The Clover Reporter with Laurence Sexton
The Grass10 team continue the weekly new section of the newsletter, The Clover Reporter. This week it's the turn of dairy farmer, Laurence Sexton. These farms are continuing to establish more clover into their grass-clover swards for animal performance and nitrogen reduction gains.
Name: Laurence Sexton
Location: Kilbrittain, West Cork
Enterprise: Dairy
Soil Type: Dry – Free Draining
% Farm In Clover: 70% (90ha)
% From Reseeding: 45% (40ha)
% From Oversowing: 55% (50ha)
Clover content 2021: 15.5% on 90ha
Clover varieties: Cheiftain, Buddy, Aberhearld (medium leaf) and Coolfin (small leaf)
Seeding Rate/Ac: 2.5kg/ac - oversown, 1.5 kg/ac - reseed
Methods Used: Oversow – Einbock and Broadcast, Reseed - One-pass
Why Clover?: White clover is a way to reduce artificial nitrogen thus reducing costs. During the summer of 2021 a saving of 50 units of N/acre was achieved and hopes to save more in 2022
1st Rotation Management: Grazed high clover paddocks first to leave light down to the base to give the clover plant the best possible chance to start growing.
Laurence's Top Tip For Clover: Lime, Lime and more Lime followed closely by phosphorus and potassium. Having the right soil fertility is key to getting clover on any farm. Poor soil fertility is a recipe for disaster.
Find out more from Teagasc here about Clover
Find out about all the previous farmers who took part in The Clover Reporter here