Have you wondered which ryegrass cultivar your sheep prefer?  Stevens Seeds Ltd conducted a trial which may give some answers.

In April 2006, 23 cultivars of ryegrass, including Gromore, Gromore Plus, Boxmore and Grazmore of Stevens Seeds Ltd, were replicated 4 times drilled in 12 metre strips.  Over the year production has been monitored with half of the  trial area being cut and dry matter tested and half the area being grazed with sheep given equal access.  The area was grazed until the most preferred were hard grazed then residual covers were measured to indicate the most preferred.  This was scored on a 0 – 4000 scale with 4000 being the most preferred with the least residual cover.  Preference along with total DM production gives a good indication of overall performance of the cultivar in a commercial situation. NOTE  When looking at Tabu and Marabella  DM production it appears these may be more suited to cattle grazing than sheep.

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