Longford Farming: Growing Red Clover to reduce costs and improve sustainability

With the current emphasis on improving sustainability on farms, growing a crop of red clover silage can play a role in reducing the carbon footprint and improving animal and crop performance on your farm.
There has been a significant increase in the number of farmers growing red clover silage in recent years as they are looking at ways of reducing costs, improving profitability and becoming more sustainable.
As red clover is a legume it has the ability to fix atmospheric Nitrogen, up to 200kg N/ha/year and make this Nitrogen available to plants growing in the soil.

This Nitrogen is free and is approximately the equivalent of 4 bags of 38% Protected urea/ac. By availing of this free Nitrogen you are offsetting emissions associated with the production and application of chemical Nitrogen on this silage crop.
Organic farmers use clover as a cornerstone of production on their farms and red clover is used by them to produce large quantities of high quality silage, and to build soil fertility in tillage fields by putting it in for 2 years as part of a rotation. Conventional farmers will use red clover for similar reasons with the added benefit of not having to buy chemical Nitrogen for this silage ground.

Fields typically chosen for red clover silage will really be targeted at growing 3 to 4 cuts of silage per year with very little or no grazing carried out, and if grazed only lightly grazed in the Autumn.
Red clover is a tall, upright plant with a deep root which doesn’t tolerate grazing too well, and it is for this reason it is best suited to silage fields.
Animal performance can be very good when cattle are fed red clover silage over the winter with live weight gains of 1kg/head/day achievable on this silage alone.
This compares very favourably with good quality grass silage where 0.6kg/head/day is the best possible with it.
To achieve a similar performance to red clover you would need to feed 5 to 6 kgs of meal per day along with good quality grass silage. This represents a significant reduction of meal costs if a farmer decides to make the switch.
If deciding to grow a red clover silage crop there are a number of issues to be aware of. It is best sown from April to July with earlier being better to reduce the risk of drought in June and July.

It is a hungry crop which has high demands for Phosphorus and Potassium. This can be supplied by applying slurry after each cut or every second cut and an application of FYM in the autumn. In the absence of slurry / FYM, these nutrients will need to be supplied through chemical sources. Any deficiencies in soil pH should be addressed by applying lime at sowing.
In the year of establishment the red clover should be allowed to flower before cutting to help root development and the growth of the bacteria that fix the nitrogen.

In subsequent years, cut the red clover silage crop between bud development and flowering.
It is really important to cut the crop at least 7cm above the ground as cutting any lower will kill the red clover plant due to its higher growing point.
Cut ideally without a conditioner and allow to wilt for 48 hours as red clover has a low dry matter, a low water soluble carbohydrate and a high buffering capacity.

It is typically a crop that lasts 4 to 5 years as the red clover dies out. It is recommended to reseed the field back to grass and white clover for another 4 to 5 years after red clover to reduce the risk of stem eelworm and clover rot.
Breeding ewes should not graze a red clover silage field around mating time due to the presence of oestrogens in the plant which can reduce lambing percentage. Bloat can also be an issue if animals are grazed on the red clover silage fields.
The DAFM Red Clover Silage Measure scheme is now open which pays participants €300/ha to establish red clover swards and applications need to be made when completing your 2024 BISS application.
If considering growing a red clover silage crop contact your local advisor for more information.

Teagasc provides a Local Advisory and Education service to farmers. They have offices based in Roscommon Town (Tel: 090 6626166), Castlerea (Tel: 094 9620160) and Longford Town (Tel: 043 3341021), You can find us on Facebook @Teagasc roscommonlongford and twitter @teagascRNLD. Email; RoscommonLongford Advisory@teagasc.ie