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'Fast Spring Rye perfect as a forage crop'
Fast Spring Rye is a unique product from the hybrid rye breeding of KWS and has many applications and advantages. For example, the cultivation of hybrid rye has a favourable effect on soil fertility, which has a positive influence on the subsequent crop. The crop also profiles itself as a real protein producer with its high dry matter and protein yield, making it perfect for harvesting as a forage crop.
Dairy farmer Willem Ard Reijm from Dronten (Flevoland) sowed and harvested Fast Spring Rye last season and is happy to talk about his experiences with this hybrid rye.
Tasty fodder crop
With 125 dairy cows, the demand for good roughage is high on Willem Ard Reijm's farm. In order to provide sufficient quality feed for his cows, he decided three years ago to switch to Snelle Lente Rye as an intercrop. Willem Ard: "The cows love rye. It is clean and tasty and also has good digestibility and a better passage speed than other, traditional rye. I am also very pleased with the good feed value."
Because Fast Spring Rye is characterized by more tillering (stems) per plant and develops very quickly immediately after sowing and especially in early spring, a lot of mass can be achieved. When harvested in April, the hybrid rye with 4.000 to 5.000 kilos of dry matter and 16% to 18% protein (on average) yields a significantly higher dry matter yield than conventional cut rye, triticale and Italian ryegrass. "I harvested the crop this year in mid-April and had a yield between 4 and 5 tons of dry matter, an excellent result," says Willem Ard.
Accessible cultivation with a positive effect on subsequent cultivation
In addition to the feed value yield, the cultivation of Fast Spring Rye has other attractive advantages according to Willem Ard. "It is a very accessible crop", Willem Ard explains. "I always sow the crop around the end of September/beginning of October, without applying any specific fertilization prior to cultivation; I usually loosen the land with the cultivator, after which Fast Spring Rye can be sown directly. Only in the spring I still apply 300 kilos of KAS as nitrogen fertilizer. There is also no need for weed control. The crop is therefore very easy to grow and not very labor-intensive, but I find it even more important that the weeds on my plot are suppressed. Because the crop is dense quickly, weeds do not stand a chance and in the spring the hybrid rye does not come back after mowing or working in. All these properties ensure a healthy soil from which the subsequent cultivation benefits perfectly!"
Would you like more information about Fast Spring Rye?
Then look at the KWS website or contact your seed supplier or KWS advisor.
