Dual-purpose, long season canola has become a staple in Adrian Roles’ grazing program at Young, providing him with a crop that can be grazed by livestock and still harvested later in the year.
Mr Roles, who runs a self-replacing Merino flock of 4000 ewes and precision ag business JMAJ Precision, said by using longer season canola varieties which grew well in high rainfall areas, farmers could get optimal use out of a single crop.
“It’s excellent feed for growing out lambs,” he said.
“The live-weight gain has been measured and we use an average of 300g/head per day gain, per lamb.
“We estimate grazing value at $300/ha.
“Grain recovery has also been excellent, with previous crops yielding above 2.5t/ha when grazed similarly.”
Mr Roles said his variety of choice, Hyola 970CL, supported high levels of set stocking for long periods.
“We have high numbers of livestock, so we need feed available in paddocks at the right times,” he said.
“Our last crop was grazed twice, and grazing was calculated at 40 grazing days.”
“It’s often the first crop we sow because of the earliness of the break.
“It’s a very long season area, so I like the maturity of Hyola 970CL as it minimises the potential of yield loss due to later frost events.
“Additionally, the canola allows us to rest valuable paddocks and push through low periods of productivity with the flexibility to graze paddocks very important.”
- Visit: www.pacificseeds.com.au.