The rain has finally arrived in the South East after nearly 8 weeks without any significant rainfall. Unfortunately, the dry spell has led to soil moisture deficits of up to 100ml in places and this will take time to replenish. This will delay any recovery in grass growth rates and there will likely be no decent covers to graze for another couple of weeks at the earliest.

In the meantime winter silage stocks are being used to fill the forage gap. While there is plenty of winter forage on farms now, at the current usage rate many farms will come under pressure next spring if covers haven’t built up over winter or weather conditions are too bad for turnout. There are a couple of ways to fill this feed deficit. Farmers can hope to buy silage next spring from areas with surplus, or compensate with extra purchased concentrates, or they can sow a fast growing grass crop now for a cheaper solution to any forage shortage next spring.

Westerwolds is an annual ryegrass and is the highest yielding species in the ryegrass family. It is very fast to establish and can produce a crop of silage in just 12 weeks from a spring sowing. This rapid establishment makes Westerwolds ideal for a late autumn sowing where it can germinate and establish as late as October and produce a crop for grazing or cutting very early the following spring.

It is the only grass to produce a seedhead in its first year and for this reason care must be taken to avoid early heading through grazing or cutting. If Westerwolds is allowed to seed on your farm it can become a nuisance! In terms of feed value, Westerwolds can be just as nutritious as perennial ryegrass when cut or grazed and produce significant yields.

Its real value is that this valuable feed will be available to graze from February and cut in March – ideal for farmers with a spring forage deficit. Per kg/DM Westerwolds costs about €0.07c to grow – this is over half the cost of first cut grass silage (based on Teagasc figures).