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Complementary Forage Systems for Profitable Livestock Production

Editorial Team March 27, 2020 Brassicas, Forage pasture, Grazing, Pacific Northwest, PGG Seeds
Forage brassicas
Pivot of forage brassicas

Forage brassicas play a key role in the success and profitability of perennial pastures.  As a Complementary Forage System (CFS), brassicas extend the grazing season and forage quality beyond pasture-only scenarios. Warm and cool season perennial pastures exhibit yearly declines in quality and energy. Liveweight gains and milk production suffer, and feeding grain supplements is problematic.  A yearly rotation of forage brassicas into a pasture system, 25- 30% of the farm, supplies high energy forage at a very low cost, while increasing overall dry matter production and distribution.   It is also a cultural mechanism to renovate soil as it reduces off-farm rents and supplemental feeding.  Using forage brassicas to supplement a perennial pasture, as part of a Complementary Forage System, is inherently regenerative and profitable.

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PGG Seeds Partners with Ioka Farms & Marketing

Editorial Team February 6, 2020 Brassicas, Cool Season, Forage pasture, Grazing, Herbs, PGG Seeds, United States (US)
Murray Kelly, PGG Wrightson, Seed Production Research Program Leader, and Doug Duerst, Ioka Farms, VP of Field Crop Production
Murray Kelly, PGG Wrightson, Seed Production Research Program Leader, and Doug Duerst, Ioka Farms, VP of Field Crop Production

Since 2003, Ioka Marketing has handled the distribution and promotion of PGG Seeds cultivars in the United States and Canada. In those beginning years, Ioka worked with Pyne Gould Guinness Limited of New Zealand and their Oregon-based contract agronomist and forage and pasture expert, John Snider. A shared vision of business ideals, practices, and standards made the partnership beneficial for both companies. PGG Seeds’ products are backed by years of breeding, on-farm trials, and agronomic support. Ioka saw this as a strategic position to offer premium forage and cover crop seeds to the U.S. market. During this time, Ioka handled the storage and logistics of the product line, coordinating imports and distribution to dealers and end-users.

In 2005, Pyne Gould Guinness was bought by Wrightson Limited and the two companies came together as PGG Wrightson Limited. The PGG Seeds marketing channel was kept post-merger and Ioka continued to increase distribution by partnering and marketing with choice seed companies within the United States.

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Overseed Herbs

Editorial Team February 4, 2020 Chicory, Cool Season, Forage pasture, Grazing, Herbs, Overseed, Plantain
Pasture salad

Forage herbs are a hidden gem within pasture mixes and offer a wide range of options. They are easy to grow, rich in minerals and elements, add diversity to the system, and are selectively grazed over other species.

A key limitation of pasture systems is periodic imbalances in dry matter production. These are forage gaps during certain times of year, most commonly summer and winter. By introducing specialized forage species that thrive during these gaps may help lengthen the grazing season and provide higher quality forage, meaning greater animal production.

Overseeding pastures in the spring with herbs, such as chicory and plantain, can quickly improve pasture productivity and quality for summer grazing.

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Grazing For All Animals, Great and Small

Editorial Team December 4, 2019 Cool Season, Forage pasture, Grazing, One50, Pacific Northwest
Onefifty Pivot May
Dave McDonald’s yearling cattle grazing in Brooks, Oregon pasture.

The beauty of sunlight is that it’s free. When you can convert sunlight into a sellable product, at the lowest cost per acre, you make a living. When you convert sunlight into feed for livestock and remediate an industrial food processing facility’s “waste” water, we all profit.

One of the dilemmas of any food chain can be too much of a good thing in one place. Today, it’s not just about our complex and high density food production system. Problems have risen due to our cultural evolution and how it relates to food, food production, and the subsequent waste.

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Cool Season Cultivars for Grazing

Editorial Team October 12, 2019 Cool Season, Forage pasture, Grazing, Southern Plains

Grazing to finish cattle requires similar, if not higher quality nutrition, as in a feedlot. For cattle to grade “Choice”, they require an unending supply of digestible, high energy feed. The foundation of any grazing system of this nature is a cool season grass, legume, and forb pasture.

Atom Prairie Grass in Kansas
Atom Prairie Grass in Kansas

With hot, wet weather across the southern US, warm season plants have historically been a standby. They supply a bulk of feed and persistence, year after year. However, a C4, or warm season pasture, cannot supply the energy requirement needed to finish beef in a grass-fed system during the colder growing season.

Until recently, cool season pastures have not persisted on the limited irrigation or dryland of the Southern Plains or Pacific Southwest. PGG Seeds introduces a portfolio of endophyte free, cool season plant material suited for grazing-to-finish systems.

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