- Location
- East Sussex
Much of our grassland has a very high Clover content and is completely unfertilised and I was wondering if there are other areas of the country where similar systems operate.
It does require a high level of grazing management to maintain these types of swards and two factors that help are that we have an indigenous species of Clover and Ryegrass that withstand very high summer stocking density.
While we are mostly on good land, a similar system can be maintained on poorer ground if the Ph is kept on the alkaline side.
The grass and clover in this area has adapted to these systems over the centuries but are very rarely harvested these days for seed. The grass is Kent Perennial Ryegrass and the Clover is Kent Wild White, both used to be kept by the local seed firm but are no longer on any lists. The Clover was sent to New Zealand and I believe was the basis for many of the small leaved white clovers that are grown there. Pollination was an issue as there was only one Bumble bee that was the pollinator, unfortunately the Badgers did for the species here, but it still survives in NZ.
Are there any other areas where a similar system occurs?
It does require a high level of grazing management to maintain these types of swards and two factors that help are that we have an indigenous species of Clover and Ryegrass that withstand very high summer stocking density.
While we are mostly on good land, a similar system can be maintained on poorer ground if the Ph is kept on the alkaline side.
The grass and clover in this area has adapted to these systems over the centuries but are very rarely harvested these days for seed. The grass is Kent Perennial Ryegrass and the Clover is Kent Wild White, both used to be kept by the local seed firm but are no longer on any lists. The Clover was sent to New Zealand and I believe was the basis for many of the small leaved white clovers that are grown there. Pollination was an issue as there was only one Bumble bee that was the pollinator, unfortunately the Badgers did for the species here, but it still survives in NZ.
Are there any other areas where a similar system occurs?