Mainstar
Forage Rape

Enterprise Type
Sowing Rate
3-4 kg/haRainfall / Irrigation
500mm+Mainstar is a short type brassica that has excellent regrowth potential after grazing, giving it the ability to respond to
moisture after long periods of summer dry. It has increased forage yields over other short type brassicas. Animal testing
during the breeding process found Mainstar to have a higher leaf percentage and superior animal preference over
other short type brassicas. Mainstar can be grazed 10-12 weeks after sowing.
Key Features:
- Early maturing, 10-12 weeks
- Highly palatable
- Excellect regrowth potential
- Tolerant to aphids
- High leaf percentage and superior animal preference
Sowing Rate: - 3-4 kg/ha alone, 1-2 kg/ha in herb mixes
Suggested Sowing Time:
- August to November (Spring sowing) or February to April (Autumn sowing)
Downloads
Herb and Brassica Guide 2019
I watched the lambs closely to see if they had any preference for the different varieties and how long they took to get stuck into grazing the brassica's. Within 3 days, the lambs had clearly made a choice and had virtually cleaned up the Mainstar.
- Name: Stuart Kemp
- Location: Meredith, VIC

Mainstar rape showed superior tolerance to aphid attack enabling a good wedge of high protein feed to be used into February to grow out our weaner lambs.
- Name: Andrew Kirk
- Location: Warrambeen, VIC

Spring sown Mainstar rape at Weerite that's about knee high and ready for grazing
- Name: Shaun Stephen Pasture Seeds
- Location: Camperdown, VIC
Autumn sown Mainstar Brassica at Katunga
- Name: Mark Palmer - SPS
- Location: Katunga, VIC
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Spring sown Mainstar forage rape, regrowth after two grazings. Is providing high quality palatable forage for lambs.
- Name: Craig - Stephen Pasture Seeds
- Location: Selbourne, TAS
Found some smiling lambs on my travels around Winchelsea grazing a new brassica, Mainstar forage rape.
- Name: Shaun SPS HQ
- Location: Winchelsea, VIC
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Mainstar forage rape ready to graze, on a mixed farm near Deloraine, in Northern Tasmania. This crop will provide feed for lambs.
- Name: Craig Stephen Pasture Seeds
- Location: Deloraine, Northern Tasmania, TAS

We ate the Mainstar down to the ground and it came back really well. We fatten 50 lambs to the hectare, at the end of January the paddock was just dust, we had 18mm of rain and it came away again.
- Location: Munro

The left side is Mainstar/Shiroe mix and right is Winfred/Shiroe mix with no fencing between. The sheep heavily prefered to graze the Mainstar first, which shows to the airseeder row
- Name: Mathew Hall
- Location: Stawell, VIC

Mainstar rape. Extremely impressed. Can't wait to grow more.
- Name: Lauren Meade
- Location: Cobden, VIC

Winfred (left) vs Mainstar (Right) in a palatabilty trial. Lambs almost solely ate the Mainstar making it look like a hot wire had been put up stopping them from grazing the industry benchmark Winfred.
- Name: Josh Brown
- Location: Hensley Park, VIC

Mainstar Brassica sown September 2016.
- Name: Daniel Lewis
- Location: Goulburn, NSW

Second grazing of mainstar rape 8 week after first grazing excellent insect resistance and has had a 10% better conversion to milk solids over Winfred
- Name: Brett Craig
- Location: Swan Marsh, VIC

Mainstar has shown exceptional insect tolerance and regrowth. I am also impressed by initial acceptance by animals to Mainstar. Brassicas provide cost effective quality feed sources when pasture quality is low or quantity is limited.
- Name: Adrian Keith
- Location: Taralga, NSW
Related Products Related Products Show All
Want more choice? These varieties are great alternatives to your chosen product.
Appin
Flexible, multi-graze leafy turnip with high winter growth rate. Appin leafy turnip has a very high initial growth rate up until first grazing. Tops can be grazed initially, then re-growth of leaf and bulb will occur after a short spell. Re-grazing is 4 weeks if possible if the initial grazing is managed well.
Sowing rate:
1-2 kg/ha
Winfred
A versatile, early maturing forage rape variety, Winfred is a cross between turnip and kale and a strong option for cheap feed. Demonstrating excellent regrowth potential, Winfred's flexibility allows it to perform well through summer and carry later into the season as winter feed if required. Its ability to withstand long dry spells coupled with a strong frost tolerance makes Winfred superior to most other brassicas
Sowing rate:
3-4 kg/ha
Hunter
A cross between a turnip and a rape Hunter is a quick-growing, leafy turnip with minimal bulb development. It is best suited to multiple grazings for summer and early-autumn feed requirements. A fast maturing forage brassica with the first grazing possible at 6-8 weeks. Hunter is an excellent quality forage capable of providing extremely high liveweight gain on animals. Bred for tolerance to turnip mosaic virus and cauliflower mosaic virus. This, combined with selecting for vigorous regrowth, has provided a variety with fast recovery from grazing and excellent ability to yield in the second, third and sometimes fourth regrowth cycle. Plants usually show good resistance to most clubroot races, but they are susceptible to drought and aphids, and are best suited to heavier soil conditions with periodic summer moisture or irrigation.
Key Benefits & Features:
• Early maturing, 6-8 weeks
• Fast recovery from grazing with excellent subsequent yields
Sowing Rate:
4-5 kg/ha, 2kg/ha in herb mixes
Sowing Time:
September to April (given moisture)
Complementary Products Complementary Products Show All
Are you planning to plant a mixed pasture? These products are great companion species to plant with this variety.
Mach 1 ®
Mach 1 is a fast establishing, high yielding tetraploid annual ryegrass that is late flowering for high feed quality well into spring and early summer. It has excellent recovery from grazing and is the ideal high yield, late maturing crop for silage and hay production. Rotational grazing is recommended for maximum growth rate and hay booster type fertilisers will achieve extra drymatter for grazing, silage or hay production.
Sowing rate:
25-40 kg/ha alone
15-25 kg/ha with clovers
- Tetraploid
- 500mm+
Choice
Choice is a perennial chicory herb demonstrating 3-4 year persistence and a high level of summer dry matter production. This inexpensive herb provides high forage quality and warm-season pasture growth, with a deep taproot resulting in a consistent growth rate, even during dry spells.
Choice chicory can be added to new grass pasture mixes to boost animal performance and feed production.
Sowing rate:
6-10 kg/ha alone
1-5 kg/ha in a mix
- 600mm+
Knight
Knight is a fast establishing Italian diploid ryegrass that yields outstanding growth and performance in all seasons. Knight stands and delivers during winter and summer when you need your paddocks to be working hardest. Ideal for grazing, hay and silage, Knight has good tolerance to rust and its reputation as a fast starter has gained a strong following with milk and meat producers throughout Australia.
Sowing rate:
20-25 kg/ha alone
10-20 kg/ha with clovers
- Diploid
- 600mm+
Hunter
A cross between a turnip and a rape Hunter is a quick-growing, leafy turnip with minimal bulb development. It is best suited to multiple grazings for summer and early-autumn feed requirements. A fast maturing forage brassica with the first grazing possible at 6-8 weeks. Hunter is an excellent quality forage capable of providing extremely high liveweight gain on animals. Bred for tolerance to turnip mosaic virus and cauliflower mosaic virus. This, combined with selecting for vigorous regrowth, has provided a variety with fast recovery from grazing and excellent ability to yield in the second, third and sometimes fourth regrowth cycle. Plants usually show good resistance to most clubroot races, but they are susceptible to drought and aphids, and are best suited to heavier soil conditions with periodic summer moisture or irrigation.
Key Benefits & Features:
• Early maturing, 6-8 weeks
• Fast recovery from grazing with excellent subsequent yields
Sowing Rate:
4-5 kg/ha, 2kg/ha in herb mixes
Sowing Time:
September to April (given moisture)
- 500mm+
Ecotain®
Ecotain® environmental plantain is a mineral rich perennial grazing herb. Ecotain® is fast establishing and tolerant
to a wide range of soils. This includes less fertile soils and especially dryland regions of approximately 600 mm
rainfall.
Ecotain® has a deep coarse root system, which gives it a degree of drought tolerance and the ability to
respond quickly after summer dry conditions. Ecotain® pastures offer some great animal performance potential
for sheep, beef and dairy farmers, particularly in winter and spring, as well as supporting a high level of animal
health, reduced incidence of dags in sheep and good micronutrient supply. Pure stands of Ecotain® can be used
during lambing to increase lamb and ewe weights at weaning.
Ecotain® has also been shown to reduce the amount of N lost from farm systems. Ecotain® can reduce
N leaching from the urine patch by up to 89%*.
Ecotain® can be sown alone as a pure stand or recommended in perennial pasture mixes, especially medium
term, quality finishing mixes.
* NZ data: Woods, 2017 used with permission
Sowing Rates:
10-14kg/ha as a pure stand
5 kg/ha in a perennial pasture mix
4-6 kg/ha with chicory and clover as a specialist crop
4 kg/ha in a lucerne stand
8 kg/ha with 2 kg/ha of forage brassica
- 600mm+
Titan 5
Semi-winter dormant Titan 5 is an exciting new lucerne variety combining Medicago sativa and Medicago falcata genetics. The introduction of new genetics provides persistence, additional drought tolerance and water use effciency over traditional Medicago sativa varieties of similar dormancy. It is bred in Australia to suit the Australian climate. Look out for it in trials and demonstrations this season.
Rainfall (mm)
Sowing Rate (kg/ha)
Below 400
4-6
400-600
6-10
600-750
10-15
750-900+
15-20
Irrigation
20-25
- 400mm+
- 5-6
Succession Products Succession Products Show All
If you are wondering what to plant after your crop has finished, these are our recommended succession products to get the best out of your paddock.
Knight
Knight is a fast establishing Italian diploid ryegrass that yields outstanding growth and performance in all seasons. Knight stands and delivers during winter and summer when you need your paddocks to be working hardest. Ideal for grazing, hay and silage, Knight has good tolerance to rust and its reputation as a fast starter has gained a strong following with milk and meat producers throughout Australia.
Sowing rate:
20-25 kg/ha alone
10-20 kg/ha with clovers
- Diploid
- 600mm+
One50
One50 is a new generation late-heading perennial ryegrass providing outstanding drymatter production and high quality feed for silage and hay. It is high yielding and offers excellent summer, autumn and winter production with strong quality late feed.
Due to One50's late-heading date it maintains vegetative leaf production into late-spring and early-summer, making pasture management easier. Recommended for rotational grazing, One50 is available with AR37 endophyte for improved persistence and production advantages.
Sowing rate:
20-25 kg/ha alone
15-20 kg/ha with clovers
- Endo
- Diploid
- 700mm+