FOR PUBLICATION BRITISH FARMER & GROWER AUGUST ISSUE  DATE 16.07.10

GREENLAND RAPE IS ANSWER TO SUMMER GRAZING

Sowings of Kale are suffering from the lack of rain and the attacks of flea–beetle. Pastures that were cut for silage or hay are showing poor regrowth. Grazing is at a premium and there are few options available for sowing this late in the season that will provide a “Quick Fix” solution.
Nick Gladstone of Driffield based seeds merchants Hurrells recommends one of the best options to be Greenland Forage Rape. Sown now at 3-5kg per Ha. this variety will be ready to graze in 6-8 weeks and is ideal for fattening lambs. Greenland forage rape can also be sown into cereal stubble with the addition of slug pellets where the risk of attack is high. This will provide valuable autumn grazing until the first frosts.

Where grazing later in the season is required from October and into the New Year he suggests stubble turnips that can be sown from mid August with the variety White Star proving a firm favourite.

GREENLAND RAPE – AN ANSWER TO FAILED COVERS.

Game Keepers and Shoot Managers throughout the country are reporting disappointing establishment of Kale cover crops. This is primarily due to the lack of rain and attacks of flea–beetle on covers under stress.
Game covers seedsman Nick Gladstone of Hurrells gives hope that all is not lost with one of the best “Quick Fix” solutions – Fodder Rape.
Nick recommends the variety Greenland that can be sown now and broadcast into the existing cover at 3-5kg per Ha. with the addition of slug pellets where the risk of attack is high. This will provide valuable leafy autumn cover for pheasants and partridge similar to a dwarf kale until the first frosts.

Where later in the season covers is required and into the New Year he suggests stubble turnips that can be sown from mid August with the variety White Star proving a firm favourite.

For more information and advice contact Nick Gladstone or Simon Travers at Hurrell & McLean Seeds, telephone; 01377 271400

For Lancashire

Mr John Roche

Based in the Colne/Burnley area:

Tel 01282 870145     Mobile 078555 440555

For Portugal

Sport Relva, Lda.
Loteamento da Zona Verde, Caixa C
Barrio
4880-164 Mondim de Basto
Phone: +351 255 382 766
Fax: +351 255 382 705
Email: geral@sportrelva.com and geral.sportrelva@gmail.com

ENHANCE YOUR GAMECOVER WITH WILDFLOWERS

Hurrells Seeds, one of the UK’s leading gamecover seed specialists, is urging shoot and estate managers to utilise its wildflower mixtures this summer.

With the ideal sowing time just around the corner, the wildflower mixture offers the perfect environment for a successful season ahead.

Nick Gladstone, Hurrells’ Managing Director explained : “One of the many benefits of wildflower mixtures is that they attract insects and butterflies; it’s these same insects that are attractive to both the partridge and pheasant, thus providing the perfect place for an excellent shoot.”

Other benefits of the wildflower mixture include :

• The mixture can be sown on corners of land or small unused areas, making previously unutilised patches of ground attractive;

• Wildflowers prefer more barren, unfertile ground – perfect for those areas that have limited appeal for other crops;

• Excellent for the environment and biodiversity, wildflowers continue to increase in popularity; with the use of herbicides and intensive farming, rare arable weeds – or wildflowers – are kept dormant from the landscape.  This has a knock-on effect for soil, insects, mammals and birds, all of which benefit from pollen and nectar-producing flowering plants;

Nick concluded : “Wildflowers enjoy a special place in the UK countryside and one which we are keen to preserve and enhance.  This, combined with their attraction to partridge and pheasant, make our wildflower mixtures a must for shoot managers planning ahead for the 2010/2011 season.”

Yorkshire-based Hurrells are nationwide suppliers of bespoke gamecover crops, game seed and brood rearing cover strips to many UK shoots combined with a generation of experience with Yorkshire shoots. Many of its gamecover seed products are unique to themselves and this, combined with the team’s specialist knowledge, gives Hurrells a keen insight into the suitability of a particular species for a particular site.

For further information please contact Nick Gladstone on 01377 271400

Press release – 24th March 2010
Hurrells have appointed a new agent for Wales
Mr Andrew Owen based at Newtown Powys and who farms near the Welsh Organic Centre. Andrew has sown down and used most Hurrells Organic grass mixes and legumes and is therefore a ‘hands on’ expert and a valuable addition to our team.

Nick Gladstone Managing director said today  ”We are delighted to have Andrew on board with Hurrells, he is very approachable, available for local farmers and  extremely knowledgeable – since he has actually grown these mixtures himself and knows exactly what they can do – and how to manage them”

Please phone Andrew directly who is happy to open his farm to interested parties who wish to view Hurrells Organic Seed mixtures

He can be contacted on 01686 626974

Milk from grazed grass is the most profitable.

However, one of the biggest problems is availability, as most grasses require sufficiently high temperatures to initiate growth. Most dairy farmers are already familiar with New Zealand grazing systems and the use of the plate meter. For many years New Zealand plant breeders have focussed their breeding programmes on grasses with an extended growing season.

Grazing late into the autumn and turning out earlier in the spring shortens the winter feeding period and lowers costs. Extending the grazing season can only be achieved with grasses that can grow at lower than normal temperatures, these the breeders have identified as “Cool season active grasses” and have the potential to grow at lower temperatures than traditional European types.

New Zealand breeder PGG Wrightson Seeds the largest plant breeder in New Zealand and one of the most respected throughout the world has successfully bred grass varieties with the potential for cool season growth. After several years use in New Zealand these grasses have proved successful on the more progressive dairy farms in Ireland.

Now, through an exclusive agreement these varieties are available in the UK through the Yorkshire based seeds company Hurrells.

Hurrels managing director, Nick Gladstone said, “ Cool season active grasses are a major breakthrough in reducing costs for the dairy farmer.” He continued with a caution, ”Extending the grazing season does not increase overall annual yield – it transfers some of the surplus growth peak to either end of the season. It is important to choose free draining; dryer fields to allow the earlier spring turnout and those preferably closer to the parlour and housing. The total of grazing area sown with cool season grasses should not exceed 20% and the fields regularly monitored”.

For further information about “Cool season active grasses” and their role in producing milk from grass contact Nick Gladstone at Hurrell & McLean Seeds, telephone; 01377 271400.

Everyone knows that all a seed requires to germinate is moisture and warmth. However, too often this alone is not enough to achieve a good establishment. This can be due to the seeds needing a little something extra to overcome the stresses of establishment.

One simple answer is a seed coating that allows a safe, controlled easy sowing which can be used to advantage when the seedbed or weather conditions are less than favourable.

Following extensive trials in Germany, Hurrells, the amenity seeds specialists are making a revolutionary seed coating named WASP (Water Absorbing Process) available for amenity seeds mixtures and straights this spring.

As a seed coating WASP is unique as it places a water reservoir around the seed protecting it from “drying off”. In addition the coating contains a bio stimulant of essential nutrients and trace elements enhancing the growth and health of the plant, optimising root development during that vital early stage. The coating is non-toxic and totally safe to humans, animals and the environment.

Nick Gladstone, Hurrells managing director said, ”WASP is a major breakthrough in seed treatments. No one likes to see a patchy established area of grass that is unacceptable in the majority of amenity and sports situations. When sowing grass seed there are so many factors beyond the control of the groundsman or greenkeeper but by using WASP nearly all of these risks are eliminated.”