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Assessment of contrasting perennial ryegrasses, with and without white clover, under continuous sheep stocking in the uplands
Author(s) -
DAVIES D. A.,
FOTHERGILL M.,
JONES D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1989.tb01943.x
Subject(s) - perennial plant , hectare , lolium perenne , trifolium repens , stocking , biology , agronomy , grassland , zoology , agriculture , ecology
Comparative sheep production from Aurora (very early‐flowering), Meltra (late‐flowering tetraploid) and Aberystwyth S23 (late‐flowering) perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.) varieties was assessed as both grass‐only (200 kg N ha −1 ) and grass‐white clover ( Trifolium repens L.) (75 kg N ha −1 ) swards under continuous stocking management. Beulah Speckled Face ewes and their Suffolk cross lambs were used from late April to mid‐July. From late July to early November only lambs grazed the pastures. Mean (1985–87) total annual lamb production per hectare from Aurora and Meltra was 16% and 13% more than that from S23. The magnitude of the differences between these varieties and S23 declined from the first to the third year. Aurora gave 29% more lamb output per hectare than S23 in 1985 but only 10% more in 1987, while the advantage of Meltra over S23 fell from 19% in 1985 to 6% in 1987. Seasonal lamb production per hectare varied between the grasses, especially during spring when lamb output from Aurora was 43% and 22% more than that from S23 and Meltra respectively, with that from the tetraploid being 17% higher than that from S23. It is concluded that the superior spring output from Aurora offers the farmer the opportunity to reduce his dependence on bought‐in feedstuffs, hence improving the efficiency and profitability of lamb production from grassland.