Herbal leys for dairy cattle grazing

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
I put Plantain and Chicory in together, Chicory come well but no much plantain, my idea with the Tertraplouds is to sow them first and get rid of anyweeds hopefully the first year then overseed the herbs and Clover in ,, I can't do it first year as I don't think I can overseed Legumes after Flyroxypur
it's a learning curve, trial and error here. But, it's a new thing we are trying, or perhaps resurrecting, few years on, we will have the job sorted !
Now we should be thinking, what's the next 'new' plant, to solve are woes, giant docks, would be a good one, l definitely know l can grow them, with little trouble. Or perhaps, fat hen, related to a cereal, very easy to grow, in fact here, wouldn't even need to sow it, it appears all on it's own !
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Chicory is like a dock.

It can force your hand to grazing timings in a rotation.
Leave it too long it goes woody and unpalatable.

I would imagine a complete grazing rotation with it in would be nightmare to manage!
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Depends how wet and soil type , but remove Sainfoin and Lucerne from the mix
It's not excessive to include a little Chicory and Plantain in your normal seed mix and see how it gets on
Lucerne in a mix?

Can't see that even getting established with even a small amount of competition, but I maybe wrong.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Chicory is like a dock.

It can force your hand to grazing timings in a rotation.
Leave it too long it goes woody and unpalatable.

I would imagine a complete grazing rotation with it in would be nightmare to manage!
Dock is Buckwheat family , Chicory is Daisy Family ,so don't think they are related, unless you know better
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Chicory is like a dock.

It can force your hand to grazing timings in a rotation.
Leave it too long it goes woody and unpalatable.

I would imagine a complete grazing rotation with it in would be nightmare to manage!
think l would agree with that. It's growing like a weed, but now towards the end of the grazing season, it is tending to bolt, cows will nibble the leaf's off, and leave the stalk. So topping will/should help with that.
It's a learning curve, but the main reason for us including it in a ley, was to utilise the long tap root, to go down, and find moisture, in a dry time, l can assure you, it grows well in a damp time, we haven't had a dry time, although our ground water reserves, are very low. We haven't tried digging to see, how far that tap root goes down, as we are prone to panning, chicory might help there.
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
think l would agree with that. It's growing like a weed, but now towards the end of the grazing season, it is tending to bolt, cows will nibble the leaf's off, and leave the stalk. So topping will/should help with that.
It's a learning curve, but the main reason for us including it in a ley, was to utilise the long tap root, to go down, and find moisture, in a dry time, l can assure you, it grows well in a damp time, we haven't had a dry time, although our ground water reserves, are very low. We haven't tried digging to see, how far that tap root goes down, as we are prone to panning, chicory might help there.
Have you ever considered an amount of Tall Fescue in your grass ley mixtures?

With a tap roof up to 1.5mtr it will withstand both drought and waterlogged conditions.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Have you ever considered an amount of Tall Fescue in your grass ley mixtures?

With a tap roof up to 1.5mtr it will withstand both drought and waterlogged conditions.
yes, got some in. We have had a very dry, 3 summers, and have tried 'all sorts' to try and mitigate that, but, we mightn't have another, for years, that is farming for you, prepare for one thing, and the opposite happens.
But, in general, prg has not been very successful in dry weather here, it has either died out, or just keeping putting up a seed head, as it has been 'stressed', this year, prg has tended to synchronise its self, which is a pia, when trying to keep the grazing rotation 'right'. The inclusion of 'other', and less prg grasses, have given us a better, or more even growth, in the rotation, from that point of view, they are far better, than the normal prg/w clover leys, and yet, the 'experts' would tell us the opposite.
But, next year could well be totally different, and l expect, if you took an average, over several years, prg/clover leys, would come out on top. Certainly, l have never known 3 summers, so dry, in a row before, even going back to 75/6, our stream kept running, it is dry now, our old spring/reservoir system, is defunct, no water, thankfully gone over to a borehole.
It all comes down to risk aversion, do you gamble on the dry summers, being over, or not, climate change zealots, would tell us desertification, is the new norm, hopefully, we have a 'compromise' in place !
 

dairyrow

Member
What would you put into river pastures then? Floods in the winter and drys up in the summer. Thought chicory doesn't stand floodng very well
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
yes, got some in. We have had a very dry, 3 summers, and have tried 'all sorts' to try and mitigate that, but, we mightn't have another, for years, that is farming for you, prepare for one thing, and the opposite happens.
But, in general, prg has not been very successful in dry weather here, it has either died out, or just keeping putting up a seed head, as it has been 'stressed', this year, prg has tended to synchronise its self, which is a pia, when trying to keep the grazing rotation 'right'. The inclusion of 'other', and less prg grasses, have given us a better, or more even growth, in the rotation, from that point of view, they are far better, than the normal prg/w clover leys, and yet, the 'experts' would tell us the opposite.
But, next year could well be totally different, and l expect, if you took an average, over several years, prg/clover leys, would come out on top. Certainly, l have never known 3 summers, so dry, in a row before, even going back to 75/6, our stream kept running, it is dry now, our old spring/reservoir system, is defunct, no water, thankfully gone over to a borehole.
It all comes down to risk aversion, do you gamble on the dry summers, being over, or not, climate change zealots, would tell us desertification, is the new norm, hopefully, we have a 'compromise' in place !
I believe your not keen on Festuloliums , am I correct
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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