The Programmed Approach is back
Words: PGG Wrightson Seeds
Farming has many moving parts, but fundamental to a profitable pasture system in New Zealand is the need to grow and harvest homegrown feed.
Wayne Nichol. Midway, the new perennial ryegrass.
Underpinning the delivery of feed to meet livestock demand are grass and clover-based pastures.
Starting in spring this year, with follow through in autumn and beyond, PGG Wrightson Seeds has reintroduced the Programmed Approach which looks at an individual farm system and identifies where opportunities exist to improve livestock performance and then meet this shift in feed demand by utilising the various pasture, forage crop options and technologies within the PGG Wrightson Seeds portfolio.
“The difference is we look at the whole farm rather than just focusing on an individual paddock. It is a process of developing a sustainable long-term pasture and forage cropping plan that meets a system’s agronomic and nutritional requirements,” says Wayne Nichol, national technical manager for PGG Wrightson Seeds.
“We are running interactive seminars explaining the concept to our retail partners, which involves some new underlying concepts to illustrate what various product traits and technologies can offer to support these systems.”
For example, Midway, which is a new diploid early flowering perennial ryegrass with AR37 endophyte, has the early season dry matter production to help feed availability at lambing and calving time and also autumn performance to match the later flowering perennials, providing a more seasonal growth curve across the year.
To help recognise this growth, cultivars like Midway will be matched with one or, in the case of something like Midway, both of the two new brands being released as part of the Programmed Approach which are ‘CSA (cool season active)’ and ‘WSA (warm season active)’.
Both brands recognise products that can be grown and fed in-situ or continue growing during the cool or warm season periods of the year.
Alongside this, we need to also recognise the quality of the feed grown, especially during the summer months, so for products like Midway that are selected and have proven summer quality traits, we can add the new SQ (summer quality) logo.
It’s an easy way for retailers and farmers to select cultivars based on seasonal growth requirements and those that have proven to have quality differences.
Thus, a pasture mix with Midway may also include other SQ products, such as Quartz white clover and Amigain red clover.
Whereas if specialist forage crops are needed, then we can use WSA and CSA to help select the right fit of product and know for crops such as Sika chicory, clovers and forage brassicas such as Sarge kale and Pallaton Raphno brassica that they have proven production benefits as recognised by the SQ logo.
Introducing Midway
Midway is a diploid, mid-flowering perennial ryegrass, that could fit across any pasture-based system in New Zealand, especially where early spring growth is required.
A combination of high seasonal dry matter production and tiller density, excellent rust tolerance and selection for spring/ summer quality through reduced aftermath seed heading makes Midway an option for those farmers looking for an all-purpose grass with resilience and longevity.
Midway will add value to farmers who are looking for that early spring feed prior to and post lambing and calving but also strong pasture growth in the following seasons.
Strong, year-round dry matter production
Mid-season heading (Mid +3)
Strong persistence (AR37)
Selected for low aftermath heading
Strong rust tolerance.