- High winter production
- High forage quality, particularly in late spring/summer
- Improved persistence over other italians
Combines the productivity benefits of an italian with
the quality benefits of later maturing perennial
ryegrass.
MAVERICK GOLD is a persistent, hybrid ryegrass with extremely
high forage quality in the late spring and summer period. It has
no perennial ryegrass endophyte and therefore will not have any
adverse animal production effects.
Where summer rainfall is reliable it will provide good production
for a number of years. It can out yield other earlier maturity
italian ryegrass cultivars in late districts or under irrigation. Its
quality for late silage, hay and summer grazing is far superior to
other italian ryegrass due to its very leafy re-growth.
Animal Performance
In a beef finishing trial at Gundagai (sown 4/5/99), the cattle
grazing Maverick (1388 kg LWG/ha) produced 116 kg/ha or
9% more liveweight gain than those grazing Flanker (1272 kg
LWG/ha) over a 13 month period.
At current beef price of $1.85 per kg, this would result in an extra
$215 per ha return.
This result was similar to a lamb finishing trial in New Zealand,
where Maverick (972 kg LWG/ha) produced 11% more lamb
liveweight gain than Flanker (867 kg LWG/ha) over 3 seasons in
2000-01.
What the producers say...
Stephen Randall, Bamawm, VIC
Stephen, who confesses that he and his Holstein Friesians are “big
ryegrass fans”, has been using Maverick Gold for at least five years as
part of this strategy. “We like it for its heat tolerance,” he said. “Anyone around here can
grow ryegrass in the spring but getting it to grow in summer, with
temperatures often reaching the low forties, can be difficult because with
these clay loam soils it’s hard to keep the moisture in the soil. “Maverick Gold hangs on better into the summer than any ryegrass I’ve
seen.”
Anthony Guerra, dairy producer, Waaia VIC
“The Maverick has worked well - we had our first grazing in 6-7 weeks,”
said Anthony. “We had two winter grazings and four spring grazings.”
“When the cows came off the Maverick area back onto old pastures they
dropped 200 litres over 230 cows for the first milking”.
Peter Bischoff, dairy producer, Beaudesert QLD
“Maverick Gold is absolutely excellent...There is no sense planting a
lesser ryegrass, because by the end of spring it would be all stalks and
seed heads. But the Maverick was still performing here in mid December.
It hangs on the longest and produces high quality feed.”
Noel and Jennifer van Rijthoven, dairy producers, Mt Gambier SA “The cows just love Maverick Gold - it is a beautiful textured grass and
whether it is flowering or not, the cows will still eat it. I have a lot of
different grasses growing and it has to be one of the favourites”.
David Hewlett wool and lamb producer, Yass NSW
A star performer on the Hewletts’ property has been Maverick Gold
hybrid ryegrass which has quite simply astounded David. “We saw Maverick Gold on a trip to New Zealand a few years ago and
were so impressed with it that we decided to put in 20 ha. It has been
extraordinary - in terms of the way it has grown and what we have been
able to carry on it”.
BEEF LIVEWEIGHT GAIN TRIAL, GUNDAGAI MAY 1999 - JUNE
|
