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Teagasc Moorepark Grass - Clover Research programme - update

Teagasc Moorepark Grass - Clover Research programme - update

The grass - white clover research programme at Teagasc Moorepark is comparing herbage and milk production from three pasture-based systems, all stocked at a whole farm stocking rate of 2.74 cows/ha. Researcher Dr. Deirdre Hennessy & Ellen Fitzpatrick (PhD student) give an update on the programme.

The three experimental treatments are:

  • grass-white clover receiving 150 kg N/ha
  • grass-white clover receiving 100 kg N/ha
  • grass-only receiving 250 kg N/ha.

Current pre-grazing herbage mass is 1750 - 1900 kg DM/ha and post-grazing sward height is 4.2 cm. Herbage production to the 12 October 2020 is 12.7 t DM/ha on the grass-only treatment,  12.5 t DM/ha on the grass-white clover 150 kg N treatment and 12.3 t DM/ha on the grass-white clover 100 kg N treatment.

Current sward clover content for is 29% on the grass-clover 150 kg N/ha and 30% on the grass-clover 100 kg N/ha. Cows on the grass-only 250 kg N/ha treatment are producing 16.43 kg milk and 1.45 kg milk solids, while the cows on the grass-white clover 150 kg N/ha treatment are producing 16.23 kg milk and 1.58 kg milk solids and the cows on the grass-white clover 100 kg N/ha treatment are producing 15.60 kg milk and 1.46 kg milk solids.

 Grass 250Grass-clover 150Grass-clover 100
Milk yield (kg/cow/day) 16.43 16.23 15.60
Milk solids yield (kg/cow/day) 1.45 1.58 1.46
Pre-grazing herbage mass (kg DM/ha) 1900 1850 1750
Post-grazing sward height (cm) 4.2 4.2 4.1
Current sward clover content (%) - 29 30
Herbage grown to 12 Oct 2020 (t DM/ha) 12.7 12.5 12.3