Large leaf clover in sward can be worth up to £54 a cow
Large leaf clover in sward can be worth up to £54 a cow
By Jessica Buss
Very large leaved white clover varieties with long stalks will tolerate reasonable levels of nitrogen and increase cow yields by two litres a day.
So Kingshay Farming Trust researcher Charlotte Carter told visitors at a farmers weekly open day at the trusts base, Crewkerne, Somerset. The increase in milk yield was achieved with 25-30% clover in the sward, andit was worth £54 a cow, she said.
"Long stalked clover varieties can compete with grass and bag fertiliser does not need to be stopped," she said. Nitrogen was applied at a reasonable rate of 340kg/ha (270 units/acre).
Total sward yield was reduced slightly at this level of N, but it was more profitable than higher N levels where clover was competed out, because milk yields were higher on the clover sward, she explained.
However, Mrs Carter said swards should include clover varieties and grass varieties which were compatible. There is a difference in how varieties work together, the best grass and clover mix is worth £52 a cow more than a poorer one, she added.
At Kingshay, mixtures of a single ryegrass variety and a single clover variety were sown in plots and monitored for yields of clover and ryegrass, disease resistance and grazing preference of cows.
Ms Carter also warned that soil pH was critical for clover. The top 5cm (2in) must be at a pH of 6.5 or above; below pH6 clover would disappear.
Docks were also difficult to control in clover swards; two clover safe products used to control docks were almost as effective as one that killed clover last year. However, by this spring docks had increased to half their initial numbers with the clover safe sprays. A second dose of the sprays had recently been applied to see if a two dose strategy was effective in the longer term.
But Ms Carter said that using clover safe sprays was more profitable than not at all, again because of the increase in cow yields from the clover swards.
Kingshays Charlotte Carter… better use of clover is worth £54 a cow.