Both white and red clover have become key plants on many Irish dairy farms, with their importance only going to increase in the future.
Clover plays a key role in Irish agriculture, as it can help to achieve our emissions reduction targets and reduce our reliance on chemical fertiliser.
2022 could be described as ‘the year of clover’ for Irish farms, with a major push last year to increase its content in swards on many farms.
Clover
If you haven’t already done so, now would be a good time to start selecting paddocks that are suitable for establishing clover in 2023.
These paddocks should have a low weed burden and a high level of soil fertility.
Clover requires soil indexes of three for phosphorus (P) and potassium (K); it also requires a soil pH of 6.5.
It is also important not to select too much area to try and establish it in. These paddocks will need to be managed differently to all the other paddocks on the farm and will need to be grazed at the correct times.
Having too many paddocks like this will make it difficult – if not impossible – to manage. You should aim to have it planted in roughly 15-20% of the farm.
Weather depending, from next month and into May is the ideal time to sow clover, as typically at this time there is a combination of good sunlight and moisture available.
If you wait until June or July it is too dry and the seed won’t be able to penetrate down into the hard soil.
Bloat
A number of horror stories from last year with clover have made some farmers concerned about its use in swards on their farm.
Although its presence in swards does increase the risk of issues like bloat, good management practices can help to mitigate against these.
As mentioned, clover swards have to be managed differently to a grass-only sward, and one key thing to prevent is allowing hungry cows into a paddock with a high content of clover in the sward. This will likely result in gorging and lead to issues with bloat in cows.