Product Used: Bouncer Hybrid Forage Brassica
Bouncer hybrid forage brassica was used to finish Dorper lambs over the summer period on the property of Mike Sears, at Boisdale, in the Gippsland region of Victoria.
Mr Sears said it was the first time he had tried Bouncer and he was really pleased with the results with excellent feed across some very hot conditions.
Bouncer was sown in November last year to a 25 acre section, cut into smaller sized paddocks, and first stocked with 100 to 150 lambs prior to Christmas. The Dorper lambs would graze each section for seven to ten days before being moved onto the next area.
Mr Sears said the lambs were sold on the hook at 20 to 25 kilograms and performed particularly well on the Bouncer. “Without it we wouldn’t have been able to finish the lambs,” he said. The crop received a watering at planting and another irrigation three weeks later but nothing for the rest of the season.
“It grew even though we weren’t watering it,” Mr Sears said. “We’ll definitely put it in again in this season.”
He said the Bouncer paddocks showed no insect damage and produced a bulk of feed through weather conditions that, on occasions, were very hot. The ability of Bouncer to continue to produce without irrigation water was a plus. Leaf was left on the plant and they rotated the lambs through to the next area before they were able to flog it out too much.
The lambs continued to be rotated through the different paddocks and the area was eventually replaced with Moby barley early in Autumn.
Mr Sears said the performance of Moby was excellent with the stock able to graze the barley within 28 days of it being sown.
“We struggled to keep control if it,” he said. “It was brilliant. I’ve certainly been pushing Moby.”
Mike Sears, at Boisdale, in the Gippsland region of Victoria
