Download the Rohan SPR product manual here.
Spreading habit
Rohan SPR's spreading habit helps it fill bare areas in a pasture that may otherwise be occupied by weeds (see photo below). This means Rohan SPR competes against weed ingression.
The spreading habit also helps recovery from adverse climatic events, particularly extended dry periods, because it spreads to fill space where ryegrass tillers may have died.
Rohan SPR is not indestructible. Like all ryegrasses it will perform best under reasonable management and soil fertility. But its spreading habit improves persistence.
Sheep and beef system fit
The key with any pasture is matching a cultivar to a particular situation. So where does Rohan SPR fit? Looking at different pasture types across properties, based on persistence:
Easy to manage
Under semi-intensive to semi-extensive farm systems it is not easy to maintain pasture quality in late spring. A continual comment from farmers with Rohan SPR is that it 'always looks good', it stays greener and leafier and is usually preferentially grazed. Rohan SPR in on-farm trials has shown a 0.7 higher ME than some other cultivars in November and December.
NEA2 & animal health
Rohan SPR with NEA2 endophyte provides very low staggers risk pasture for sheep and staggers free pasture for cattle. In the 15 years we have sold NEA2, no ryegrass staggers have been seen in sheep or cattle on commercial farms.
High yield in dry conditions
Under ideal conditions Rohan SPR does not have the same yield potential as cultivars such as Trojan, producing about 10% less. But under tough, dry conditions Rohan will likely persist and yield more over the life of a pasture.
Sowing Rohan
Sub clovers are often added to this mix.