Grass clover swards were originally seen as a way of increasing milk solids from cows, but the use of clover on farms has now shifted.
Clover has now become the buzz word in Irish agriculture to reduce chemical nitrogen (N) input and, thus, reduce emissions from the sector.
Day two of the recent Teagasc National Dairy Conference focused on economic and environmental performance on Irish dairy farms along with grazing management and clover establishment.
Milk solids
Speaking on a panel discussion at the National Dairy Conference, Ger Pardy a dairy farmer from Birr Co. Offaly gave an overview of clover on his farm.
Ger originally began to use clover in swards to increase milk solids production from cows. Ger has seen how clover could increase milk solids by about 30kg/cow.
Ger said: “We did not consider environmental benefits of clover when we first started establishing it on the farm. We started using clover to increase milk solids.
“It was not until this year that we began to reduce the amount of nitrogen (N) we spread on these paddocks.
“We have seen that they can grow as much grass, with less chemical N. I was worried at the start but we have not had any issue with reduced growth rates.”
Clover trial
Brian McCarthy a researcher with Teagasc gave an overview of the clover trial at Clonakilty, Co. Cork.
The trial has been looking at grass and grass clover swards production with different rates of N.
With the trial having four separate areas of study: Grass only low N (150 units); grass only high N (250 units); grass clover low N (150 units); and grass clover high N (250 units).
The swards receive the same amount of N until June when half the rate is applied to the low N areas.
The trial determined that a similar amount of grass can be grown in a low N grass clover sward, compared to a high N grass sward and high N grass clover swards, with 14.6t of DM/ha grown in the low N grass clover sward.
Showing that forage levels can be maintained with less N being required.
Win-win
Summing up, Steward Childs, a dairy specialist with Teagasc stated: “If we look at Ger’s points as to why he initially went with clover – was that extra 30kg of milk solids.
“If we put that at €4/kg of milk solids that is €120 extra that can be generated by every cow on the farm if we are grazing high clover swards.
“You marry this breeding better stock to increase production further, we can see how we can advance farm profitability at farm level, which will allow us to achieve our environmental target, without compromising farm profitability.”