Perennial Chicory, For Healthier, Faster-Growing Stock
20 November 2025, AU: Its deep taproot improves soil structure and supports dry-season resilience, while its mineral-rich composition helps maintain animal health and performance over time.
As a high-quality forage, perennial chicory offers an excellent protein-to-energy balance, low fibre levels and high digestibility. This supports improved liveweight gains in lambs and higher milk production in dairy cows.
It also brings valuable protein and diversity to pasture mixes, supporting more balanced, productive systems for beef, sheep and dairy livestock.
Looking for a way to help your young stock thrive? Incorporating Puna II or Choice perennial chicory into your system can lift feed quality and may also help reduce internal parasite burdens in lambs. Research shows that when chicory makes up 70 per cent (pc) or more of the diet’s dry matter, it can significantly lower worm burdens and faecal egg counts.
So how does it work? A mixed sward including perennial chicory can create a less hospitable environment for parasite eggs and larvae than sole grass-based pastures. Its high protein and energy help young stock grow faster through vulnerable periods, while compounds such as condensed tannins and lactucin may help inhibit larvae development inside the animal.
Proven perennial chicory options
Choice perennial chicory delivers premium feed quality with strong persistence under good growing conditions. Its upright growth habit produces leafy, palatable forage rich in protein and metabolisable energy, ideal for finishing lambs or supporting milk production.
Russell and Phil Grigg from Bungaree in Victoria provided the following testimonial: “Choice perennial chicory was sown in October 2023 and has established well considering the dry period experienced in late spring. Choice has responded well with the rain received in December, providing high-quality feed for the lambs well into the new year. Since then, it has only been spelled once during late summer/autumn, allowing us to continually graze the crop with approximately 400 lambs on 9 hectares along with a ryegrass paddock next door.”
Puna II is a proven, persistent perennial chicory that performs reliably across moderate to high rainfall zones and under irrigation. With semi-erect growth and a robust taproot, it recovers quickly after grazing and maintains high feed quality through spring, summer and autumn.
For added versatility, Rocket Fuel™ blends chicory with proprietary red and white clovers to deliver a high-protein, high-energy pasture from spring to autumn. The clover component contributes nitrogen and supports feed density and quality over time.
Whether it’s the persistence, regrowth and palatability of Choice and Puna II perennial chicory, or the versatility of Rocket Fuel™, DLF Seeds perennial chicory options help lift animal performance, may reduce worm pressure, and help build pasture quality and diversity.
Also Read: UPL’s Low-Methane Rice Project Wins Global SBCOP Award at COP30
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