Grazing clover

DanM

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Country
I suppose I’d better run this past the experts too, before I let the smallest store lambs & replacement ewe lambs in….

Red, crimson & berseem clovers with some stemmy Westerwolds for fibre. Not tried if before, but it never crossed my mind not to put ewe lambs on it for a while:

View attachment 982717
If I was you I wouldn’t risk it… I’ll begrudgingly offer to sacrifice a truck load of sheep to graze it off, just to help you out. Won’t even charge you😉
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
If I was you I wouldn’t risk it… I’ll begrudgingly offer to sacrifice a truck load of sheep to graze it off, just to help you out. Won’t even charge you😉

If only you’d made that generous offer earlier….


F6C144FB-B7D9-4002-96C1-431FB587CE5A.jpeg
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Looks fairly dry with you Neil missed most of the rain I guess?

Just enough rain, at the right time, to keep everything hanging on. Getting short again now, but it can wait til we finish combining now.🤞

The clovers above, and the turnip field put in a month later, or all droughted out for 5m out from the woods.
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
Just enough rain, at the right time, to keep everything hanging on. Getting short again now, but it can wait til we finish combining now.🤞

The clovers above, and the turnip field put in a month later, or all droughted out for 5m out from the woods.
Lot of dead circles of grass here under ash trees.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
The lambs will do just fine on the clover just keep an eye on them regularly.
Red clover not an issue only for ewes near tupping but most sheep men know this.
Even then 'the phytoestrogen thing' is usually blown out of proportion.

My main concern would be how much of a dietary change it is for the lambs from whatever it is they're grazing now, especially if allowed unlimited acres for the first few days

we all know what summer lambs are like, 101 new ways to die, if they have had lots of clover previously they will transition much better than if they have not
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Even then 'the phytoestrogen thing' is usually blown out of proportion.

My main concern would be how much of a dietary change it is for the lambs from whatever it is they're grazing now, especially if allowed unlimited acres for the first few days

we all know what summer lambs are like, 101 new ways to die, if they have had lots of clover previously they will transition much better than if they have not

Mine have been moved on from a very high protein crop in the next door field. There was some seedling ryegrass, some young clover……. and a good crop of fathen that was 3’ tall.
Dry ewes can hammer that down now.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Mine have been moved on from a very high protein crop in the next door field. There was some seedling ryegrass, some young clover……. and a good crop of fathen that was 3’ tall.
Dry ewes can hammer that down now.
That makes good sense. We lambed 300 hoggs last year and then they all went "home" at weaning, the hoggs went onto stubble and the lambs went onto red clover (standalone fertility building crop on an arable block) and apparently the lamb losses were 'significant'.

This was early summer, our pasture quality was 'OK' but really focussing on getting quantity for summer as opposed to quality for sheep and lamb finishing because that wasn't the plan.... hence the carnage. Luckily we were already paid...
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
and just for a laugh at me, when we started our livery, and horse hay diversification, we were actually trying to get rid of the clover ! I can assure everyone, it's a lot harder to get rid off, when established, than to put it back in. Having seen the light, we are back in a saner world, horses gone, dairy back in, spending money sowing clover again, or are we in a saner reality ? not so sure, sometimes, but l don't regret the horses going.
 

inkd.n.feral

Member
Livestock Farmer
No it would probably kill it but a lot of farmers cut red clover then graze the aftermath , have you not seen clover come back after the field as been cut
just popped my ewe lambs on to a patch that had been cut july, fair bit of clover some red. debating taking them off as per what ive read here regarding tupping as already heard this in the last week, first year keeping sheep myself and no known issues here previously but this field also hasnt beem grazed regularly
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
just popped my ewe lambs on to a patch that had been cut july, fair bit of clover some red. debating taking them off as per what ive read here regarding tupping as already heard this in the last week, first year keeping sheep myself and no known issues here previously but this field also hasnt beem grazed regularly
This is mine a few days after cutting ,it's certainly grows away quicker than grass, wi graze it with cattle next
20210831_133259.jpg
 

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