LeaStrain Grass Seed

Why Leastrain Grass Seed??

• Quality mixtures
• Designed with the end user in mind
• Established and trusted brand. (you know exactly what’s in every bag of seed)
• Access to the very latest in grass seed technology
• High levels of customer support
• Long term supplier relationship

Species Summary

• Early Perennial only for early bite or early first cut silage but not in late areas
• Intermediate and Late Perennials best suited to most farm situations
• Late Perennials very dense and good for grazing
• Hybrid ryegrass is one of the grasses of the future and much better than Italian
• Festuloliums (Ryegrass Plus) for difficult, stressful situations and longer seasons
• Timothy great grass for cool wet conditions particularly for bulk on beef and sheep farms and where hay is the main fodder
• Cocksfoot only in drought conditions
• White clover for nitrogen and feed value but leaf size to suit purpose
• Red clover for high yielding short term cutting mixtures and rapid N fixation

SPECIES in more detail:

Tetraploid/Diploid

• Present in all species of Ryegrass
• Perennial
• Italian
• Hybrid
• Different genetic makeup to Diploids (twice as many chromosomes)
• Large seed and aggressive establishment
• Bigger plants (They always look better)
• Broader leaves which have a higher moisture content
• Slightly higher yielding
• Less dense than diploids with more upright growth with fewer tillers
• Deep rooting and better suited to dry conditions
• High sugar content and so are very palatable and good for silage

Italian Ryegrass

• Short lived but high yielding
• 2 production years
• Good early spring, late summer and autumn growth
• Relatively late heading (same as Intermediate Perennials)
• Combines early bite and leafy first cut
• Relatively poor forage quality

Hybrid Ryegrass

• Maximum 3 production years
• Cross between Italian and Perennial Ryegrass
• Combines the advantages of Italian with the benefits of Perennial
• Italian benefits
• high yield
• good early spring and autumn growth
• Perennial benefits
• winter hardiness and persistency
• forage quality

Festulolium

• Greater stress tolerances than a Hybrid, Italian or Perennial Ryegrass
• Improved disease resistance
• Better persistency
• Varieties include:
• Becva Short Term Italian Type
• Perun Italian Type
• Perseus Italian Type
• Lofa Hybrid Type
• Hi-Past Perennial Type
• Fojtan Perennial Type –Brand new grazing type!!!
• Hykor Fescue Type

Early Perennial Ryegrass

• Heading dates – 6 May to 16 May
• Start spring growth early in the year (about 2 weeks earlier than Intermediate and Late Perennials)
• Good for early bite for sheep
• Good for early silage cuts
• Heads quickly after an early graze
• Bad for late silage cuts (heads too early)
• Bad in late areas / high altitude (head early with no bulk)

Intermediate Perennial Ryegrass

• Heading dates -18 May to 31 May
• Slower to start growing in early spring than Early Perennials
• Similar annual yields
• Similar first cut yields but 2 weeks later
• Suits most farms except where early bite is required
• Makes up the biggest proportion of cutting mixtures
• One of the most important groups of grass seed 

Late Perennial Ryegrass

• Heading dates in -30 May to 15 June
• Slower to start growing in early spring than Intermediate Perennials and much slower than Early Perennials
• Similar annual yields
• Dense prostrate growth giving good sward density
• Particularly good for long term grazing
• One of the most important groups of grass seed

Timothy

• Very winter hardy
• Thrives under cold and wet conditions
• Good early spring growth
• Relatively late heading 13 to 26 June (same as Late Perennials)
• High yielding
• Very palatable but poorer forage quality than Ryegrass
• Very good for producing bulk for beef and sheep particularly in later areas and for hay making

White Clover

• Very palatable and animals eat more of a higher quality feed and do better as a result
• Deep rooting with creeping growth habit (stolon’s)
• Nitrogen fixing root nodules can fix up to 160 units N per acre per year
• Poor competitor with grass as it is sensitive to shading
• Performs well in drought situations and in mid summer through to autumn
• Classified into 3 categories according to leaf size
• Small leaved = grazing
• Medium leaved = dual purpose
• Large leaved = cutting
• Optimum pH 5.8 –6.5 and relatively high demand for P & K
• Does not like permanently wet conditions

Red Clover

• Relatively large seeds and aggressive establishment
• Very high yielding with erect growth habit
• Deep rooting from tap root
• Nitrogen fixing root nodules contribute more quickly than in white clover
• Very palatable, high protein and mineral content
• Primarily for cutting and lacks persistence under hard grazing
• Short lived 2 –3 years
• Relatively low in water soluble carbohydrate (grass sugars), so is best grown with high sugar varieties and species to help silage fermentation
• Oestrogen problem for breeding animals. It is best to avoid grazing with breeding sheep for 6 weeks prior to and 6 weeks after tupping

LeastrainMixture Purity

91.11% Less Weed Seeds per acre

Like Germination there is a minimum purity standard set for grass seed certification.

The standard still allows for large amounts of grassland weeds to be planted when a reseed takes place.

DLF ensure that Leastrain mixture purity far in exceeds the minimum standards required for seed certification.

For more information please phone 01270 782210