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Triumph 2 Year Red Clover - 2 years optimum production
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Triumph 4 Year Red Clover - 4 years optimum production
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Red Clover Leys
Red Clover is a much underrated and valuable legume that has rightly had a resurgence inuse in recent times. Red Clover is a high protein, 15 - 21%, highly digestible forage and its upright growth habit is well suited to cutting and/or rotational grazing. It provides high yields, typically 12-15 tonnes DM per hectare per annum when grown with companion ryegrasses and persists for up to four years.
Using Italian and tetraploid ryegrasses high in Water Soluble Carbohydrates(WSC) (Sugar)as companions helps alleviate the problems associated with ensilinig low sugar content red clover. As well as aiding silage fermentatin the trygrasses improve yield, reduce weed ingress, give poaching protection if grazed and provide insurance in the event of later deterioration in the clover content through pests or disease. They can still achieve a reasonable yield utilising the high amounts of Nitrogen released from the clover.
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Sowing, Establishment and Management
- Red Clover grows on a wide range of soil conditions but is well suited to moisture retentive medium and heavy soils.
- Soil pH needs to be 6.0 or above and soil P and K indices at 2 or above to maximise growth
- Sow from April to early August. Spring sowings can be undersown with a spring cereal, at reduced seed rates, which can be for grain or wholecrop, preferably the latter.
- Shallow sow into fine, firm tilth and roll well. A small amount of N is beneficial in getting the crop started and to sustain the grass seedlings.
- 2-4 cuts for conservation cn be taken from late May - early June, after bud development, or 2 cuts followed by rotational grazing. Avoiding cutting too low which will result in crown damage. Ensile at 25-30% DM to minimise wilting losses.
- To improve root development, N fixation and longevity try to leave cutting in establishment year until after full flowering or if sown in Summer lightly graze in Autumn with lambs or young cattle.
- Yearly fertiliser applications of 100-150kg/ha of phosphate and 200-300kg/ha of potash preferably split between two applications are required
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Advantages of Red Clover Leys
- Utilisation of fixed Nitrogen by companion grass. Nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere via it’s root nodules reduces or eliminates the need for fertiliser Nitrogen
- Red Clover/ryegrass ley yields are comparable to grass only leys receiving 200kg to 250kg Nitrogen/ha
- The forage of high nutritive quality reduces the need for concentrate feeds. Typical red clover/ryegrass silage analysis:- Crude Protein 14-19%; ME10-11 MJ/Kg DM; pH4.0-4.5
- The feed intake for cattle and sheep is higher for red clover/grass silage compared to grass only silage.
- Feeding Red Clover/grass silage compared to grass only silage results in increased milk production in dairy cows and faster liveweight gains in beef cattle and lambs
- Red Clover Leys improve both the soil fertility and structure with beneficial effects for subsequent crops.
- Increases farm profitability with the added plus of using a traceable home grown protein.
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