White clover as cover crop

[Baling Hay]

I was thinking would white clover be a good idea as a permanent cover crop with spring cropping? You could direct drill a spring wheat crop each year directly into it and then when harvested the cover is there and fixing nitrogen for next year. Plus, you could apply roundup after drilling each year and usually the clover survives it!

 

[TelesnaAg]

Steak...im doing a trial this year of about 8-10 different clovers...idea is to spread them in the spring into wheat and see if they grow...then once harvested can graze or leave for a bit and bale...would like to drill into clover thats grazed down as well...the trash whippers you can get now are pretty good...the clover provides N for the wheat or barley and is good sheep feed...plus if you do spray it wilts to nothing so easy to sow into...a mate of mine in California grows lucerne with barley and the barley roots wrap around the nodules on the lucerne. He havests the barley then bales the straw with the Lucerne in it...dairy cockies love it as it has some roughage in it...

In high rainfall if i can perfect this technique the dollars will flow...at the moment i feel like im fighting the climate...chasing wheat with bare dirt clean rows...all when im never short of moisture...so instead of spraying weeds i will concentrate on growing N and sheep feed. thats my view anyway!!

Ant....

 

[Baling Hay]

Steak...im doing a trial this year of about 8-10 different clovers...idea is to spread them in the spring into wheat and see if they grow...then once harvested can graze or leave for a bit and bale...would like to drill into clover thats grazed down as well...the trash whippers you can get now are pretty good...the clover provides N for the wheat or barley and is good sheep feed...plus if you do spray it wilts to nothing so easy to sow into...a mate of mine in California grows lucerne with barley and the barley roots wrap around the nodules on the lucerne. He havests the barley then bales the straw with the Lucerne in it...dairy cockies love it as it has some roughage in it...

In high rainfall if i can perfect this technique the dollars will flow...at the moment i feel like im fighting the climate...chasing wheat with bare dirt clean rows...all when im never short of moisture...so instead of spraying weeds i will concentrate on growing N and sheep feed. thats my view anyway!!

Ant....

If you could post photos and share some of your experiences with this trial it would be much appreciated!

 

[TelesnaAg]

No worries...

Ant...

 

[Hartwig]

...a mate of mine in California grows lucerne with barley and the barley roots wrap around the nodules on the lucerne. He havests the barley then bales the straw with the Lucerne in it...dairy cockies love it as it has some roughage in it...

Any more info about that would be interesting as it looks to me unbelievable - wouldn`t the lucerne outcompete the barley, once it`s established ?? And barley seems to me the most sensible cereal with immediate reaction on any negative impact like competition, compaction, etc.

 

[TelesnaAg]

H...hes an older guy..him and his brother are 70 going on 21...always trying different stuff...they are big on straight stands of lucerne and also do organic barley...they supply alot of dairies...since they have perfected growing the lucerne in the barley...they just combine the heads of the barley then leave for a month..the light gets into lucerne and it pops up to same height as cut straw...they then cut and bale....get nearly the same $$ as straight lucerne!! this is in a very dry climate 200mm rain a year with irrigation.

Obviously they grow an aggressive barley variety that fly's along with the heat..then the lucerne variety is like a summer active planted in winter so it struggles along a bit...and a lower growing variety etc...i'd say its taken a few trials to get this right!! cant remember what spacings he is on either..but from what ive seen of strip till machines in the last few days id say they look the goods for this style of farming....

i actually got into looking at cover crops when researching how to get good faba bean yields...weeds are a big issue as its old dairy country...so i thought if i cant control in between the rows i may as well plant something so i'm controlling the situation instead of it controlling me!!

Ant...

 

[SilliamWhale]

You looked at pasture cropping colin seis etc.

 

[Tim May]

I'm doing a red clover trial this year I undersowed it with spring barley then I hope to harvest eith a stripper header and strip/mob graze weaned lambs on to it in Sept and October. Then leave it till March April time when I'll have to do something to check its growth to get another cash crop in. I'm toying with the idea of triticale if I can find a market. I've got resistant black grass in the field so I'm pretty sure I'll use a roundup dose around drilling to clean that up a bit. And it may need a graze as well. I went for red over white clover as there's more sheep food production and deeper roots. I came to this decision after not succeeding with August established cover crops I couldn't get enough bulk out of them because I couldn't drill early enough and the avaliable moisture was low.
My next plan is to undersow a crop with millet in may take the cereal crop of with a stripper header then take a millet seed crop with a stripper headet in September spray all the stubble with molasses and strip graze it over winter. If the millet didn't make harvest I'd graze the whole lot. A white clover could sit under all that lot very well.

 

[Knockie]

Broadcast some into spring barley with a grass harrow a few weeks back.
SD.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Tim that sounds awesome....would love pics...especially to see how the clover goes in amongst the barley...what spacings did u sow on?

I think there is one red leaf clover in the bunch I've picked out...also some arrow leaf as well...

Maybe you guys can help me with this...does grazing ewes on this before and when mating affect lambing rates? Some say its a wives tale?

Are u guys able to graze all winter or have to house stock etc...I can graze al winter now worries...

Knockie...I'm not following sorry?

Steak...I will sure post pics when I broad cast and the update as it grows or fails and I make a goose of myself....

Cheers, Ant

 

[Tim May]

This was a few weeks ago I took one today which I'll post in a bit. Spacing was 41/2" I think (36 in 6 meters) we bolted a grass seed box on the back of the drill and put it on that way.

 

[Tim May]

This was today.

 

[Hamishws]

Am I correct in saying that roundup won't kill the clover but it will stress it and cause it to release nitrogen to the soil? If so, roundup pre drilling barley sound into a clover lay all sounds pretty good on paper. Keep us posted.

 

[Tim May]

Yep the aim is not to kill but to stress. I'm not sure on the n release thing but I can believe it. I'm not sure how much n I'll get because I've put n on the barley along with sludge. But I'll get sheep food and root mass if nothing else.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Yep the aim is not to kill but to stress. I'm not sure on the n release thing but I can believe it. I'm not sure how much n I'll get because I've put n on the barley along with sludge. But I'll get sheep food and root mass if nothing else.

Tim...is there any chemical that kills clover but leaves the beans alone?

Is 7" spacings ok for beans? i broad casted mine this year in the trial as the seeder wouldnt run them out...its a new variety and they pretty big...

Ant...

 

[Tim May]

Don't know I leave that chemical stuff to the agronomists. Why do you want to kill the clover

 

[TelesnaAg]

Just want to know how to retard it ...and if grown in beans..will need to knock pretty hard so can harvest...

I have a crack agro so will ask him as well

I will watch the videos tonite..internet filter means cant see them at work...bugger..

Cheers...

 

[Tim May]

Reglome will do that job for you it just dose a burn down of the surface material and works for harvest kill off too. I won't kill the clover though.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Tim i hope to find a very low growing clover as i struggle with moisture being close to coast and i cant afford a grain dryer...usually get enough hot days...i don't care if i leave a few beans as they fatten lambs like crazy. Heavy trade to Export weights bringing 77-110 pound - so its good bucks...

Ant...

 

[TelesnaAg]

This was today.

Tim, cheers for the vids...I'm on the same page as you...interesting about using the stripper header...I can't afford one but will use some crop fingers on my front so I can harvest as high as possible...

When is started researching this I thought I was mad but it's good to see alot of guys in uk and US doing cover crops...I'm a clover fan as it grows well in my area and fixes nitrogen...plus lambs get fat on it....

Awesome work...will be interested to see how it kicks on once harvested...??

Ant..