Dairy related testimonials...
Roderick Hayman
Otaio, South Canterbury
"They will go into AberMagic with a grazing cover of 3,300 (kg
drymatter per hectare) and just hoover through it. They graze it to
the boards and are nearly eating the soil. I have yet to see that
happen with another grass.I have never had to re-graze or mow the
Aber grass. I haven't cut it for silage yet because it doesn't bolt
and then go rank. It's a very easy grass to manage."
John Metherell
Balclutha, South Otago
"Our cows are more content and prefer AberDart. It stays
vegetative and persists well. We have experience with other grasses
which cows are reluctant to eat. AberDart gets nine out of 10 for
persistence."
Clyde Douglas
Oamaru
"The cows like the AberDart and chew it out nicely without
leaving clumps behind, and it's kept its colour and quality. After
a very dry autumn the high sugar grass bounced back with no dead
spots and without being opened up by grass grub."
Stuart Roy
South Otago
"I have had increases of 500 litres from 260 cows on AberDart
per day and milksolid increases of 42 kg/MS/day. There are a lot of
grasses to choose from but AberDart is in a class of its own."
Warren Berry
Nelson
"Aber High Sugar Grass has lifted milk production by 1 to 1.5
litres per cow, per milking. Until you see the milk increase you
would think it's a bit of waffle but the cows love this grass.
AberDart and AberMagic are now the predominant ryegrasses used for
all pasture renewal"
Harry Koopmans
Methven, Canterbury
"Milksolids production on 100ha of AberDart is $1,200 more per
ha annually in comparison with other areas in other cultivars and
there is no production difference between 6 year old and 2 year old
AberDart. I'm confident we will get 10 years out of it."
Duncan Barr
Canterbury
"Within 12 hours of the cows grazing the High Sugar Grass, the
milk volume increased by 2-3 litres per cow a day, with a
corresponding lift of 50-60 kg milk solids. The cows are doing the
talking."
Brian Hiestand
Taranaki
"AberDart is the best new variety I've seen in 30 years, cows
are content, graze it to the ground, produce more milksolids and
are no longer troubled by bloat. We trial new grasses regularly but
with the herd's response to the High Sugar perennial, all our
resowing will be with AberDart."
Kevin Fleming
Opunake
"I can't fault it. They graze it harder and leave nothing
behind. The AberDart took a real hiding when they calved on those
paddocks but it bounced back. It's been out-growing the paddocks
around it, which include some other new ryegrasses we've been
trying, and we will keep putting it in for all our pasture
renewal."
Greg Meadows
Canterbury
"There is no question about palatability or digestion. Milk
production goes up when the cows go onto AberDart and drops when
they come off. They'd sooner be in a bare AberDart paddock than
knee deep in something else."
Grant Paterson
Dunedin
"All our regrassing (on 20 farms) is with AberHSG from now on
because it's a better quality grass and we are sick of grasses that
don't last. The feedback is that the cows graze it better and
little or no topping is required. We don't want a fruit salad of
grasses constantly changing. We want to keep it simple and go for
what works."
Peter Erb
Southland
"We have sown 130 ha in AberDart and AberMagic so far and will
be resowing all 800 ha in Aber High Sugar Grass. It's obvious the
cows prefer the high sugar grass, usually the cows start heading to
the gate when they hear the bike coming but when in the AberDart
you have to go in and bring them out."
