clover

dealerman

is it too late to sow clover or wats the best time of year thanks

reilig

dealerman wrote: »

is it too late to sow clover or wats the best time of year thanks

yes, I think its a bit too late. My farm advisor told me that teh best time to sow the clover was right after the first cut of silage and graze it well 4 weeks after sowing, and continue to graze it every 2 weeks after that.

Dunedin

dealerman wrote: »

is it too late to sow clover or wats the best time of year thanks

i have to sow clover as part of my Reps 4.

i know nothing really about sowing it.

is it shook like fertiser and then rolled? are there different types of clover to spread?

I was told that dry weather is not good to spread it - is this right?

reilig

Dunedin wrote: »

i have to sow clover as part of my Reps 4.

i know nothing really about sowing it.

is it shook like fertiser and then rolled? are there different types of clover to spread?

I was told that dry weather is not good to spread it - is this right?

I did some of mine in early july. Mixed it with granulated lime and fertilizer and spread it with fertilizer spreader. Covered it with a thin coat of slurry and then rolled. Its growing anyway.
It needs to be sown on ground that has very little grass cover (ie. directly after cutting first cut silage) so that it isn't smothered by tall grass and weeds. If you leave it too late then it risks a few threats like frost, ground getting too wet, poor weather for growth etc. etc.

snowman707

May is the ideal month if possible,

clover needs to be grazed little and often to establish properly

blue5000

Ya I'd agree with snowman, best take of clover I ever had was undersown with barley, sown early May. P and K levels need to be good as well, barley was sown at only 4 st/ac.

Dunedin what year are you in on the plan and when do you have to put it in by? I went in last yr and planner reckons this is year 1 until 31/12/10. If you went in last yr and clover has to be done by yr 2 you should be ok sowing it next yr, check with planner though.

leg wax

has anyone here ever sown red clover, waterford argi farm supplies has sown some last year in the fall on the way up to the shop.it looked very bad all winter and spring even the grass was suffering, but when the growth spurt came it took off.i am watching it all year and i am very impressed with its growth rate, it looks very strong and a rough clover.he gave me some seed and told me to throw it on the lawn in a very small patch as i had white clover already in the lawn to compare the 2 clovers, the red clover is growing at least 3 times the amount of forage as the white in my little lawn trial. so my question is how come we are not all useing red clover there must be a reason.

blue5000

I don't think its as persistent and bloat could be a problem, organic guys use it in rotation to fix N and make silage with it.I've no experience of it either except a wild patch in the lawn too!

reilig

leg wax wrote: »

has anyone here ever sown red clover, waterford argi farm supplies has sown some last year in the fall on the way up to the shop.it looked very bad all winter and spring even the grass was suffering, but when the growth spurt came it took off.i am watching it all year and i am very impressed with its growth rate, it looks very strong and a rough clover.he gave me some seed and told me to throw it on the lawn in a very small patch as i had white clover already in the lawn to compare the 2 clovers, the red clover is growing at least 3 times the amount of forage as the white in my little lawn trial. so my question is how come we are not all useing red clover there must be a reason.

Doesn't red clover cause bloat in cattle and sheep???
A few of teh organic guys sow it for silage crop and i think its safe when its in silage, but afaik when its eaten raw, it causes bloat.

dealerman

thanks for all the replys need to sow it for reps so will do it next year now after the silage

leg wax

yes i was told about the bloat problem as well,but now that most farms have water troughs in paddocks is there a product to counteract this that we can put in the water,whats the cost of prevention over the costs of saved nitrogen.

5live

I grew red clover with a grass seed mix about 10 years ago. Got it from Agritech i think based in tipp. It is not very persistent and the whole mix prob only lasts 4 to 5 years. Bloat is a massive issue but Bloatguard in the water 2 or 3 times a day stops it. It doesnt do well in drought and needs to be grazed about every 16 days i was told as the grass mix gets strong. The red peaks in year 2 and is halved on this level by year 5 is what i found. You can get a very good cut of silage from it in first 3 years but the fear of bloat in wet weather is a right pain

Sam Kade

Red clover works well with italian ryegrass for silage.

razor8

can you spread clover with a wag tail and how much per acre would you need to sow?