Why livestock producers should rethink grass types

• Consider more resilient grass varieties

• Drought summers more frequent

• Fescues better for deeper roots

Over-reliance on fast-growing ryegrass varieties that head quickly and then deteriorate rapidly could be contributing to forage shortages experienced by many growers.

Grass mixes based on high yielding but shallow rooting varieties are popular with milk producers wanting to maximise silage yields. But they could be doing the exact opposite says Jim Juby of forage specialists Horizon Seeds.

“Apart from the odd difficult year, ironically largely because of high rainfall in spring and early summer, ryegrass-based grazing and silage mixes have been the backbone of grass production over the last 20-30 years.”

Much of the conventional approach to grassland management has been based around these types of mixes with multi-cut silage probably being the most extreme example of how their characteristics can be utilised to the full, says My Juby

“But the last five years have signalled the start of very different growing conditions for grassland in the UK with climatologists largely agreeing conditions typified by earlier summer droughts will be more common in the future.

“With that in mind, producers in the worst hit parts of the country would be well advised to think if their choice of grass varieties is now contributing to their problems and, if so, how they could adjust this to add greater protection against climate risks in the future.

“For many years we have been encouraging the more livestock-focused farmers to consider fescues in their mix as they are a lot more accommodating if your management is not always spot on.

“But now with other factors in play such as drier conditions, fescues, festuloliums and other more persistent grasses have valuable properties for all producers wanting to build greater resilience into their productio

Big advantages

Deeper roots, extended heading periods and a longer time after heading before plants deteriorate significantly are just a few significant advantages, according to Stuart Eglington of Horizon Seeds.

“The roots of ryegrass typically don’t extend much beyond the first six inches of soil and without regular rainfall they are unable to reach the vital ground water further down the soil profile.

Fescues and festuloliums on the other hand put deep roots down, says Mr Eglington. While they might be slower to establish, they keep growing unchecked in extended periods of low rainfall and are ultimately a lot more tolerant of drought.

“We’ve seen fescue roots going down to a one-metre depth and more – and this is invaluable when you consider the types of year we have had recently.

“You can easily get two to three cuts of fescue-based swards even in fairly droughty years – in stark contrast to last year when many producers took a first cut and that was it until they were able to take a couple of cuts in the autumn, which ended up saving many.”

Fescues and festuloliums also head over a longer period and take longer to deteriorate than ryegrasess, says Mr Eglington. They are easier to manage, particularly if bad weather or other factors mean grass can’t be cut at the optimum moment.

“A high yielding ryegrass can be almost like straw within a week of heading whereas as a good fescue will probably take up to four weeks to reach the same stage. In good grass growing area a fescue-based mix should produce 60-70% of a ryegrass based one.

“But the gamble is are you better of being able to rely on this every year than lose everything in the years when the more variable conditions, that are becoming more common, really take hold.”