The establishment and management of white clover through over-sowing

Dairy farmer, Jim White, and grassland researcher, Mike Egan, join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the establishment and management of white clover through over-sowing. Mike recommends that dairy farmers make a plan to establish white clover for the grazing platform and can target up to 25% of the platform with a combination of a full reseed with perennial ryegrass + white clover and over-sowing white clover in existing grass swards. Jim established 16% (11 of 67 ha) of his milking platform with white clover through over-sowing in 2021. He explains that key to the success of establishment was grassland management, measuring the milking platform every 5 days during the peak grazing season and grazing at a cover of 1,100-1,200 kg DM/ha. Mike explains that there are 3 components that determine the success of over-sowing: nutrients (adequate soil fertiliser pre-sow), moisture (for up to 6 weeks post-sow) and light (to assist germination, establishment and persistence at the base of the sward). For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2021/Management-and-establishment-of-grass-white-clover-swards.pdf For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com