Will clover take well when direct drilled into permanent pasture.

[LTH]

I was wanting to improve some of the permanent cow pastures and was wondering how well clover will take just direct drilled in, not the sort of field I want to turn over but would like to put more clover into it. Does it take well like this or not really?

 

[hally]

I was wanting to improve some of the permanent cow pastures and was wondering how well clover will take just direct drilled in, not the sort of field I want to turn over but would like to put more clover into it. Does it take well like this or not really?

You need to open the sward somehow if its a dense pasture, it doesnt take well in dense permanent pasture. Cut bare will do it or seriously heavy stocking rate before and after drilling

 

[lazy farmer]

You need to open the sward somehow if its a dense pasture, it doesnt take well in dense permanent pasture. Cut bare will do it or seriously heavy stocking rate before and after drilling

Absolutely right.
You need to hammer it back one way or another first. Perhaps dry stock?
if it isPP will the ph be suitable for clover ?

 

[LTH]

Absolutely right.
You need to hammer it back one way or another first. Perhaps dry stock?
if it isPP will the ph be suitable for clover ?

You need to open the sward somehow if its a dense pasture, it doesnt take well in dense permanent pasture. Cut bare will do it or seriously heavy stocking rate before and after drilling

It gets bared off by sheep and lambs then grasses up and we strip graze it with cows. It was limed in the last couple of year’s so should be fairly good ph although probably want checking. I know when we’ve direct drilled grass seed in to silage fields it’s a waist of time or looks like it has been anyway. just wondering if clover took any better. Do you find adding more clover makes it bounce back stronger due to locking more nitrogen in or not a great lot of difference.

 

[onesiedale]

We spun some on pp about 10 years ago after a serious grass harrowing. For the next 5 years I was convinced I'd wasted my time, then slowly but surely it's come and is now one of our best grazing paddocks.

 

[lazy farmer]

It gets bared off by sheep and lambs then grasses up and we strip graze it with cows. It was limed in the last couple of year’s so should be fairly good ph although probably want checking. I know when we’ve direct drilled grass seed in to silage fields it’s a waist of time or looks like it has been anyway. just wondering if clover took any better. Do you find adding more clover makes it bounce back stronger due to locking more nitrogen in or not a great lot of difference.

That will depend on how much fert you are using. If your looking to grow more grass I would ditch the white lice. They are at the very least making your winter longer.

 

[LTH]

That will depend on how much fert you are using. If your looking to grow more grass I would ditch the white lice. They are at the very least making your winter longer.

Don’t need to grow more grass it can end up getting away on them at times, just wanted to improve quality going in to boost milk quality and volume a bit without reseeding

 

[Beef farmer]

That will depend on how much fert you are using. If your looking to grow more grass I would ditch the white lice. They are at the very least making your winter longer.

Seen the price of sheep at the moment. Its like selling milk for 50ppl

 

[hally]

It gets bared off by sheep and lambs then grasses up and we strip graze it with cows. It was limed in the last couple of year’s so should be fairly good ph although probably want checking. I know when we’ve direct drilled grass seed in to silage fields it’s a waist of time or looks like it has been anyway. just wondering if clover took any better. Do you find adding more clover makes it bounce back stronger due to locking more nitrogen in or not a great lot of difference.

Must admit i don't like doing it in the spring, the speed of growth of the old pasture generally swamps the seeds unless it is totally knackered. Also get more success later on when the natural grass growth curve is going down.
Clover seed doesnt all germinate at once so can surprise you when you think it has been a disaster.

 

[Barmyfarmer]

Thought your meant to chuck it in the slurry store and spread it that way

 

[deere 6600]

I ve direct drilled with moore clover mixed with a wee bit of grass seed , mixed some in with spring fert and also put some in with lambs creep feed all methods have had various success as with all overseeding competition with existing grass is an issue and sometimes it's a year or two before you see the results which in our case has been variable

 

[Jdunn55]

We have dd some hybrid ryegrass and red clover into old permanent pasture which is just used for cutting the hybrid ryegrass has done amazingly well but not seen much clover, but that could be because it went in too late or its waiting to get going in a months time once the grass has been cut.

Graze it hard, grass harrow it multiple ways and direct drill into it and dont give it any fertiliser, and I would reccomend late summer when grass growth is slower rather than now when its gearing up

 

[betweenthelines]

I find that if you get the P & K levels right, the clover will come through

 

[som farmer]

we scratched red clover into old pasture, came up 2 seasons later, the seed will just sit there, until it decides the times right.

 

[LTH]

Looks doable then, just got to do it at the right time and hope they come through.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It gets bared off by sheep and lambs then grasses up and we strip graze it with cows. It was limed in the last couple of year’s so should be fairly good ph although probably want checking. I know when we’ve direct drilled grass seed in to silage fields it’s a waist of time or looks like it has been anyway. just wondering if clover took any better. Do you find adding more clover makes it bounce back stronger due to locking more nitrogen in or not a great lot of difference.

A wee bit better. Generally PP finds it's own equilibrium (higher in carbon, lower in nitrogen) than a ley, because the ley is for such a short timespan.

Agree that you're pretty much farting against thunder trying to put a few pounds of grass seed into a grass field that can produce 4 tons of seed a year though - whereas clovers and even brassica seeds just sit there waiting for an opening and then pop up, the grass seed will rot away while it waits for that opening.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

we scratched red clover into old pasture, came up 2 seasons later, the seed will just sit there, until it decides the times right.

Whoops, should have read the whole thread and then I would have seen you said what I was going to say

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Put the seed on their bucket of cake when you milk them before they go out onto that field, you’ll probably get a better take or strong patches that will then spreed. Spend more on seed and save the drilling cost

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I was wanting to improve some of the permanent cow pastures and was wondering how well clover will take just direct drilled in, not the sort of field I want to turn over but would like to put more clover into it. Does it take well like this or not really?

In a lot of cases clover will come itself if the environment is favourable for it to do so , so make sure thats correct, but adding more seed to the seed bank can only be a good thing . Clover seed is relatively cheap . To give you an idea how Hardy it is a lot in the US sow in when the ground is frozen

 

[steveR]

We spun some on pp about 10 years ago after a serious grass harrowing. For the next 5 years I was convinced I'd wasted my time, then slowly but surely it's come and is now one of our best grazing paddocks.

It really does take a bloody long time doesn't it!