501 Chicory
501 Chicory is a fast establishing annual, growing extra, high-energy feed for a 6-8 month summer crop, with excellent utilisation and reduced parasite challenge
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Fast establishing annual
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High energy feed
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6-8 month summer crop
501 Chicory is a fast establishing annual, growing extra feed over the critical first two grazings. It’s a high energy, 6-8 month summer crop, with excellent utilisation and reduced parasite challenge.
Rapid establishment
501 Chicory establishes very quickly, meaning less down time before the first grazing. In trials and on-farm across a wide range of different soil types, 501 Chicory growth has stood out right from the start, particularly in dry conditions.
Excellent DM yield
501 Chicory’s extra yield is predicted to produce an extra 7% kg MS, giving an additional income of $500/ha (based on $10/kg MS) over some other chicories.
Modelled Chicory MS production (Relative to trial mean = 100).
Clean feed for young animals
501 Chicory helps manage parasites in young animals. Its open, upright habit greatly reduces worm numbers, and it puts weight on finishing stock faster, so you can quit them sooner. That means fewer drenches, and less exposure to parasites.
Advantage of 501 + Morrow
The combination of 501 + Morrow red clover or 501 + Zulu II arrowleaf clover performs well. Like 501, these clovers are deep rooted giving them a significant advantage in summer dry conditions. They also fix nitrogen reducing fertiliser requirements for the crop and subsequent pasture.
High ME
Animals love chicory, red clover and arrowleaf clover, and they are very nutritious. Through summer they maintain an ME of around 12, whereas ryegrass pastures generally are down around 10-10.5.
Management
Sow chicory into a fine, weed-free seed bed where soil temperatures are consistently +12°C in spring. Roll before and after sowing for uniform germination. Graze when plants reach the seven leaves. Targets for grazing are:
- Pre-grazing targets: 3000 kg DM/ha or 25-35 cm height.
- Post-grazing residual target: 5 cm.
Environmental gains
501 Chicory offers several valuable benefits:
- It reduces nitrogen in the urine patch the same way plantain does. Research shows cows grazing chicory have substantially lower urinary N concentrations, even more than those recorded for cows grazing plantain;
- Its deep tap root (up to 1.5 m) improves soil structure;
- It mines deep soil N and can recover excess soil N left after winter-grazed crops;
- It doesn’t need insecticide sprays (unlike brassica crops);
- Facial eczema spores and worm numbers are much lower than on ryegrass pastures.
How many ha?
For dairy farms, sow 3 ha of 501 Chicory per 100 cows to provide 3 kg DM of chicory/cow/day. Use this table to calculate how much to sow.
When to resow pasture
501 Chicory will look great going into autumn. Don’t be tempted to keep grazing it! Establishing your new pasture early is much more important.
Sowing 501 Chicory
