bulb percentage out of the ground and bulb softness coupled with strong drymatter yield potential.
Other benefits are good disease resistance and bolting tolerance. The crop can be grazed in-situ by all stock types, even younger stock
Cropmark says the new cultivar has been consistently high yielding in all onfarm trials to date.
Seed is pelletised and coated with insecticide and/or fungicide-only options. It is available in handy 50,000-seed units.
