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Detailed information and articles on grass seed and related matters |
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Red Clover/White Clover and Cocksfoot Mixture
The Free Nitrogen Lunch!
• Nitrogen Fertilizer – Dramatic rise in price – now approaching £300.00 per tonne.
• Cost of bought in protein zoom
• Wheat price trebled in last two years
What should farmers do to mitigate these DRAMATIC extra costs?
ANSWER – Produce home grown protein feeds
Legumous plants are the best source owing to their ability to utilise the plentiful supply of free nitrogen available (80% of AIR IS NITROGEN). We are referring to :
Firstly the larger legumes of which the most popular is RED CLOVER . This is now estimated to occupy 60,000 hectares in the UK and is the main stay for those farmers currently utilising forage legumes. Besides providing large yields of high quality silage, red clover is a wonderful preparation for growing a cereal crop.
Other more specialised large legumes are LUCERNE, primarily a cutting crop with very high yields of high protein material and SAINFOIN which is suitable for both cutting and grazing.
SAINFOIN is a particularly good feed for young growing stock owing to its very high palatability.
WHITE CLOVER for grazing is still the most important source of home grown protein. Owing to its palatability there is an increased intake by animals compared to grass.
Of course the symbiosis of white clover and grass means a high yield WITHOUT ANY NITROGEN applied. In research by SAC it was shown that grazing a mixed sward of clover and grass cost two thirds of grazing a pure sward of grasses. This was before the present DRAMATIC increase in cost of Nitrogen fertilisers.
Again a further benefit is using the ploughed up sward to grow cash crops at reduced cost.
- by Ian Wilkinson of Cotswold Seeds
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