Forage Grasses

Clearly, grass for grazing and/or silage must represent the cornerstone of any home-produced feed policy and to be successful here you need to know that your existing grass leys are up to the task required of them. Unfortunately, many grass fields in the UK are now drastically beyond their ‘use-by' dates and both annual yield and quality will have been seriously compromised as a result of the ingress of weed grasses, general sward damage and other factors.

For those fields which have been identified as needing urgent attention there are several options. In some cases a worthwhile improvement can be made through an overseeding programme. In other cases it will make much more financial sense to plough out the old grass and begin again with a brand new mixture.

The financial benefits associated with grass reseeding projects are quite remarkable.  For example, independent experts say that the introduction of new varieties can (over 5 years) boost grass production from permanent pasture by £2,000/ha after typical reseeding costs!  If you would like more information on this aspect of grass reseeding then email us (info@limagrain.co.uk) and put the words “Recommended Grass & Clover Lists” in the subject box.  We will then email you a PDF file of this informative technical publication.

We market two major brands of grass/clover mixtures - Monarch and Sinclair McGill. The former is widely available throughout the UK whereas the Sinclair McGill range is only available through Distributors selected for their expertise in grassland management.

It is very important to stress that both our branded grass/clover mixtures are formulated using varieties from the relevant recommended lists for England & Wales (NIAB HVG), the SAC in Scotland and the recommended lists for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This is your assurance that every mixture has the genetic potential to deliver outstanding levels of performance.

With Monarch or Sinclair McGill mixtures at the centre of your grass production plan you can look forward to more productive grazing and repeated cuts of high quality grass - followed by that all-important reduction in your purchased feed commitments. If you click on the appropriate drop down menu on the left you can obtain more detailed information on each of these long established brands.

It is also worth noting that we have spearheaded the revival of interest in leguminous crops - notably red and white clover. This is an important development because both these crops ‘fix' atmospheric nitrogen and the rising price of purchased fertiliser (and environmental factors) makes this a highly valuable characteristic. There are also important nutritional benefits associated with these clovers. To make these two legumes even more ‘user-friendly' we have introduced the concept of biologically treated pelleted clover.

A recent innovation in our grass portfolio is the Matrix concept.  This exciting development centres on Matrix Enhanced® Ryegrass which is an inter-generic hybrid consisting of 80% diploid pasture perennial ryegrass and 20% meadow fescue. This new grass has many benefits including up to 3 weeks extra grazing in both the spring and autumn. You can find out more by clicking on the relevant PDF button at the top of the page.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that we are one of the founder members of the grassright group which is dedicated to helping livestock farmers to get more from their leys. There is an excellent publication called "Best Practice Grassland Management" which can be downloaded from this page.