Your clover swards are not like your grass swards and so, they should not be treated in the same manner – meaning a plan must be put in place to protect your grass clover swards.
Many farmers’ focus at this time of the year is extending the grazing season and building average farm covers (AFC), but grass clover cannot be managed in the same way as grass alone.
Grass clover swards pose a threat at this time of the year, as the risk of bloat is very high, so farmers should try and avoid moving cows from grass paddocks to high clover content paddocks if at all possible.
The post-grazing sward height should be kept at 4-4.5cm.
Identify high risk paddocks and monitor cows closely when they are grazing those paddocks, keeping a close eye during the high risk period.
In order to reduce the risk of bloat occurring, farmers need to be consistent, reemploy the strip wire when allocating grass, use bloat oil, include fibre in the diet and manage the grazing group to avoid gorging.
Managing clover swards
Over the last number of years, there has been a surge of demand for more clover incorporation on Irish dairy farms, which has reduced many farmers’ reliance on chemical nitrogen (N).
The uptake of grass clover swards has no doubt been a positive factor for farmers.
Many farmers are unaware that clover has to be treated differently, as your grass clover paddock needs to be closed at a different cover to your grass only swards.
Over the winter months, farmers aim to carry a heavy AFC, which in turn, allows for an early spring grazing.
Where clover has been sown and is incorporated in paddocks, carrying a heavy cover over the winter will likely result in the plant dying out due to lack of light.
Farmers need to aim for a light AFC when it comes to clover paddocks to ensure the plants survival of the winter months.
To ensure this, the best thing to do, is to graze these paddocks late in the rotation, which may involve some planning for your autumn rotation.
By doing this, the paddocks will have low covers during winter months, which will allow light to continue to reach the bottom of the sward – keeping it alive for another season.
Grass clover must not be viewed in the same light as grass only paddocks, and these measures need to be implemented into your grazing targets and AFC targets for the remainder of the year.
