How to establish white clover in grazing swards

Recorded live from the 2020 Virtual National Dairy Conference, this week’s Dairy Edge podcast features dairy farmer John MacNamara and grassland researcher Mike Egan to discuss how to establish white clover in grazing swards. John has begun establishing white clover on his grazing platform to reduce the requirement for chemical N, increase MS per cow and maintain herbage production and enhance quality. Mike outlined the methods of introducing white clover including a full reseed, broadcasting and stitching in. Mike explained that the full reseed is the gold standard method for white clover establishment although a combination of all three is necessary if moving from 0 or low % clover because it is not practical to reseed greater than 15-20% of a stocked milking platform in one year. Both John and Mike identified key considerations for someone who is interested in integrating white clover including regular grass measurement, good soil fertility and high perennial ryegrass/low weed swards. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/