Feed

Giant buttercup, one of 14 weedy Ranunculus species in New Zealand, is harmful to dairy pastures because cows find it distasteful due to its toxin, protoanemonin. This weed spreads across dairy farms, damaging pasture quality.

A pasture feed wedge is a tool that visually displays your farm's current pasture situation. By ranking your paddocks based on average pasture cover, it can help you make proactive decisions about pasture management.

Ryegrass selection for a dairy farm system involves key decisions: choosing the right ryegrass variety (from annual to perennial), picking an endophyte for insect control, and selecting ploidy (diploid or tetraploid) and a heading date.

Kale is a winter feed crop with a deep root system, making it drought-resistant. It's tolerant to many pests and is often grown after swedes due to its resistance to club root and dry rot.

Velvetleaf is a pest that affects crops, seen in fodder beet and maize crops nationwide. This weed can live on farms for up to 50 years and withstands digestion and silage methods.

Leaf stage, in ryegrass pasture management, is an indicator for optimal grazing times. Monitoring the leaf stage helps you understand when a paddock is ready for grazing and if your rotation length is suitable for current growth conditions.

Tall fescue is an alternative to perennial ryegrass, suitable where summer growth faces challenges like high soil temperatures or ryegrass doesn't last long. You can spot tall fescue by its broader, stiffer leaves and presence of more clover.

Lucerne is a perennial legume with a deep taproot, allowing it to tolerate moisture stress more than most pasture species. In NZ, most cultivars are winter dormant, but some newer ones grow earlier in spring and later in autumn.

Yellow bristle grass (YBG) is a pest plant harmful to pastures. This fast-spreading weed lowers pasture quality as cows avoid eating it. YBG spreads mainly through its seeds, which can move via dung, water, animals, or contamination in hay and maize.

Feed quality, often quantified as metabolisable energy (ME) per kilogram of dry matter (MJME/kg DM or M/D), is as crucial as feed quantity for dairy farming. High M/D value means better feed as it has more usable energy.