On tougher country, you need a tougher pasture. Luckily there’s Rohan, NZ’s only spreading perennial ryegrass, which is extending its long tillers nationwide.

 

Plant Rohan SPR this autumn, and you’ll soon see what makes it unique among perennial ryegrasses in NZ.

 

Two of our Rohan Challenge farmers sum it up perfectly. Matt and Kristin Churchward started sowing Rohan for dryland red meat breeding and finishing near Taihape four years ago.

 

They needed something on rolling hill country that would stand up to browntop reversion, weed pressure, insect pests, potentially dry summers and wet winters.

 

It had to cope with being set stocked for up to 3 months at a time, and still grow enough DM to help finish lambs and young cattle efficiently.

 

Now growing 35-40ha of Rohan, Matt says they haven’t looked back.

 

“After 4 years, compared to other perennial ryes that are 4 years old, there’s just no comparison. It’s still 100% strong; it stays nice and thick and it doesn’t seem to let the weeds back in. Also being clover friendly, we can shut it up and out pops the clover.”

 

Set stocked with multiple ewes for lambing from 20 August to 1 December, “it’s just unbelievable,” he says.

 

Palatable and easy to manage, Rohan has another important benefit on their undulating land.

 

“On this sort of country we find no matter how you drill it, you tend to get an uneven strike. Rohan is ideal, though, because once it’s had its first nip, it just starts spreading. You’ll see the sowing lines at first, but after a couple of months, they’re literally gone. Other perennial ryegrasses won’t do that.”

 

Generally, ryegrass grows upright. Each plant consists of a clump of tillers and in most cases those tillers stick closely together and grow vertically. 

 

Rohan’s growth pattern is quite different. Each plant spreads laterally across the ground, and can also extend runners. These set down growing points that in turn become new Rohan plants which do then the same thing.

 

Some of these runners can reach 10 cm long or more, with several new growing points along them.