Extra clover can transform your sward

We have only a few ewes left to lamb, so I should be done by the end of the week.

All ewes and lambs are outside on a diet of grass only. We are grazing in three main groups this way we do not have to divide paddocks with temporary fence and we still get out of paddocks in three to four days.

Grass growth is not bursting out of the ground we still have to utilise what we have carefully, with nothing extra being closed for silage.

With a yard full of bales since last year, I do not need extra bales.

The limited amount of grass available now is possibly due to delaying the second round of fertiliser by a week.

We first spread urea on March 21 and now we have spread two bags of 18-6-12 on most of the grazing ground.

We have closed off ground for silage since April 16. This was all grazed out well by the ewes before closing. It received two and a half bags of Cut Sward per acre and should be ready for cutting the first week of June.

We have two paddocks sprayed off to re-seed. One was where we had a crop of fodder rape over the winter. This will be sown next week, with just a drainage pipe to be put in place now.

We will also put in another water trough so the field can be easily grazed in two divisions. We intend using Top 5 Extend with extra clover, 2kg per acre.

Extra clover can add valuable nitrogen to grazing swards. Bacteria in the clover’s roots take nitrogen from the air and ‘fix’ it to a form which is available to grass. The higher the clover content, the greater the amount of nitrogen fixation.

The hard part I find is to keep clover present in the sward.

Grass will grow when the soil temperature is 5-6° Celsius, but temperatures have to be 10°C for white clover to grow. As a result the white clover content of grazing swards tend to be quite low early in the year but it really comes into its own in late April and into May.

Due to the seasonal growth habit of white clover, grazing management is important to keep it growing in grazing swards, especially when it is grown with perennial rye grass.

To maintain a good clover content

It amazes me how the dry hoggets are able to find a weak part in the fence, then they are gone, and always into a good field of grass. But another few days with the post-driver, then watch out ladies, I will be back in control!