Planting multispecies or red clover under the new measures?

Many farmers will be reseeding in the coming weeks. Some will be preparing to plant multispecies swards and red clover under the new schemes and in an effort to reduce artificial nitrogen use.

Planting in an appropriate site and preparing the seedbed correctly are essential.

If the soil is not at optimum levels from the start or is not fed the appropriate nutrients, then it could be an expensive scheme to take part in as the crops will not establish properly.

There is no point getting €125/ha to plant multispecies swards if you have to reseed the field in two years because you hadn’t taken a soil sample. Here are a few things to consider when planting.

What should the soil pH be?

Soil pH is a crucial factor to be considered when planting clover. The soil pH needs to be at 6.5 or above. Having soil at the correct soil pH will make other nutrients more available from the soil and allow plants to work to their optimum.

Remember, lime can be applied to the seedbed but it will not increase the soil pH immediately, so if you are reseeding it may be worth applying lime in the year previous in accordance with soil test results.

Where should P and K indices be?

Ideally, you should plant crops with clover into soil at index 3 for both phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). This way, there is a good source of nutrients coming from the ground and maintenance rates can be applied to keep indices at those levels.

While additional fertiliser can be applied to build indices, this is not a year to be doing that with such high prices.

Remember to make use of organic manures and incorporate slurry or farmyard manure into the seedbed as soon as possible.

Remember, if you haven’t taken a soil sample you have to assume index 3 for phosphorus, so you can only apply a maintenance rate.

The field has a dock problem. What should I do?

Herbicide options are limited when it comes to crops with clover, so a good course of action is to choose a field with relatively low weed populations.

If you are planning on reseeding, preparation should really start in the previous crop. For example, if there are docks in a field, it may be worth spraying with a dock-specific spray in the season before reseeding.

The crop can then be sprayed with glyphosate ahead of reseeding.

Ploughing offers another method of control as seeds can be buried, but consider when the field was last ploughed as some seeds may still be viable.

Should I spray off the field before planting?

Spraying off the field can help to reduce weeds, make it easier to till and take out old grass.

If the field is being planted with reduced tillage methods, like discing for example, then spraying off is essential.

Glyphosate has significantly increased in price (by about 200%), so if you are ploughing and the field has been grazed tightly and weed incidence is low there may be an opportunity to leave out glyphosate.

However, you need a good operator on the plough to make sure that the sod is being buried. Spraying off the field is a good option.

Should I plough the field?

Ploughing is generally recognised as one of the best ways of establishing a new grass sward. It gives good control of weeds and buries the old sod, but there is a lot to consider.

Firstly, many farmers have great success with discing and, very importantly, this may help to reduce carbon loss from the soil.

Ploughing will burn a lot of diesel, which is high in price and in demand at present. However, some farmers often end up discing numerous times, and at a good depth, so may end up burning significant amounts of diesel as well.

If you applied for the measures, what happens next?

The Department has been informing applicants if they were successful under the scheme in recent days. They will get a letter which can be brought to the seed supplier when purchasing the seed. The letter details how much seed can be purchased under the measure.

The applicant must submit a sales declaration form to the co-op or retailer. This will include the name and herd number of the applicant and the quantity of seed approved and purchased.

The seed supplier will be reimbursed for the cost of the seed. You will only receive the number of bags which the Department has designated for that area of land under the scheme.

Seed must be purchased by 31 August and established by 30 September.

The 12kg bag should contain the following:

What seed rate should be used?

The Department is only including 12kg bags in the measure and will only pay for the amount specified on the applicant’s approval letter.

One 12kg bag should sow one acre of land, but check with your agronomist with regard to seedbed conditions and appropriate rates.

Remember, if you are planting multispecies swards or trying to increase clover and supplying milk to a co-op, a number now offer some sort of payment for improving your farm’s sustainability, so make sure that your supplier is aware of changes being made and check on any further requirements to qualify for the payment, like where the seed has to be purchased, for example.