The current and upcoming portfolio of Barenbrug agriculture grass varieties includes some very exciting new grass for British farmers.

 

Barenbrug bred grass varieties, coming forward from the Barenbrug international grass breeding sites, including Barenbrug NL in Holland and Barenbrug New Zealand, as well as the British grass variety breeding portfolio bred in partnership with the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute of Northern Ireland (AFBI NI).

 

The most exciting of the newest additions to the recommended lists in the UK is Tollymore, an intermediate tetraploid perennial ryegrass from the Barenbrug/AFBI breeding partnership. This exceptional variety which heads on the 22^nd May provides high quality yields of grass whether utilised for cutting or grazing swards and was added to both the Scottish and English & Welsh recommended lists earlier this year.

 

Strangford is an exciting new intermediate diploid perennial ryegrass which saw its first harvest in 2022 and has been produced specifically for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Topping the yield of the group in Scotland, Strangford gives the best first cut (111%) and equal highest total silage yield (109%) alongside another top Barenbrug/AFBI variety Galgorm. Galgorm tops the Scottish grazing yield at 115% and is the highest yielding intermediate diploid on the English and Welsh recommended list. Galgorm's heading date is 23^rd May with Strangford being one day earlier than Galgorm in Scotland.

 

Other exceptional perennial ryegrasses of note are the intermediate tetraploid Seagoe, a firm favourite across the UK and two late diploids, Ballyvoy and Dundrod. These two later heading varieties were newly available in 2022 and have proved very popular. All three of these varieties were bred in Northern Ireland in the Barenbrug/AFBI programme and feature on both UK recommended lists.

 

Of the non-ryegrass species, Dutch bred Timothy Baronaise is providing to be a very popular addition to the UK recommended lists providing good yields and the highest D Value of all the recommended timothy varieties. We are sure this will be a big variety!

 

New Tall Fescue variety Barcuby, another bred by Barenbrug at their breeding site in Holland, is a variety that the agriculture team are very much looking forward to arriving off its first UK harvest in 2023. This is the latest to be brought to the UK from the Barenbrug Soft Leaved Tall Fescue breeding programme and will be a popular addition to our multispecies grass mixture such as Barmix and Nutrifibre.