Grazer Orchard Grass Blend - Early, Medium, and Late Varieties

Orchardgrass is valuable on light textured soils due to its outstanding drought-tolerance. Most varieties have good winter-hardiness, although few varieties have superior winter-hardiness such as this blend. The species is rather slow to establish but persistency is good under hay, silage, and proper grazing management. We have blended together three different orchard grass varieties to give you a pasture that will develop at three different stages. This blend of Amba, Athos, and Barula orchard grasses make a winter hardy and drought tolerant blend.

Amba orchardgrass is a very winterhardy and thoroughly proven orchardgrass sold to many countries in the world where early abundant forage production is important. A key benefit of AMBA is that the digestibility is higher than many other early to medium maturing orchardgrass varieties. AMBA is resistant to diseases such as Mastigosporium and rust. AMBA has the ability to tolerate hard night frosts after spring growth has started. AMBA has been trialed with good results in Kentucky and Wisconsin where it consistantly outperforms older varieties such as Potomac. AMBA is good for hay, silage, green chop, and grazing.

Athos is one of the latest maturing varieties available on the market, with a heading date that is usually at least one week later than Pennlate. Most of the late maturing orchardgrasses originate in Europe and ATHOS is no exception. Although this variety is new to the United States, it has performed well in Europe. ATHOS ranked number one in yield in the official NIAB forage grazing trials in the UK. In addition to high yield, ATHOS is noted for having good fall growth, which translates to an even yield distribution over the entire growing season. Athos orchardgrass is good for hay, silage, green chop, and grazing.

Barula is a late maturing, very winter hardy variety with excellent rust resistance. Orchardgrass provides a very consistent supply of high quality forage. It also provides for extended season grazing well into the summer and very late into the fall and often into early winter. Baraula orchardgrass was developed in the Netherlands and is listed in many European countries (including Germany and Switzerland). It is one of the latest maturing varieties available today. Not only is Baraula very winter-hardy, it is also highly digestible even after the first cutting. It has proven to withstand severe winters and is also capable of enduring dry and hot summers. Baraula is an Orchardgrass that is very suitable for intensive grazing or cutting. Its primary use will be the Midwest and the Northeastern United States.

Features of this blend are:

• Good grazing grass
• Excellent hay grass
• Excellent silage
• Good green chop
• High digestibility
• Good disease resistance
• High yield potential
• Excellent winter hardiness
• Not recommend for overseeding or frost seeding