Using Red Clover in the Silage Sward
Aidan and Luke Maguire farm just over 46 hectares of good free draining land near Navan in Co Meath. They are operating a Dairy-Calf to Beef enterprise with a high stocking rate of 2.8 LU/ha on the whole farm. Aidan was Teagasc Drystock Grassland Farmer of the Year in 2021.
With the price of nitrogen rising in late 2021, Aidan began to research ways in which to reduce chemical N for 2022. He had heard about the benefits of both white and red clover in grassland swards. But he was worried about the impact of incorporating clover in the swards and reducing chemical N use on the quantity of grass the farm would grow, particularly as he is operating at a high stocking rate on the farm.
After consultation with their local Teagasc Advisor, David Argue and DairyBeef500 Programme adviser, Fergal Maguire, they decided the benefits of incorporating clover outweighed the risks. So a plan was formulated to reseed five acres of their silage ground with a red clover mix and incorporate white clover into an existing reseed through oversowing.
The red clover sward was sown on the 1st may and the mix was 12 kg of perennial rye grass and 4 kg of red clover. To date the red clover sward has performed exceptionally well, delivering 3 cuts of silage and two grazings in the Autumn. In total, it has grown over 10 tonnes DM/ha since it was sowed on the 1st of May. The only fertiliser that this red clover sward has received is 3 bags of 10-10-20 at sowing and 2,000 gallons of slurry after each cut of silage. Aidan has been so impressed with the red clover silage that he reseeded another 5 acres of silage ground with red clover in August. The average DMD of the red clover silage is 74 DMD. Aidan would normally use about a tonne of CAN along with slurry to fertilise five acres of silage annually, which is a considerable saving with the clover. Aidan firmly believes that red clover silage swards will have a massive role to play on Irish farms to reduce our dependence on chemical N, significant cost saving for the farm and reducing greenhouse gas emissions also.