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After last summer’s drought when most farmers in Co Down had run out of fresh grazing, things have turned full circle and a lot of lower-stocked farms find themselves with far too much grass.
I am among those who are struggling to manage swards, and baling extra silage is highly unappealing since I have more bales than needed to see out the entire winter. At current rumoured prices for 4x4 rounds, there’s no point in indulging in a loss-making exercise just to tidy up a few acres.
Apart from fields that were earmarked for silage, next to no fertiliser has been spread this season, which is something of an embarrassment to me, since it looks as if the farm is grossly under-stocked.
A small amount of cattle slurry and poultry litter were spread, mostly on silage stubbles, and this burst of growth has just increased the pressure of keeping grass swards from getting too heavy.
Agenda
I have no idea if it’s because of last year’s conditions, or this year’s damp and mild situation, but clover is firmly back on the farming agenda.
I have been trying for years to encourage clover to choke my grass swards to death, mostly with very little success. And after almost giving up on trying to establish clover-rich grassland, lo and behold it seems to be everywhere at the moment.
Fields that were reseeded in recent years with extra clover are looking splendid and riding through them on the quad is a real pleasure, with the bumble bees rising off the flowers on sunny mornings. However, it is some of the previously non-clover rich pastures that are most impressive, with magnificent displays suddenly appearing from nowhere, making it look as if I know how to grow this valuable little plant.
However, the other side of the clover coin concerns anyone who has a grassland weed problem. Docks are probably the biggest deterrent for anyone trying to establish a clover-rich sward, because the effectiveness of a dock-specific herbicide usually runs parallel with its ability to wipe out clover (particularly young plants).
The term ‘clover-safe’ is a bit misleading, and should really translate to ‘will either severely check clover, or else will be nearly useless at controlling weeds’.
The only solution I can recommend for anyone with a dock problem wanting to grow clover would be to plough the field for a minimum of two years (ideally in spring cereal) and roast the life out of the docks with a suitable herbicide.
On this farm, creeping thistle is more of a problem than dock, and I find myself caught between a rock and a hard place. Striking a balance between clover retention and slightly weedy fields is one of those farming compromises.
There is always the temptation to blanket-spray a dirty grass field since this will remove nettle, thistle and buttercup, but it will undoubtedly sting the clover.
If we ignore those weeds the clover may proliferate, but the field could be hard to look at.
Spot-spraying is a sort of halfway house and one that is increasingly finding favour with me as I get older and more aware of my environmental responsibility, but it’s not that simple. Any time I spray small parts of fields I usually miss other areas where weeds are small, and three weeks later it looks like I haven’t been there at all.
I suppose the answer is to decide on an acceptable number of grassland weeds and not to use herbicide until this threshold has been reached, which will hopefully be after several years. But for any clover junkies wanting a quick fix of leafy clover swards without docks, thistles, nettles and all the rest, there are no simple answers.
Assuming no new and effective sprays are developed, the only long-term alternative I can think of is equally unlikely – it relies on science being given more of a free rein in this part of Europe, and the development of a genetically modified, herbicide-tolerant, strain of clover. I’d guess, however, that trying to sell that idea to the massed ranks of hysterical environmentalists would be no easy task.
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