The clover trial in Clonakilty is comparing pasture growth and cow performance when clover is incorporated into tetraploid and diploid grass varieties.

The trial has just completed its third full year and this year’s performance is in line with other years, showing substantial increases in milk solids and pasture growth when clover is included in pastures.

Cows in the clover treatments produced an extra 55kg of milk solids per cow at 505kg/cow, while the cows on grass only swards produced 450kg of milk solids. Both groups were fed about 400kg of meal.

cows on the clover treatments who have produced 50 kg more milks solids per cow

The cows on the clover treatment were fed and extra 200kg of silage though, and most of this was fed in the spring to supplement pasture deficits in the clover swards. In total, 637kg of silage was fed to the cows on the tetraploid/clover treatment, while 441kg of silage was fed to the tetraploid only treatment.

“We did the last grass measurement on 14 November and our average farm cover was around 650 kg DM/ha so we finished grazing then and cows have been housed since," said Teagasc researcher Brian McCarthy. "It was a good year and we are happy with the performance of the herd especially the cows on the clover treatments who have produced 50 kg more milks solids per cow than cows grazing the grass-only treatments, which is consistent with the last few years.”

One of the biggest challenges with clover is having sufficient average farm cover in spring, as clover tends to die back over winter.

Farm visit

I visited the farm last Thursday and there is no evidence so far of any die back. But the weather has been very mild so far so this is to be expected. The farm is also close to the sea, so hard frosts are not as common. However, significant clover die back has been experienced in previous years at Clonakilty.

Fertility this year was excellent, with a six week in-calf rate of a staggering 86%. When you factor in replacement heifers, it means that almost all of the herd will calve in the first six weeks.

The cows are in excellent body condition score. The fattest cows are being fed silage and straw to prevent them from getting too fat.

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