Advantages for Lamb Finishing
Lambs grazing proprietary ryegrass with novel endophyte grow much faster than those on other pastures. They have no staggers, and half as many dags.
In trials with Lincoln University, lambs grazing Bealey tetraploid ryegrass with Plus NEA2endophyte produced 23% more liveweight per ha than those on the old Nui ryegrass.
Lamb liveweight gain (LWG) in Lincoln University trials*
| Variety | LWG kg/ha/day |
LWG relative to Nui |
| Bealey NEA2 | 5.2 | 123% |
| Alto WE | 4.6 | 110% |
| Nui WE | 4.2 | 100% |
*The trials were run over 5 separate 8 week periods over 3 separate seasons.
Bealey had Plus NEA2endophyte, Alto & Nui were Without endophyte.
AgResearch liveweight gain trials also at Lincoln have shown lambs on proprietary ryegrass with Plus AR1endophyte grew almost twice as fast as lambs on Nui ryegrass with Standard endophyte.
Value of Plus AR1 endophyte for summer/autumn lamb finishing
| Lamb production | Standard endophyte | Plus AR1 endophyte |
| Weight gain/lamb | 100 g/day | 190 g/day |
| Stocking rate | 20 lambs/ha | 20 lambs/ha |
| Weight gain over 90 days | 180 kg/ha | 340 kg/ha |
| Value* | $360/ha | $680/ha |
Assumptions: Lamb weight gains taken from AgResearch trials run over
summer/autumn 2001 for Nui ryegrass with Standard endophyte, versus average
for impact and Bronsyn ryegrass with Plus AR1. *Liveweight value of $2.00/kg.