CRUSADER PLUS CHICORY

High sugar grazing with early bite and chicory

A long-term grass mixture with good early spring growth from AberDart, making it ideal for turning ewes and lambs out onto. This grass seed mix has all the high qualities of the original Crusader mix however with the addition of 0.75kg of Puna II chicory.

The inclusion of chicory, a New Zealand bred, deep 'tap' rooted herb provides high forage yields, extra protein and a high mineral content from spring to autumn, making it perfect for fattening lambs.

Chicory has achieved outstanding animal dlwg performance (0.3-0.4KG/day), it is drought resistant and has good pest tolerance once established. It can be grazed 8 weeks after sowing and is best utilised by a strip grazing system.

Crusader is a very persistent sward with nearly 70% of the mixture made up of late perennial ryegrass that will last for around 6 years.

The clover blend of a medium-large leaf and a small leaf type enables tight grazing with both sheep and cattle on this grass mix.

0.75kg of chicory added to the mixture gives extra protein for around 3-4 years.

After around 6 years it is time to consider reseeding a long term ley as this is the time that better quality grass varieties become less productive so weed varities start to creep in to fill the gaps in the sward, making the ley less productive than during its first 5 years of growth. Reseeding with a long term mixture such as Crusader is a perfect option for improving grazing quality on your land.