Agronomy and productivity of forage rotations

Results: 

The final report includes:

• Presentation of key crop factors and costs
• Examples of crop rotations
• Stock feed requirements guide
• Summary sheet

The Problem:

Homegrown forage crops provide enormous potential for farmers to reduce their feed costs, but achieving the benefits from these crops depends on being able to achieve good yields and manage crop rotations wisely to ensure enough of the required types of forages are valuable to meet livestock requirements.

Project Aims:

To report the potential of a selection of grazed and conserved crops to optimise the overall forage production and feed quality within livestock systems.

Approach:

This report considers the range of crops available to farmers and how they might best fit within a rotation to provide the required supply of nutrients whilst at the same time considering the agronomic factors that will affect yield and therefore cost per tonne DM.