TMD SEPT. 9

Are all ryegrasses the same?

The most common type of ryegrass in our area is Gulf rye.  It has been planted for many years and will do just fine.  There are other though that tend to produce more leaf and more forage per acre for cattle to graze.  In some cases, a lot more.  The following is a list of some of the more popular ryegrass varieties sold in our area and the total dry matter season yields they produced at the Texas A&M experiment station in Overton for 2000-2001  and follwed by the 3 year averages.  Dry matter weight is the weight of forage without the moisture content.  Moisture content can vary greatly.

Gulf Ryegrass     5225 pounds/acre    6987=3 year ave.

Marshall             5758 pounds/acre     7265=3 year ave.

Jackson              5572 pounds/acre     7113=3 year ave.

Tam 90              5252 pounds/acre     7476=3 year ave.

Ribeye               5163 pounds/acre     7240=3 year ave.

As you can see Tam 90 has had the best average with Marshall Ryegrass doing better last year.  In both the 3 year average and last years totals, Gulf ryegrass has not performed as well as the others.  That's anywhere from 126 pounds to 489 pounds/acre.  That's an average of 363 pounds higher than gulf.  But it is also noted in the price that Gulf tends to be $3-$8 cheaper per bag than others in this group.  If we figure an average of $5 higher per bag it can be said that 30 pounds/acre will cost you an average $3 more/acre.  With an average of 363 pounds higher/acre in dry matter forage.  That's pretty cheap feed.

My quote of the week comes from an unknown author.  It reads, "To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world."