What are diverse forage crops (and how do I use them)?

The intention of this ‘What are diverse forage crops?’ collection is to describe diverse forage crops and their potential benefits as well as to provide you with things to think about when adopting or tweaking the use of them.

A diverse forage crop is generally considered to be an annual/short term crop with at least three species. However most NZ farmers sow anywhere from 5-30 species, aiming for 3-5+ different plant families present, often with multiple species per family.

Generally, the purpose of diverse crops are to have a mix of species that balance and optimise total crop yield, flexibility, animal performance, soil health, input cost and ecological/environmental goals.

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Specific benefits of using diverse forage crops

Adding diversity to forage crops brings a number of benefits compared to monocultures:

• high quality and quantity of animal forage - a more complete / balanced nutrient-dense diet that can be customised for different stock classes, leading to:

  • less / no need for transitioning onto crop

  • less / no reports of metabolic issues

  • less / no need for supplementation

  • more settled stock

  • lower total dry matter intake per animal (compared to monoculture crops)

• greater flexibility post-grazing, e.g. options for regrowth, termination, direct drilling into regrowth, etc.

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