Herbal leys for dairy cattle grazing

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Only if it was red Clover and you were organic .White clover never been more than 1.5 kg acre in most mixtures.
Why would being organic effect the amount of clover you use , just cut this ,I have fields that are full of white clover
Sheep farmers in particular will ask for extra white clover and the cost of Nitrogen is pushing more to go that way
20210823_140347.jpg
 
Last edited:

DairyGrazing

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North West
2 pics, 1 plantain, 2 chicory, both been grazed x5 this year, both sown last autumn, and the plantains are on really dry ground. Perhaps the biggest shock, is how easy they are to establish, they nearly out grow weeds. Chicory is spreading round the farm, just by putting a bit in with the N.
cows love them, no problems with them eating them.
we tried vetch, in 1 ley, it came, they ate, it went, although sown with h/rye, it did extremely well, and the two together, yielded 15ton/acre, and we have a superb crop of maize, sown behind it.
in the grazing leys, just plantain and chicory, and very pleased with them, as we are a dry farm, and suffered badly, the last 3 yrs, we are giving them a go, along with cocksfoot, fesques timothy, and 'drought' tolerant prg, unfortunately, or thankfully, this wasn't the year to test them for drought conditions All l can say is they have grown very well, and competed with prg leys, in the grazing rotation.
What has been very noticeable, is prg is very prone to sending up a seed head, very quickly, when stressed, the others, don't, which lengthens the rotation, which we have found allows grass/herbs and clover, to develop more root, which in turn, makes the plant more resilient.
Expanding the range of herbs, we were going to try a real diverse mix, but son not quite so keen now, the chicory plantain and clover, is giving very good results. Trefoil, grows wild here, and it grows where there is no competition, as does wild vetch, both of which look 'straggly' and weak, some of the 'others' l know nothing about. As we draw closer to the end of the grazing period, my impression is they have given, along with the 'dry' grasses, a more even feed, than prg, they don't throw up seed heads so readily as prg.
Fully agree much more info on them, from beef/sheep, aspect, but here, they tend to really grow, as prg slows down, exactly what we wanted/needed. With loads of clover, as in first pic, they make an ideal feed for cows, rather than some of the more mature pics, of beef pasture !
The real drawback, is weed control, no spray to use, so it's down to spot spray, and topping, all in all, l think it has been a success, and we will keep including them, possibly with a grazing type lucerne.
If you don't try it, you will never know, and these 2 seem to germinate and grow, just by spinning on, though the first ones were properly drilled.
View attachment 981947View attachment 981950

Where do you get your seed from? How do you establish your reseeds and do you do any spraying? Thanks
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Where do you get your seed from? How do you establish your reseeds and do you do any spraying? Thanks
usually ring round, NWF, pearse seeds and mvf
use a combination of ways for reseeding, d/drill, tine worked, and xdrilled, or, if we can't avoid it, ploughing
A good application of round-up, if at all possible'
ploughing kills off soil microbes worms, and fungii, we are really dry, so improving soil health and structure, is important, it helps retain water. We do all the reseeding ourselves, to make certain there's no one else to blame for a mess up. We don't cut any corners, a reseed is to expensive to go penny pinching.
spraying weeds, with clover and herbs, is definitely not on the menu, so either lose the goodies, to kill the docks etc, or, keep the topper going.
cotswold seeds, have a very informative catalogue, explaining about herbs etc, well worth a read.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
P
this is what happens when you misjudge the amount of chicory, sown this spring, and 7th grazing, cows don't leave much, a before and next feedView attachment 982340View attachment 982341.
How much would you say is the correct amount, Plantain don't do as well here , I put in a diverse mix of clover and use Tertraploud Grass so it's not as dense in the bottom
The main thing I've learnt is not to go near a field with Herbs until the weeds are sorted ,especially Docks
 
Last edited:

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
P

How much would you say is the correct amount, Plantain don't do as well here , I put in a diverse mix of clover and use Tertraploud Grass so it's not as dense in the bottom
The main thing I've learnt is not to go near a field with Herbs until the weeds are sorted ,especially Docks
reckon .5 kg should be enough, it's tiny seed, with a high germination rate. We have put both in leys, but never really see both doing well, together, at the same time, they seem to peak growth, at different times.
l actually think you need as dense a sward, as you can, to help smother out weeds.
Perfectly certain plantain would grow here, we have loads of wild plantain, and has proved to be the case, chicory was a gamble, that paid of, vetch didn't.
But weed control is a bugger, there isn't a spray, so spot spray, or topper. I think we have learn't, over the last 3 summers, we have kept our dry cows, and i/c hfrs, very tightly stocked, strip grazed, with a back fence, tight, as in bare soil residual, it is amazing how tight you can keep them, in the correct condition score, the spin off, they cleared the docks, to ground level, and continue to chomp them off in the herd, nice green young docks, are 25% protien, so l am told.
Drilling grass today, without herbs/clover, might/will be a serious dock problem in this field, so they will be spun on, after a spray !
All in all, they grow readily, easy to establish, bugger with weeds, stand regular grazing, and the cows seem to love them.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
reckon .5 kg should be enough, it's tiny seed, with a high germination rate. We have put both in leys, but never really see both doing well, together, at the same time, they seem to peak growth, at different times.
l actually think you need as dense a sward, as you can, to help smother out weeds.
Perfectly certain plantain would grow here, we have loads of wild plantain, and has proved to be the case, chicory was a gamble, that paid of, vetch didn't.
But weed control is a bugger, there isn't a spray, so spot spray, or topper. I think we have learn't, over the last 3 summers, we have kept our dry cows, and i/c hfrs, very tightly stocked, strip grazed, with a back fence, tight, as in bare soil residual, it is amazing how tight you can keep them, in the correct condition score, the spin off, they cleared the docks, to ground level, and continue to chomp them off in the herd, nice green young docks, are 25% protien, so l am told.
Drilling grass today, without herbs/clover, might/will be a serious dock problem in this field, so they will be spun on, after a spray !
All in all, they grow readily, easy to establish, bugger with weeds, stand regular grazing, and the cows seem to love them.
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
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,293
  • 1
As reported in Independent


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

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top