Dual-purpose, long season canola has become a staple in Adrian Roles’ grazing program at Young, providing him with a crop that can be grazed by livestock and still harvested later in the year. 

Mr Roles, who runs a self-replacing Merino flock of 4000 ewes and precision ag business JMAJ Precision at Young, said by using longer season canola varieties, which grew well in high rainfall areas, farmers could get optimal use out of a single crop. 

“It’s an excellent feed source for growing out lambs,” Mr Roles said.

“The liveweight gain has been measured and we use an average of 300g per head per day gain per lamb. We estimate the grazing value at $300/ha. 

“Grain recovery has also been excellent, with previous crops yielding above 2.5t/ha when grazed similarly.”

 Mr Roles said his variety of choice, Hyola 970CL, supported high levels of set stocking for long periods. 

“We have high numbers of livestock, so we need feed available in paddocks at the right times. Our last crop was grazed twice, and grazing was calculated at 40 grazing days.” 

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Mr Roles said the crop also offered early sowing opportunities, helping to avoid frost. 

“It’s often the first crop we sow because the earliness of the break. It’s a very long season area, so I like the maturity of Hyola 970CL as it minimises the potential of yield loss due to later frost events.” 

Additionally, the canola allows him to rest valuable paddocks and push through low periods of productivity.

“Flexibility to graze paddocks for long periods is very important,” he said.

“Cold winters often limit pasture growth and productivity, so it gives us the opportunity to rest highly productive temperate pastures for long periods over winter and build a feed wedge into the spring.” 

Mr Roles sowed his most recent crop in late March 2017, with the grazing period from early May to late August, depending on crop management. 

He seeded into a paddock out of wheat at a rate of 2.2kg/ha and applied 80kg/ha MAP and 80kg/ha urea. 

This was followed by a top dress of urea in early winter at a rate of 150kg/ha.