David Scott  Feilding

"It's going in because the milk vat goes up by an extra 100 to 200 litres whenever the cows come in off AberMagic.

It's good, thick pasture and the stock like it. They come in (to the dairy) full in the guts but in other paddocks they leave a lot behind because it's not as palatable."

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."

David Bielski Mount Linton Station, Southland, NZ

"It's an awesome ryegrass . it seems to be the silver bullet for us as far as finishing lambs.

On AberMagic in early March they went from 35kg to 38.7kg in nine days (averaging 411g/day) and on AberDart went from 28.5kg to 38.4kg over 24 days (412g/day).

It's going into 400ha this summer and we plan to sow more each year."

Andy Renton  Masterton

"The lambs thrive on it. There's no staggers and they stay clean.

I was surprised by the killing data from the works. It showed our meat yield was about four percent higher at 56-to-58 percent of liveweight for the bulls and it was a similar story for the lambs."

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."

Barry Griffin  Waikura Station, East Cape

"We regrassed 54ha of flat paddocks and will put more in. The AberDart took off in early spring and just kept growing right through.

It amazed me the way we could keep putting on more hoggets and the grass was still bolting. Bloody magic.

We have been impressed with its density and the way the clover comes through, which I believe has kept moisture in the soil."

In three zero-grazing trials involving early, mid and late lactation animals, IBERS found the amount of feed nitrogen lost in the urine was reduced by up to 24% from animals fed the HSG variety.

Other research has indicated a similar effect, as in a three-year AgResearch trial in New Zealand where cows on a diet of AberDart had almost half the rumen ammonia measured in cows fed two other modern ryegrasses.

Jon Bansen  Oregon, USA

"We have been planting the HSGs for several years on our dairy. It has proven to be very persistent, productive and a cow favourite.
It has even produced well during the hot months. Our latest planting in a field that is usually a four feeding field has been extended to a five feeding field. When the cows go into that field, they have gone up in milk every time this grazing season.
Not only are we getting an extra 12 hours graze from the field but much more milk per acre when we graze the field."

Adrian Joynt  Walford and North Shropshire College, England

"The pasture consistently raising the milk level in the bulk tank was a mix of AberHSG and a compatible white clover. Production increased by 1.5 litres per cow per day when the college farm's 200-cow Friesian herd grazed AberHSG pasture."

DR DOO-HONG MIN  Ph.D. Agronomy, Forage Specialist, Upper Peninsular Experiment Station, Michigan State University, USA

"I rated the high sugar ryegrass stands today and looks pretty good. I was surprised to see these high sugar perennial ryegrasses had survived the third winter here in the Upper Peninsular. Amazing!"

Fidel Hardegger  Warea, Taranaki

"We planted eight hectares of AberDart and it bolted in spring and came through the drought as five beautiful, even paddocks.

My biggest reason definitely is that AberDart pasture isn't pulling. It's like a mat in thickness, which means the cows must be getting more grass."

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."

AberHSG is the first commercially available high sugar grass, the most tested and the most proven in diverse farm environments.
AberHSG ryegrasses are the result of plant breeding excellence that took 20 years to develop a robust and more digestible ryegrass that increases the nitrogen use efficiency of livestock.

AberHSG cultivars have a greater content of water soluble carbohydrate (WSC), or sugar, to boost microbial activity in the rumen (stomach) during grass digestion.
The impact on cattle, sheep and deer is they can convert more grass protein into more meat, more milk.

In NZ, AgResearch reported AberDart has 7-to-13% more WSC overall than two other modern ryegrass cultivars during a three-year trial.
In the UK, the perennials AberDart and AberMagic continue to shine in independent pasture trials run by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany.

Patrick Morresey  Dargaville

"Despite our third 100-year drought the hoggets grazing AberDart and AberMagic look surprisingly bonny.

On the west ridge it was sown seven years ago and is still good pasture while another ryegrass up there has almost all gone.

As a trial we have sown AberDart directly into sprayed out kikuyu and in its second year still looked good."