- High yielding tetraploid annual ryegrass
- Quick producer of winter feed
- Low rust for northern climates
- Improved late season quality over Tetila
Annual ryegrass benchmark for fast winter feed and
high winter/spring production.
WINTER STAR is a tetraploid annual ryegrass selected under
northern Australian growing conditions at Gatton QLD.
It establishes very quickly in either broadcast or sown situations
and in trials to date has always been one of the highest winter
producing cultivars.
It has excellent rust tolerance and will provide one extra grazing
over Tetila with improved late season quality.
WINTER STAR offers an ideal sowing option for early feed.
Results from a beef liveweight gain trial at Gundagai NSW
indicated that Winter Star ryegrass is a superior feed option when
compared with oats.
Winter Star was sown at 25kg/ha, the oats at 100kg/ha, each
sown with a 3kg/ha mix of Haifa white and Bolta balansa
clovers.
Under rotational grazing the Winter Star managed 9 grazings at 4
steers per ha, where the oats could only be grazed during periods 1,
2, 4, 6 & 8 (effectively 2.7 steers per ha).
What the producers say...
Lismore dairy farmers Ken and Kendal Bryant, Lismore NSW
The bryants have found the perfect economic solution for their farming
enterprise - more pasture for cows to graze equals more money for their
business. “You get more milk at a lower cost if the cows graze on pastures instead
of being grain and silage/hay fed and if the pasture is of a high quality,
we get more milk from each cow,” Ken said.
“We’ve tried many varieties, but we’ve been very impressed with Winter
Star and will probably plant more next year."
Charlie and Lizzie de Fegely, Ararat VIC
“The Winter Star allows us to lamb later which means we can run more
ewes and increase the number of lambs we produce per hectare - and
then we've got these fantastic pastures to finish them on. “Last year (2004), we weaned the lambs on to the Winter Star on
December 7, and we had them growing at 350 grams per day right up
until January 7, which was fantastic,” Charlie said. “It took lambs that weren’t quite right in terms of market specifications to
being well over the specified weight in a month - that’s worth a fortune
to us.”
Richard and Leonie Banks, Kojunup WA
“It’s so far in front of the other pastures it’s not funny. By early December
after cutting and grazing it was still 300 mm high.”
Richard intended utilising the Winter Star regrowth to finish off calves,
contracted interstate, either side of Christmas. “And once the calves come off, I’m considering putting the 2005 drop
lambs on the Winter Star for two or three days.”
Tim Scott, Esperance WA
Tim said the paddock was stocked with sheep including 250 ewes and
lambs at foot from six weeks after sowing and was found to be
continually persistent after grazing. “The paddock was also stocked with 70 cows and calves in early
September, but the feed continually got away from us,” Tim said.
The paddock was also used to feed around 80-90 weaners before they
went to sale. “Although weather conditions were ideal this year, Winter Star has shown
an incredible carrying capacity and forage production,” he said. “Even though the paddock was grazed fairly hard by the sheep and
cattle, we were still able to get 440 bales of cut hay off 50 ha,” Tim said.
Tim said one of the cost benefits of using Winter Star has been its ability
to take some of the pressure off other pasture paddocks. Winter Star, a
quick producer of winter feed, also lived up to its name as Tim found the
pasture to be persistent over the warmer months of July and August.
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