Product Used: Moby Forage Barley
A paddock of Moby barley provided a bulk of feed after being planted early, on the property of Dean Vinnicombe at Calival, in the northern part of Victoria. Mr Vinnicombe said he planted the Moby barley at the end of March into a paddock that had contained vetch the previous year. It was sown to both red and black soil types and performed well in both. Once the Moby barley was established, it was strip grazed approximately every three weeks and provided a bulk of feed through winter and into spring. “We were really happy with it,” Mr Vinnicombe said. He said the plan with the Moby barley was to sow it early and produce a big enough wedge of feed to graze the cows through winter and spring. The Moby received its first grazing on May 16 and was then generally grazed by the dairy cows once a day until the area was fed off and allowed to recover.
In one area they grazed dry cows before spraying the paddock for weeds and locking it up for hay. Silage was also made from the feed. On the home farm lactating cows grazed Moby and milked well on the feed. Mr Vinnecombe said by introducing Moby barley into the system it takes the pressure off the ryegrass. “It just saves the ryegrass,” he said. “If it does get wet the barley is our sacrifice paddock.” He said the property was dry in June and July and also did not receive much in the way of rainfall in September. Some of the Moby received one irrigation in the spring to finish it off. “We put some manure on it and hit it with nitrogen when it needed it.” At the end of the season the Moby barley was sprayed off and replaced with SowSmart Summer Feed Blend which is predominantly made up of Rebound millet and also had Balance chicory, Subzero forage brassica and Rajah red clover.
Dean Vinnicombe, Calival, Victoria
