Savvy

LIFTING DRYLAND PRODUCTION.

Heading Date Mid
Perenniality Perennial
Grazing Seasons Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter

Savvy cocksfoot is a high yielding and very productive cocksfoot. It is characterised not only by its soft leaves, but also its potential to have very long leaves.
Savvy is an indiscriminate seeder which means that under grazing many Savvy plants may not produce any seed head at all. As well as having less seed head than traditional cocksfoot’s. Savvy has exceptionally low aftermath heading (the period of seed head development is very short), therefore it’s relatively easy to manage, particularly with cattle.

Rapid establishment for a cocksfoot
High autumn and winter production
High quality and leafy in summer
Excellent disease tolerance

Savvy has been bred to lift the seasonal growth over Kara cocksfoot, while holding pasture quality. Savvy is particularly strong for drymatter production in late spring and summer while maintaining high growth rate potential in autumn and winter.

Savvy fits the traditional cocksfoot role in low fertility dryland pastures where it may be mixed with Samson AR37 and sown with species such as Nomad white clover, Coolamon sub clover, Viper balansa and in some conditions Relish red clover. In some farm systems there may be value in Savvy being sown with Torlesse lucerne.
Due to the high quality and highly productive nature of Savvy its response under centre pivot irrigation and nitrogen has been outstanding. In such situations Savvy has been utilised as a Savvy/legume pasture for intensive cattle grazing.

Key Tips

Consistent grazing in early to mid-spring will reduce seed head production in late spring

Key times for nitrogen use are:
Late spring to maintain protein levels over early summer
Late summer to improve total autumn production
Mid-autumn to maximise winter production and help maintain winter pasture quality

To maintain summer legume content sow Savvy with tap rooted legumes such as lucerne or Relish red clover. Annual, sub and balansa clovers are important for winter and spring legume content
When sowing in an intensive sheep breeding system it is better to use a low sowing rate of perennial ryegrass as a cover crop for the Savvy to enable early spring set stocking, while the Savvy gets fully established

Performance Data

Savvy has been bred to lift the seasonal growth over Kara, with the ability to hold quality through the summer and winter periods. Savvy has been successfully managed as the sold grass species in areas where perennial ryegrass has failed to persist. It will provide important drymatter production during dry periods and in cooler months.

Seasonal Cocksfoot and Total Cocksfoot Yield (kg DM/ha), mean of 3 years. (2007 - 2010 Lincoln, Canterbury Trial).

Savvy will provide important drymatter production during dry periods and in cooler months (Table 1). This high yield potential in enhanced through irrigation and the application of nitrogen.

Cultivar	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn	Total
Savvy	1495	4150	4303	2496	12445
Vision	1413	3602	3945	2219	11180
Ella	1231	3043	3571	1898	9742
Kara	1464	3076	3215	1912	9667
LSD 5%	251	472	542	372	1416
Trial Mean (kg DM/ha)	1391	3619	3827	2155	10991

Figure 1 demonstrates the seasonal growth difference between Savvy cocksfoot and perennial ryegrass in a hot, dryland environment. With these obvious seasonal advantages it is important
to note that cocksfoot is much slower than ryegrass to establish and its establishment speed is highly influenced by soil temperature. Cool or reducing soil temperatures really check establishment speed of cocksfoot and it may take six months to be established enough to demonstrate the growth advantages demonstrated in Figure 1.

Suggested Mixes

Dryland Dairy Pasture Example Mix

TOTAL	28
	Rate (kg/ha)
Prospect AR37 or AR1 perennial ryegrass	18
Savvy cocksfoot	3
Mainstay white clover	2
Tribute white clover	3
Choice chicory	2

Intensive Beef Pasture Example Mix

TOTAL	19-25
	Rate (kg/ha)
Savvy cocksfoot	12-14
Tribute white clover	3-5
Relish red clover	4-6

Dryland Sheep & Beef Pasture Example Mix

TOTAL	29
	Rate (kg/ha)
Samson AR37 or AR1 perennial ryegrass	12
Savvy cocksfoot	6
Nomad white clover	3
Coolamon sub clover	6
Ecotain environmental plantain or AgriTonic plantain	2