Grass Seed Mixtures: Maximise the Value of Your Grazing

Important Considerations when Deciding on Your Grass Mixture

• Identify your lowest performance paddocks for reseeding priority.
• Employ a grass mixture tailored to what your sward will be used for — e.g., grazing, silage, zero-grazing, one-cut and graze.
• Evaluate land/soil type and its baseline fertility.
• Ensure your mixture is on the ‘Irish Grass and Clover Recommended List’.
• Graze out — Grass variety that delivers 15T is of little use if your animals won’t eat it. Early spring graze-out to a low post-grazing height will prime your swards to produce more grass of a higher quality.
• Yield — When your variety grazes out well, you should aim to produce as much as possible to meet your farm’s needs.
• Quality — When you have determined your utilisable yield, you want it to be of the highest quality possible. The best gauge of quality will be your animals’ satisfaction when feeding and choosing the right grass mixture will ensure that.