Stubble Turnips

Stubble Turnips

Stubble turnips are a low input crop which can help reduce winter feed costs for sheep and cattle, making them an economical crop to grow.

They are quick to establish and fast growing which means they can be ready to utilise between 10-14 weeks from sowing in optimum conditions.

They have a higher Metabolisable Energy (ME) content compared to forage rape, but are lower in protein. There are two types of stubble turnips; bulb and bulbless. The bulb types are suitable for finishing lambs over the autumn/winter period and the bulbless (very leafy) types are ideal for summer buffer feed for cattle and sheep.

The feeding of any brassica should be introduced gradually over a two week period and strip grazing throughout the season is recommended to help prevent waste. Ideally there should be a grass run-back along with access to hay or silage and water. To avoid milk taint, dairy cows should be fed stubble turnips immediately after milking or removed from the crop three hours before milking.

Bulb Types

SAMSON (Our top selling variety)
Samson produces large purple tankard shaped bulbs, which are palatable to both sheep and cattle. Samson is a tetraploid variety meaning that it is slightly sweeter than other varieties and trials show that it is preferentially grazed, which can lead to higher intake and liveweight gains.

HECTOR (NEW)
Hector is a brand new tetraploid stubble turnip with bulbs that sit further out of the ground than any other variety. This unique characteristic means Hector has better grazing utilisation that other varieties and less wastage.

RONDO
Rondo’s growth habit means that it has good root anchorage which can help reduce wastage in the field. It produces a green skinned bulb and has excellent disease resistance. It is more frost tolerant than other varieties, making it ideal for later utilisation into early February.

BARKANT
Barkant is a high dry matter type which has good winter hardiness and is highly digestible. It produces large purple tankard shape roots which are palatable to both sheep and cattle and is a proven and reliable variety.

Bulbless types