Clover the Best Option for Summer

Clover the Best Option for Summer

Peter Burton

20th September 2010

Pasture provides the lowest cost feed and thirty years ago we were told that it was a total feed, nothing else was required.

It became apparent, particularly during spring when wet and cold dominated and each minute of direct sunlight was savoured, that increased energy made available to stock was rapidly devoured and often resulted in improved performance.

At that time there was no easy measure of plant energy nor were there any well-publicised techniques for increasing the amount of energy able to be converted by plants.  Pasture can vary markedly in energy from one property to another depending on nutrient inputs and management.

A continuous balanced uptake of all major and minor nutrients results in growth with highest potential for the manufacture of usable sugars or energy.  To maximise this ability leaf surface area is vital with greater leaf surface area an advantage.

To achieve this a grazing interval of around 30 days during September and early October usually provides best results providing pastures do not exceed an average height of 15cm or 6 inches.

This is the length that provides animals with the best balance between quality and quantity and the greatest intake during their grazing period.

Rapidly growing pasture plants at this time are high in nitrates and protein.  During the first week in November rye grasses go from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, a natural process that no amount of intervention or persuasion is able to change.

At this time pasture grown in soils where conditions are suitable for clover growth will start to become clover dominant.  Soil temperatures above 20°C, strong sunlight, and reasonable moisture favour clover growth.

From November until soil temperatures decline in late March, a strong well-managed clover sward has a number of advantages.  It has the ability to grow more total dry matter.  Typically the protein content is also markedly higher.

Digestibility of clovers is greater than most other pasture plants and with higher levels of calcium and magnesium, two essential major growth elements, animals produce more and grow more rapidly.

These advantages were however secondary to the main advantage gained over pastoral farmers, particularly those in Europe, the ability to fix sufficient nitrogen for pastures to sustainably grow more than 18 tonne of dry matter annually.

The monitoring work undertaken with pastures using CalciZest and DoloZest as energy replacements for fertiliser nitrogen have, over a number of years, shown that sustainable yields of pasture at close to 18 tonne are still achievable.

The Vallance Research Project, primarily focused on nitrate leaching, will provide a range of other measures to support farmers and growers observations of increased yields containing higher energy, more even growth throughout the year, less pest and disease pressure, and higher total farm performance.