If you haven’t heard it yet, you’re missing out. 

We love what we do. But for us, the real magic comes when people like you embrace something we’ve created, and make it soar.

Especially when that something is not yet on everyone’s radar, even though it should be.

This Insight is about farmers who have seized one of our latest breakthroughs, and turned it to immediate advantage.

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t been dialled in on this one, it’s worth pausing your autumn seed order until you read this!

‘Just awesome in spring’  

Logan and Sian Dawson got a pre-season bonus from the owner of their leased Taupiri farm before they took over in 2025/26 – they were able to pick which new ryegrass was sown in autumn.  

That meant they arrived last June to six brand new paddocks of Array perennial ryegrass with NEA2, which was a great win: “Those paddocks were just awesome in spring.” 
Up to 20 per cent of their previous farm at Ngahinapouri was in Array by the time they left, and Logan says he was beyond convinced by that experience.

Three years of measuring pasture at least fortnightly proved Array consistently outgrew other pasture by 100-200 kg dry matter per ha every grazing. 

And this was on a farm where all pasture was expected to deliver - a 900 cow, System 5, split calving operation that milked year-round, achieved up to 130 per cent of cow body weight in milk production, and aimed to maximise dry matter per ha through dry summers and wet winters. 

Last ones to stay green 

Having moved from six years of sharemilking under equity partnership to full lease at Taupiri, the Dawsons now milk 600 cows on a similar system to Ngahinapouri.

Logan says he’s confident of Array’s potential on the new farm, and that includes more than strong yield.

“One thing I noticed on the previous farm was that Array in early spring had a lot more fibre in it than other grasses, which was very good for early calving cows. You could be quite hard on it in late spring; the later heading date meant quality stayed better for longer as well.

“And in summer, the Array paddocks were always the last ones to stay green.

“In that system we also found because of its erect nature, we were able to graze at the fourth leaf without losing the first leaf onto the ground. We could put the cows in at a pre-graze cover of 4000 kg, pre-mown; the quality was really good and they milked very well on it.”

Anything else? “Persistence is high – we hadn’t seen that level of persistence for quite a few years. We always had problems with pulling, black beetle and over grazing.”

Credit where it’s due 

The suggestion to try Array in the first place came from a well-informed retailer rep, Logan says.

“Kudos to Farm Source Te Awamutu. Our rep at the time said you should use this, it would be really good. They see all the pasture trial work, and they’ve got time to learn about all these different options.

“We usually take a conservative approach to new things, and they were happy to give us the opportunity to compare Array to our other pastures so we could get our own feel for how good it was.”

‘A different beast!’ 

Fifty kilometres south, Pirongia sharemilkers Sean and Katrina Gibson went all in on Array for the first time last autumn, using it across their entire new grass area instead of their usual Maxsyn.

That gave them 12 ha of Array, which by November was all on an 18 day round, vs 25-26 days for the rest of the farm. “Array is a different beast! The way it grows – you have to graze it early.”

Like Logan, Sean credits their Farm Source rep not only with the original suggestion to change, but also with solid advice about vigilant management. As a result, the transition has been smooth and easy. 

Always use the platemeter 

This past spring, the Gibsons were careful to graze Array only when it was dry enough, to protect the young pastures. Even so it fast became clear these paddocks would indeed provide early feed: “They certainly out-performed anything else.”

So much so, Sean’s made a rule for himself and his worker – always use the platemeter to measure Array, because its upright growth is deceptive.

“You cannot tell how much is in there by eye. From the race, it doesn’t look ready to graze. It’s only when you get in there and measure it you see how dense it is. Array has forced everybody to change how they identify when a paddock is ready for grazing.”

Cow response can also seem deceptive: “Sometimes it feels like they don’t perform on it, but then you get the quality report back from milk in the vat after they’ve been on it, and the milksolid percentage is up, protein is up, milk urea drops.”

 

Aggressive renewal  

Sean and Katrina spring-calve 340 crossbred cows on a largely self-contained System 3 farm. Cows are wintered on, and replacements are given special care, set stocked as weaners two to a paddock in early summer and staying home until they’re R2.

This gets heifers up to 230-240 kg before they go to grazing, and provides the perfect animals to nip off new grass in early establishment.

Faced with large areas of old, tired pasture when they arrived three years ago, they’ve renewed aggressively through summer crop, and have re-sown 30 per cent of the farm. 

As their first new perennial, Maxsyn with NEA4 has delivered digestibility and ease of management; persists well on their elevated, exposed, and very free-draining ash soils; and bounces back after hard grazing, Sean says. They’ve also sown 4front mixed with Array. 
 

What next? 

Array with NEA2 is available now for autumn sowing. Ask your retailer rep about it today. And remember you can always book a free Pasture Health Check with our team!