National Dairy Conference Questions Answered: Clover seeding rate

Establishing clover in existing swards was a hot topic at the dairy conference. Questions like the following were asked: What amount of clover seed should be in a mix for mid season reseed? Teagasc Dairy Specialists and farmer speakers answer questions like this here on Teagasc Daily this week

Establishing clover in existing swards was a hot topic at the dairy conference. Questions like the following were asked:

What amount of clover seed should be in a mix for mid season reseed?

The recommended seeding rate for clover seed is 2 kg per acre (5kg per hectare) of unpelleted white clover seed. Research and indeed the experience of the farmer speakers suggests that early to mid-April is the best time to over sow with clover seed.

Kevin Moran's answer

According to farmer speaker Kevin Moran, “You need a longer interval between establishing covers and building covers for the autumn – sowing in July doesn’t give you this opportunity. Next spring they will get 2½ -3,000 gallons of slurry/acre in late February and will be over sown after their second grazing. I manage them exactly the same as non-clover swards until they’re over sown. After over sowing, we’ll apply ½ bag per acre of 18:6:12 after each grazing for the next four rounds. We’ll graze them every 14 days at around 1,000 kg DM/ha.  We’ll start to extend the rotation after around four grazings (from mid-June onwards) so we’ll graze them at approximately 1,400 kg DM/ha and apply approximately 14 units N/acre from then on.

You might also like the answer to this question from last week Are you considering red clover?

See more on the Virtual Dairy Conference 2021 here.

The complete Dairy Conference Proceedings can be viewed here and the individual articles were published on Teagasc Daily throughout last week. See Teagasc Daily - Dairy for more.