Red clover

Looking to sow some red clover as a protein crop,any information on soil type,timing regards sowing and mowing would be helpful.Going to try direct drill to establish.:unsure:
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Lime (aim for better than 6.5), really good indices and a bit of N to get it started maybe. No docks......... they love growing with RC and can't be controlled at all.

Not very experienced growing it but that's what I'd aim for.
 
Spot on with lime @milkloss it doesn’t like acidic soils much.
P&K important in seedbed for good establishment.
PH spot on so is P&K ex maize ground,little bit heavy maybe but will give it a go, Feeding to beef cattle as round bale silage,when is the best time to sow,dose it need a warm seed bed or will get going early?
 

Dog Bowl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cotswolds
Cut when fairly leafy and you'll produce absolute rocket fuel. You would benefit from a bit of ryegrass in with it to aid fermentation when ensiled. If no grass in the mix then wilt it well, don't ted it unless necessary and Rake it with a dew on it to reduce leaf shatter.
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Is it wise to put a companion crop with it?
Yes.

Grass is the most commonly used, RC helps to improve the nutritional balance particularly with grasses of a high WSC content. Grass also helps to reduce poaching. Nitrogen losses can also be reduced by a fair amount due to the utilisation of the fixed N by the grass.

With seed costs a little over £44.00/acre what's not to like!
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
PH spot on so is P&K ex maize ground,little bit heavy maybe but will give it a go, Feeding to beef cattle as round bale silage,when is the best time to sow,dose it need a warm seed bed or will get going early?
Sow when soils have warmed up in April.
Often sown with grass either hybrid ryegrass or Italian ryegrass.
Don’t cut too low or this damages the crown of the plant.
Careful raking needed after wilting to avoid leaf loss.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
The reason for using a companion grass is that Red Clover can be difficult to conserve on its own, choose a higher Energy Tetraploid grass to aid fermentation, decide how long you want the grass to last before choosing Either an Italian or longer term grass and try and match the heading date so it matches the the maturity of the clover, dont take the first cut first year until flowering of the clover and choose an early variety
 

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
Red clover certainly lasting a lot longer than it used to, I have one dairy customer sows a lot of rc/ hybrid mix and we used to often go and direct drill more clover into his leys, last time I went was to drill in the hybrid as the clover had outlasted it
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Yes -probably hybrid ryegrass best. Will be competitive, improve fermentation and balance the high protein.
I know Hybrid and in some cases Italian Ryegass are very popular companions but Red Clover is slower getting away than grass in the spring , needs warmer soil. I would be looking into a Tertraploed Intermediate that has a later Heading Date Such as Explosion with a very high Sugar Score
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
We have a mix of Lofa, Perseus, Perun and Red Clover which is the UK's first mixture to contain 100% Ryegrass Plus grasses!

In terms of yield Lofa for example will yield 21.69 T DM/HA (Perseus 22.68T) as opposed to 17.37 T DM/HA for a Perennial Ryegrass.

Bet it's not cheap? Sounds like a proper job though.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Bet it's not cheap? Sounds like a proper job though.
Depends who you buy it off Lol
We have been doing that mix for a long time and trade in the UK lol

Abd just remember the point in hand . Hi index grass . High Sugars to aid fermentation. Why did we used to put molasses onto silage
No gimmicks just select two high index grasses and keep it simple
 
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