Herbal leys

wdah said:
has any research ever been done to see what grass cattle prefer to graze
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1432262160642629632
Plenty of it done. The third pic in that tweet shows both the targetted grazing residuals and the actual residuals of the different grasses under trial.
fyKLB16.jpg

There's a lot of work done on palatability of grasses, it's included in the recent approved grasses list.
 
Funkeyfarmer said:
Short life span 4-5 years from what I've read and been told. Plan to keep topping to a minimum. I'd normally only top a field once a year anyway just to even up the grass and knock back docks and thistles. If it works out I'll probably just look to spray off and stitch in a new crop in 4or 5 years.
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That would be disappointing whereas in a normal reseed, 8-10years plus would be reasonable.
 
Ozzy Scott said:
It seems to always be done well, especially when PRG is doing poorly. Brings fibre to the party which is very important, as pointless having PRG running through animals and they not able to make use of it. Timothy will also do well in harsh conditions and were soil wouldnt do well with PRG. Its a grass like oats. Pity some of the newer varieties in NZ and Oz are available here yet
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Found that too, healthier stock overall - also mixed leys seem to be hardier when your dealing with drought etc.
 
Rusty Spade said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1432262160642629632
Plenty of it done. The third pic in that tweet shows both the targetted grazing residuals and the actual residuals of the different grasses under trial.
fyKLB16.jpg

There's a lot of work done on palatability of grasses, it's included in the recent approved grasses list.
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I take it that shorter bars are more palatable. Was there any figure for those varieties of feed value? Most palatable not necessarily the best feed value but then if they don't want to eat it high feed value doesn't matter when grazing.
 
nashmach said:
That would be disappointing whereas in a normal reseed, 8-10years plus would be reasonable.
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The grasses and clovers would still be there, the plantain and chicory will need to be added in every 4 or so years. And overseeding doesn't seem to have good results so far from any of the lads I follow about it on Twitter.

Whether the grasses used would be good enough to give good yields as just a grass/clover sward or would need a whole reseed is still unclear but the mixes, for the most part, seem to be using grasses from further down the recommended list rather than further up, bar one I've come across with Xenon.
 
Paw said:
I take it that shorter bars are more palatable. Was there any figure for those varieties of feed value? Most palatable not necessarily the best feed value but then if they don't want to eat it high feed value doesn't matter when grazing.
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The shorter bars seem to indicate the cattle are content to eat it down to lower covers due to it being more palatable while the higher bars would indicate less palatable grasses, I would say? There might be more on feed values on the recommended lists, it's been a while since I looked.
 
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nashmach said:
That would be disappointing whereas in a normal reseed, 8-10years plus would be reasonable.
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Yeah that's the down side saying that I've grass less than 8 years old that probably need to be reseeded now too I would hope the reduced cost of fertiliser will balance out the cost of resending
 
I suppose if you were in a rotation where you plant cerials on 15-20% of the farm, herbal lays would be just the job in the rotation.
Always planting the oldest herbal lay into cerial.
And plaid correctly could have a quick catch crop for out wintering and herbals in in spring? Save poaching and hammering the herbals
 
Well folks. Thinking of stitching in abit of herbal lay into a field that was reseeded 2 years ago so the grass is good just want to add abit of extra. Might add more white clover for the extra N and thinking of plantain for the worm burden. Anyone any opinions or anything else to add.
 
Reggie. said:
Well folks. Thinking of stitching in abit of herbal lay into a field that was reseeded 2 years ago so the grass is good just want to add abit of extra. Might add more white clover for the extra N and thinking of plantain for the worm burden. Anyone any opinions or anything else to add.
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Was at a talk on a research farm who were doing experiments in herbal leys. Insane amount of a variety in the field.
But what they found was that lambs coming off 'dirty' grazing onto the herbals had no noticable drop in worm burden!
They hadn't run lambs through from birth on it yet. But it isn't the magic drench avoidence they say it is.
 
Reggie. said:
Well folks. Thinking of stitching in abit of herbal lay into a field that was reseeded 2 years ago so the grass is good just want to add abit of extra. Might add more white clover for the extra N and thinking of plantain for the worm burden. Anyone any opinions or anything else to add.
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As for stitching in.
You need it sown. Then geaze it like a snooker table untill the seeds have taken hold so they have a chance to compete.
 
AYF said:
As for stitching in.
You need it sown. Then geaze it like a snooker table untill the seeds have taken hold so they have a chance to compete.
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I've had good success with stitching in. I'd say it will be fine
 
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Reggie. said:
I've had good success with it stitched in. I'd say it will be fine
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Good to hear. My experience of stitching comes from over seeding grass, none of it was much of a success.
Herbs can probably compete better
 
Reggie. said:
I've had good success with stitching in. I'd say it will be fine
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There's a group on Facebook for multi species. Some of the contributors claim to have had good results (and have posted pics and videos) from stitching it in but the consensus seems to be that a mix with a lower number of species will be more successful than one with a high number. eg. 6 species mix stitched in performs better than a 16 species mix.
 
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