—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 24, 1998
56
Robert Chaapel, district sales manager for Seedway, center, talks about
the many advantages of festulollum for Intensive grazing.
New Hybrid Grass
A Hit On Milton Farm
JUDY PATTON
Union Co. Correspondent
MILTON (Northumberland Co.)
to spread the word about a recently de
veloped hybrid grass festulolium
Penn State extension forage spe
cialist Dave Hartman held a pasture
walk in June at Max DeHart’s farm
near Milton.
Seedway district sales manager
Robert Chaapel and farm manager
Jack Smith provided information on
festulolium to fanners who attended.
A cross between meadow fescue
and perennial tetraploid ryegrass,
Chaapel said the festulolium has be
come a top-seller in his 12-county dis
trict because of its many advantages,
even though it is more expensive then
orchardgrass. The intensive grazing
mix using festulolium costs about $5O
per acre to establish, whereas cheaper
mixes run about $3O to $3B. It is used
more for grazing in a two- or three
year rotation cycle than for haying.
Chaapel said.
Since festulolium was developed in
northern Europe, where the climate is
similar to Pennsylvania’s, it holds up
well over winter. Its deep root system
Jack Smith, farm manager, right, and Max DeHart, farm owner, also talked
about this orchardgrass pasture.
makes it very adaptable to hilly
ground with shallow topsoil common
to this area. It has faster regrowth and
a longer grazing season than perennial
tyegrass even in dry periods, accord
ing to Seedway literature.
High payability and nutritive val
ue are also trademarks of festulolium.
It maintains large leaves and small,
soft stems even in the reproductive
stage, which means that animals eat
more of it and get more nutrients with
less fiber. The two-year means yields
average 5.62 tons of dry matter per
acre with 27.9 percent ADF, 50 per
cent NDF, and 131.2 percent relative
feed value (RFV).
Seedway’s custom mix for the De-
Hart Farm included 30 percent festu
lolium, 20 percent orchardgrass, 17
percent Haygrazer alfalfa, 15 percent
ryegrass, and 6 percent alsike clover.
The recommended seeding rate in 25
pounds per acre. Seedway recom
mends using 150 pounds of nitrogen
per acre per year for fertilizer, 30 per
cent applied in the spring and the rest
evenly split after each harvesting. It is
also recommended to pasture when
(Turn to Page 18)
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I\EWHOLLAI\D
DEALER FOR DEPENDABLE
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rn. Pi
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RD 1, Box 255 A
717-259-6617
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RD 1, Rte. 934
717-867-2211
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Rt. 283 - Rheem’s
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352 N. Jennersville Rd
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301-791-1200
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401-658-5568
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