For many New Zealand dairy farmers, summer can be the period where potential cow performance remains high, but pasture growth and quality begin to decline.
- Land and feed
- Pasture & cropping
Article
The right sowing date could offer you more feed
- Land and feed
- Pasture & cropping
9 Sep 2026
3 min read
Summer resilience starts long before summer arrives
Having a plan in place before summer arrives can help maintain milksolids production and reduce pressure on the rest of your farm system. Homegrown summer forage crops continue to play an important role in filling this gap. Species such as chicory, forage rape and kale can provide quality feed when ryegrass growth and quality decreases.
Chicory: quality milking feed
As a multi-graze summer crop, Choice chicory’s tap root allows it to perform over a longer period of time, providing more resilience for extended dry phases, often beyond the window traditionally used for single grazed brassica systems.
Turnip: single graze summer feed
Single graze Rival turnips provide a good leaf to bulb ratio through mid-January to early March. Due to it being a single graze brassica, it provides a straightforward process for early pasture renewal if conditions allow post grazing.
Forage rape: bulk summer feed
Forage rape has quicker establishment compared to other summer brassica options and strong dryland performance. Earlier maturity options such as Mainstar suit early to mid-summer feed demands, while later maturing types such as Spitfire fit systems with a late summer feed deficit.
Kale for flexibility
SovGold kale can be grazed through summer, or if pasture growth is better than expected, it’s the only brassica option that can be transferred into an autumn lactation or winter feed period without compromise.
The right sowing date could offer you 30% more feed1
While selecting the right species is important, timing is critical to success.
Waikato trial demonstrates importance of timing:
A Waikato summer chicory trial1 showed a sowing date delayed by two weeks after Labour Weekend (20th of October) reduced total chicory yield by 36% when measured through to the end of March.
These findings represent a substantial amount of additional high quality feed during a period when many dairy systems are under pressure.
However, although the data highlights that an earlier planting date produced more feed, this isn’t always possible; excessive moisture is often a limitation to early planting, while soil temperature remains the key driver of successful establishment. DairyNZ and Agricom recommend sowing chicory and brassicas when soil temperatures are consistently around 12°C and rising.
Matching the right crop to the farm system and establishing it when conditions are right remains one of the most effective ways to maximise production. This spring, reach out to your local Farm Source TSR, or Agricom rep for guidance on crop selection and planting timeframes.
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Speak to our team of local dairy experts - pop into one of our Farm Source stores or contact us below.
Speak to our team of local dairy experts - pop into one of our Farm Source stores or contact us below.
1 Agricom trial conducted in Ngahinapouri, Waikato between September 2024 and March 2025.
Article supplied by Agricom.