Brassicas

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Commonly grown to bridge feed gaps, brassicas are a high-quality forage crop, that help to maintain the body condition of stock.

Types of Brassicas

Kale

Also known as Chou Moellier, kales are winter active and used as a winter feed yielding up to 18t DM/ha. With a deep root system, Kale is highly drought resistant. Kale can be sown in spring for feeding over winter and can be mixed with swedes.

Forage rape

Rape is an ideal forage crop for stock, often sown alone or as a component of pasture mixes. Ready to graze 12-16 weeks after sowing, Rape is a fast establishing and nutritious feed, ideal for filling summer and winter feed gaps, while also providing single or multi-graze options.

Swede

Swedes are sown from mid November to late December, either ridged in wet cool areas, or conventionally drilled to provide specialist winter feed. Generally yellow fleshed swede cultivars are used for main crop and human consumption because of improved flavour and lower water content compared to white fleshed types.

Summer Turnip

Turnip varieties vary in yield potential, ploidy level, maturity, size of bulb, bulb keeping quality, and these factors considerably influence the choice and intended usage. Spring and early summer sowings produce summer feed, whilst later sowings through to early march produce autumn-winter feed with specific cultivars for each sowing time. Turnips may be sown alone or in mixtures with rape or grasses. Turnips are generally susceptible to aphids, clubroot, dry rot, and virus. Yields tend to increase with later maturity types. Turnip crop yields can vary from 8-15t DM/ha. A highly digestible turnip bulb provides a good source of sugars which, combined with a high protein concentration in the turnip tops, stimulates good rumen function. Leafy turnips bred as intra-specific hybrids generally do not produce a bulb and suit spring and summer sowings for summer and autumn grazings, They are fast maturing and can be multi-grazed.

Our Brassicas Cultivars

Saddleback

Saddleback

Swede

A yellow fleshed swede with consistently high yields.

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Marco

Marco

Summer Turnip

A fast maturing summer turnip with excellent storage.

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Rifleman

Rifleman

Forage rape

A strong yielding rape bred to be leafier for longer.

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Pillar

Pillar

Forage rape

A multi-graze summer or winter feed with high dry matter yields.

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Kea

Kea

Kale

A NZ bred kale with exceptional yield performance.

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Coleor

Coleor

Kale

Bred for improved livestock performance with winter hardiness.

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Proteor

Proteor

Kale

A quality feed bred for maximising winter production.

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Brassicas

Grazing management and nutrition

Brassicas are commonly sown in spring, late summer or autumn depending on the variety. However, they are a fast maturing single graze crop that help to maintain the body condition of stock.

Where to buy

Find your nearest Cropmark forage seed supplier.

Get in touch

Enquire here about Brassicas or call 0800 427 676.

For all other enquires contact us.

Forage seed selector

Need help selecting the right seed?

Use our forage seed selector to find the best Cropmark seed for your farm.

Get started