Crop dry matter (DM) yield, DM utilisation and body condition score (BCS) of dairy cows were measured over two winters on an irrigated stony, free-draining Balmoral soil for three crop grazing systems: fodder beet (FB); early-sown kale (EK); and late-sown kale with oats grown in sequence (LK). There were two replicates of each treatment, with 35-58 cows per treatment group. Allocations of crop and supplements (kg DM/cow/day) were: FB, 8 kg fodder beet + 6 kg grass baleage; EK, 14 kg kale + 3 kg barley straw; LK, 11 kg kale + 5 kg green chop oat baleage. Pre-grazing crop DM yield (t DM/ha) was higher in FB (20.1) than EK (14.6) and LK (12.9). DM utilisation was high in all treatments averaging 99.6%, 90.5% and 87.1% for FB, EK and LK, respectively. Body condition score change over the 8-week winter-feeding period was similar for cows offered FB (+0.76), EK (+0.66) and LK (+0.76). Allocation of feed quantity is more important in determining BCS gain than the type of crop and supplement fed. Keywords: Brassica oleracea L., Beta vulgaris L., metabolisable energy

Chicory and plantain have been suggested as alternative grazed forages to perennial ryegrass for New Zealand dairy systems. While diurnal changes in plant chemical composition have been described for ryegrass there is currently little information for herbs. This experiment aimed to compare the effect of nitrogen inputs (low and high) and harvesting time (am versus pm) on the chemical composition of four forages (ryegrass, plantain, chicory and white clover). The effect of harvest time was greater than N fertiliser inputs on chemical composition for all forages. Ryegrass showed the greatest increase in water soluble carbohydrate diurnally, at the expense of neutral detergent fibre and to a lesser extent crude protein. This suggests afternoon allocation of ryegrass may be beneficial to improve the nutritive value of pasture on offer; allocation timing is less important for white clover, chicory and plantain. Keywords: chicory, clover, crude protein, plantain, ryegrass, water soluble carbohydrate

Abstract Cold temperatures and drainage increase nitrogen (N) losses from livestock production systems, so autumn management and forage type were investigated as strategies to mitigate N loss whilst meeting animal requirements. The effect of regrowth interval and fertiliser rate on plant dry matter (DM) yield, plant N and digestible organic matter in the DM (DOMD) was measured in six forage species over 4 weeks regrowth, in Canterbury in autumn 2015. As regrowth interval increased, herbage DM yield increased (from 180 kg DM/ha to 922 kg DM/ha, P