• Grazing Management

  Ryegrass Recovery in Spring

  Posted by Mark Tupman on 05/11/2024 at 2:46 pm

  Hey Folks,

  On the topic of “Grazing in Spring in a Mediterranean Environment”, I’ve taken a couple of pics from my green season grazing paddocks to illustrate what adequate recovery of ryegrass, prior to seed set, looks like.

  One pic shows some ryegrass going to seed in spring, before it has reached 3 leaf stage. In this case we would preferably avoid grazing it for the rest of the season, as it wouldn’t be able to recover and replenish reserves before bolting to seed. If it was grazed now, subsequent regrowth would be scant and mostly consist of stalky growth. Not good for forage or soil cover over summer.

  The other photo is of a ryegrass plant that has adequately recovered and is now in the booting stage before the seed head has emerged. This plant has the energy reserves needed to put on some good regrowth after a graze, before setting seed. When ryegrass is at this stage it’s the perfect time to bring the stock back to the priority grazing paddock for one last spring graze event. By grazing recovered ryegrass at booting we allow more light to hit the base and encourage the growth of new tillers.

  

  

  Mark Tupman replied 1 month, 2 weeks ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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