Southland dairy farmer and Federated Farmers provincial president Allan Baird said the biggest fear for farmers was whether the HT-S57 swedes can be fed in spring without the toxicity issues that caused death and illness in cattle and sheep in 2014.
A seed mix-up during the supply-chain process meant PGG Wrightson wrongly sold HT-S57 brassica seed instead of Hawkstone Clean Crop to 556 farmers.
Baird said the issue for farmers was unlikely to be yield but whether the swedes can be safely grazed in early spring when some dairy farmers feed them to cows returning from being wintered off-farm.
PGG Wrightson seed manager David Green acknowledged early spring feeding of swedes could be a risk if the winter was abnormally mild but that was true with all brassicas.
“All brassicas at the end of the season naturally tend to go into a reproductive cycle and as they enter that phase you get an accumulation of glucosinolates.”
Green said DairyNZ recommended the intake of swedes should be diluted with other feed.
PGG Wrightson did not pay compensation for stock deaths after the 2014 incident because of the finding they were heavily influenced by the season.
Green said it was too early to decide if compensation would be paid should there be a repeat this year but farmers who bought the seed have been given information on how to manage the crop.
Baird was not calling for compensation but said farmers were waiting to see how PGG Wrightson engaged with clients.
The two Clean Crop varieties were ideal in areas with weed issues such as wild turnip because herbicide could be applied without damaging the desired crop.
