Red clover seed

[milkloss]

I had a cutting mix in and it did 4 good years, 5 year burnt out

I found the same thing and I think it’s probably eel worm that causes the sudden kill.

Actually quite a good booklet by the adhb for everybody:

https://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/BRP-Managing-clover-manual-4-150716.pdf

 

[Great In Grass]

How about mixing white clover seed into the barley in the cattle trough?

No.

 

[davidroberts30]

No.

Just a thought for a handfull every few days so cows could spread it themselves

 

[Great In Grass]

Just a thought for a handfull every few days so cows could spread it themselves

It's been proven that it doesn't work, keep a 5kg bag on the quad or in the truck & throw a handful out as you travel, in the fields you want it obviously.

 

[hendrebc]

It's been proven that it doesn't work, keep a 5kg bag on the quad or in the truck & throw a handful out as you travel, in the fields you want it obviously.

How did they prive that it doesnt work? I know a few farmers that have done it and they say it works well
@Farmer Roy even told me that its common practice in australia to sow clover (probably not red though?) through cattle that way

 

[davidroberts30]

How did they prive that it doesnt work? I know a few farmers that have done it and they say it works well
@Farmer Roy even told me that its common practice in australia to sow clover (probably not red though?) through cattle that way

I feel a experiment coming along

 

[Great In Grass]

How did they prive that it doesnt work? I know a few farmers that have done it and they say it works well
@Farmer Roy even told me that its common practice in australia to sow clover (probably not red though?) through cattle that way

https://hayandforage.com/article-1193-thinking-of-feeding-seed-think-again.html

 

[Kevtherev]

How did they prive that it doesnt work? I know a few farmers that have done it and they say it works well
@Farmer Roy even told me that its common practice in australia to sow clover (probably not red though?) through cattle that way

It does work extensive research has been done on the subject.
White clover though I must add.
I’d rather see it broadcast and harrowed in or direct drilled myself.
(Clover likes to be shallow remember)

 

[Princess Pooper]

It's been proven that it doesn't work, keep a 5kg bag on the quad or in the truck & throw a handful out as you travel, in the fields you want it obviously.

Sorry, but white clover seed passed through cattle DOES work, in our case from them eating seeding clover in the silage aftermaths (daytime grazing) and passing it out onto night time grazing (permanent pasture, which has never been seeded with clover and is now full of modern large leaved types). We have loads of wc in the gateways, on tracks and anywhere else where cattle gather and defecate as a result.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Just a thought for a handfull every few days so cows could spread it themselves

It is better achieved with nice clovery hay, in some hay there is probably a bag of seed in each round, although it works it isn't greatly efficient IME - you would have better luck in a climate with dormancy with bagged seed
In saying that it still works well enough but there are likely better methods - the main issue we always found was much of the seed is pooped out in natural stock camps:
This is where the existing sward is strongest anyway due to stock trampling and not eating it down too far (AKA regenerative management) and the seedlings don't get a look in as a result.

Crack out the leccy fences and fence stock on slopes overnight and you soon get visible results of it having worked

Frost seeding is likely more effective in the abundantly damp UK than animal transfer because of competition and simply the way you guys graze and manage for wetness with spread out livestock - we have a different reaction to bunch ours up in the wet to allow damage to heal, as opposed to spreading them out to limit weight per acre - ours would roam and make more mud if we did that, confinement helps limit the roaming.

Mob stocking on the other hand, it is really easy to broadcast in front of the stock with a pelleter etc and much more viable seed hits the ground - but in saying that I have clover in some unlikely places simply from animal transfer. Plantain too.
It has simply come from another field via animal.

But bagged seed is a bit expensive to simply feed to stock and hope - seed is the only input we really buy, so I throw it around anyway there is far more potential in a bag of seed than a bag of fert or tank of fuel

 

[davidroberts30]

Right, so how many ways are there for this experiment then??i got 4 blocks of cattle,very little clover is these fields.
Can try 1 lot in the barley trough
Another i was going to see how low a rate the accord dl would go and sow it on the surface.
Obviously and sowing will need to be it wet/damp conditions

 

[Great In Grass]

It is better achieved with nice clovery hay, in some hay there is probably a bag of seed in each round, although it works it isn't greatly efficient IME - you would have better luck in a climate with dormancy with bagged seed
In saying that it still works well enough but there are likely better methods - the main issue we always found was much of the seed is pooped out in natural stock camps:
This is where the existing sward is strongest anyway due to stock trampling and not eating it down too far (AKA regenerative management) and the seedlings don't get a look in as a result.

Crack out the leccy fences and fence stock on slopes overnight and you soon get visible results of it having worked

Frost seeding is likely more effective in the abundantly damp UK than animal transfer because of competition and simply the way you guys graze and manage for wetness with spread out livestock - we have a different reaction to bunch ours up in the wet to allow damage to heal, as opposed to spreading them out to limit weight per acre - ours would roam and make more mud if we did that, confinement helps limit the roaming.

Mob stocking on the other hand, it is really easy to broadcast in front of the stock with a pelleter etc and much more viable seed hits the ground - but in saying that I have clover in some unlikely places simply from animal transfer. Plantain too.
It has simply come from another field via animal.

But bagged seed is a bit expensive to simply feed to stock and hope - seed is the only input we really buy, so I throw it around anyway there is far more potential in a bag of seed than a bag of fert or tank of fuel

 

[Kevtherev]

Right, so how many ways are there for this experiment then??i got 4 blocks of cattle,very little clover is these fields.
Can try 1 lot in the barley trough
Another i was going to see how low a rate the accord dl would go and sow it on the surface.
Obviously and sowing will need to be it wet/damp conditions

I usually put 1kg per acre overseeding clover
Not sure how low a rate your accord drill will go down to?
Rape setting would probably be the one to go for ?
Roll after or tread in with sheep

 

[Kevtherev]

Do you have a slug Pelleter on a quad David?
They work well to be fair [emoji106]

 

[davidroberts30]

I usually put 1kg per acre overseeding clover
Not sure how low a rate your accord drill will go down to?
Rape setting would probably be the one to go for ?
Roll after or tread in with sheep

I can get down to about 1.5kg of turnip seed

 

[davidroberts30]

Do you have a slug Pelleter on a quad David?
They work well to be fair [emoji106]

No

 

[Great In Grass]

I can get down to about 1.5kg of turnip seed

Bulk the RC seed up with some P&K Fert remember it will separate out so small amounts in the hopper

 

[joe soapy]

clover is fussy, at Gloucester, on the flat fields every cow pat would have clover plants growing from it at the right season,
we did some using vaderstadt as a direct drill with patchy results,

did another block with a tine weeder, took a year to show,

On the peaty ground, you can see the clover growing where bales have been fed.

This year its very noticable how different the fields with clover are when compared with those that dont.

trying to formulate an idea for a snackker type machine, scaled to suit clover seed and tied to front of mower tractor

shall have to tap up a seedsman for some sweepings to play with

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Sorry, but white clover seed passed through cattle DOES work, in our case from them eating seeding clover in the silage aftermaths (daytime grazing) and passing it out onto night time grazing (permanent pasture, which has never been seeded with clover and is now full of modern large leaved types). We have loads of wc in the gateways, on tracks and anywhere else where cattle gather and defecate as a result.

Even ensiling doesn't stop clover seeds, but chewing cud can
What I am doing at the moment here is feeding cattle silage during the day and putting them out onto breaks at night, not really the best to have them drinking out of puddles and creeks but it is the only way to get them down the back of some of the paddocks here - there is already clover striking from where they were on the first of May, and it is cold here (hence overnighting them down by the creeks) a portable trough is waiting to be picked up so that will aid what I can put where.

Some of the other clovers could be equally interesting to try if you are experimenting - harder seeded types like balansa and arrowleaf - remember the shorter they live, the better they get at reproduction - if we can step back and let them do it

Seedheads are seen as "poor farming" and yet farmers feed the seeds of crops to their animals for protein at considerable expense

gotta love farmers sometimes - big yellow taxi

 

[Kevtherev]

I did use pelleted clover seed many years ago and sowed it with a vicon varispreader.
Came very dry after and my thoughts were the pelleted seed caused it to fail.