Is it too late to stich in clover.

[Sir loin]

Was thinking of feeding clover seed mixed in with some oats/barley to my finishing lambs as a way of stitching in some clover to help combat next years nitrogen costs. With climate change giving us milder winters would this be a waste of time and money?

 

[Great In Grass]

Yes, about 2 months too late.

Do it properly in the spring once ground temperatures have reached at least 10C & overseed properly with some type of machine.

 

[Sir loin]

Yes, about 2 months too late.

Do it properly in the spring once ground temperatures have reached at least 10C & overseed properly with some type of machine.

How soon after establishment do they start to fix nitrogen? And are some varieties better at fixing nitrogen than others (leaning towards white clover)

 

[Great In Grass]

How soon after establishment do they start to fix nitrogen?

A well established plant from late spring onwards.

I think Red Clover seed could be in short supply next year, White is already flying out the door!

 

[neilo]

Was thinking of feeding clover seed mixed in with some oats/barley to my finishing lambs as a way of stitching in some clover to help combat next years nitrogen costs. With climate change giving us milder winters would this be a waste of time and money?

As above, far too late this year. But also, ime, it’s a complete waste of time trying to do it in sheep feed anyway, although some claim to have had success with cattle.

Whenever I’ve tried it with sheep, it’s been mixed with especially palatable sheep minerals in a bucket, and fed ad-Lib. The only place any additional clover has come, has been where they’ve shovelled some out of the bucket onto the floor (the same as broadcasting would do).

My theory is that it will obviously pass through the sheep, but probably germinate in the damp sheep droppings, which then dry out and kill the seedlings off. A sloppy cowpat is a much better seeding environment perhaps?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Was thinking of feeding clover seed mixed in with some oats/barley to my finishing lambs as a way of stitching in some clover to help combat next years nitrogen costs. With climate change giving us milder winters would this be a waste of time

Seed most likely would stay dormant till the spring , the risk being if we got an early warm spell then frost after , but it would have to be a prolonged warm spell to lift temperature s enough for germination
I'm doing some trails on frost seeding in late winter to see how that goes, with sheep you need a heavy stocking rate at the start so it's well trampled in