Red Clover

I am, but this is my first year only 8 acres as a trial. I had a couple of very light cuts and a graze after drilling last spring and will be cutting it in 10-14 days.
Ive only got sheep at the moment and fed 100 doubles in one yard with them and they did too well along side 0.5kg of nuts, the lambs got too big. The bales ad-lib lasted a lot longer than pp hayledge, the ewes were very content.
I intend to put more in and work it into my small arable rotation and buy some weanlings to feed. Not the answer to your question though.


meant to say that it would have to be diluted fairish for suck cows I would of thought.
 

JMTHORNLEY

Member
Location
Glossop
I grow it, I love it. Used to feed about 2lb a day of 14% growers ration to my weanlings and replaced it with an Italian RC mix, first cut came out at 16% protein second 18% and third when the clover was so vast you could hardly see the grass along with it, it came back at 19.5%, I nearly fell over at the ME and D value of the stuff! I have totally replaced corn on farm and it had no N last year for any cut and mucked well in spring and back end. No N now and it's romping away

My sheep man loves the stuff for his stores, says he's never been able to fatten lambs in the middle of December before so easily.

Basically put as much in as you can, I've just banged a whole lot more in a few weeks ago it's wonderful stuff (y)
 
Fantastic crop. Am I right in thinking it needs to be allowed to flower at least once a year?! I had a ley in that produced some fantastic stuff, young cattle motored on it and fleshed as well as grew frame. I baled it mainly but did sell a cut to an AD plant. I could still see the next year where the silage trailers had run even though it was dry. Quite easy to damage the crown I think. I broke it up last year for wheat and it yielded the best of all the arable, likewise this year it is in spring barley and I'm sure it must be tapping into some residual soil N as it has established really well and looks the best of the spring crops. I'd be keen to grow more but have enough forage from fields entered into GS4 for stewardship so not really worth it.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I have a field of red clover & Westerwolds (had annual clovers as well until the winter), which is bulking up fast after being lightly grazed in March.

When should you cut it?
 
Dropped red clover in early seventies as could not get it to dry out fast enough to make hay for horses but now modern mower conditioners make it cure at the same rate as the grasses. Restarted it in 2008 during the last fertiliser price shock and now use it when rotation demands it in all new grass fields.

Needs warmth to get going in spring and cutting is about a month later than normal but carries on well into autumn . No artificial N used now so delayed cutting is a small price to pay. . Cattle especially young ones do very well on the high protein wrapped silage. First spring barley after grass/red clover also gets no artificial N
 

JMTHORNLEY

Member
Location
Glossop
I have a field of red clover & Westerwolds (had annual clovers as well until the winter), which is bulking up fast after being lightly grazed in March.

When should you cut it?
I try to aim at 3 just going into 4 leaf Neil. Seems to be a good trade off for protein content and fibre as I don’t have slurry storage facilities. Plus it slows the rumen function and maximises uptake. More time in the gut the better 👍🏻
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
I grow a fair bit , baled it up last year , made some good stuff but needs 2 days wilt and don't over Ted it , and keep the mower up a little , it's all about how you manage it after , having said that we have one field that had sheep eating hard at it all winter and it's come back this spring , somthing you should not do , it has thined it a bit mind , I put large leaf white in with mine , and some Hybrid Ryegass , works well with Hybrid Ryegass as it's a bit more open in the bottom and the Sugar's help the silage

A lot seen to cut it to late as well , see some dreadful stuff being sold at sales , like sticks , you can't cut red clover to early the first year but don't over egg it
 
I grow a fair bit , baled it up last year , made some good stuff but needs 2 days wilt and don't over Ted it , and keep the mower up a little , it's all about how you manage it after , having said that we have one field that had sheep eating hard at it all winter and it's come back this spring , somthing you should not do , it has thined it a bit mind , I put large leaf white in with mine , and some Hybrid Ryegass , works well with Hybrid Ryegass as it's a bit more open in the bottom and the Sugar's help the silage

A lot seen to cut it to late as well , see some dreadful stuff being sold at sales , like sticks , you can't cut red clover to early the first year but don't over egg it

Agree about leaving a longer stubble for red clover.

One farm I know of does not rake or ted their red clover- all mowed with groupers and left in a big swath.
 

Nenuphar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Ireland
I grow it with ryegrass and it’s a fantastic food in my opinion. Does make the cows quite runny though. It has anthelmintic properties and is used a lot in organic production as both feed and fertility building. It is second only to Lucerne for protein production if I recall correctly but it is far more robust to tolerating wet ground.
What was the % mix of red clover to ryegrass?

How do you manage grazing it? Would cows do too much damage or is it only for young stock? I would intend to get two/three cuts of silage off it and one grazing late in the year.

Any issues with bloat?
 

Nenuphar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Ireland
I grow it, I love it. Used to feed about 2lb a day of 14% growers ration to my weanlings and replaced it with an Italian RC mix, first cut came out at 16% protein second 18% and third when the clover was so vast you could hardly see the grass along with it, it came back at 19.5%, I nearly fell over at the ME and D value of the stuff! I have totally replaced corn on farm and it had no N last year for any cut and mucked well in spring and back end. No N now and it's romping away

My sheep man loves the stuff for his stores, says he's never been able to fatten lambs in the middle of December before so easily.

Basically put as much in as you can, I've just banged a whole lot more in a few weeks ago it's wonderful stuff (y)
Do you put out liquid slurry or dung or both? No extra P&K?
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
Remember with Red clover grazing ewes near to tupping time can have an effect on fertility but some graze with no problems.
Don’t cut or graze red clover to low as it can damage its crown.
Sheep puddling it on very wet weather it doesn’t like much.
Take care tedding red clover leys as the leaf can get lost easily losing potential protein in the process.
(These are tips I’ve picked up from growing it myself and on customers farms not something I’ve read on TFF and regurgitated it as my own knowledge)
 

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

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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/
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