Contribution of a herb and clover mix to spring and autumn sown forage for dryland dairying

Abstract

This study investigated companion crops and time of sowing of a herb (chicory and plantain) and clover (red and white clover) mix in dairy pasture systems. Five summer crops (turnip, rape, turnip-rape, radish and millet), sown alone or in combination with herb/clover in spring 2003, were compared over the first summer. Dry matter (DM) production was higher for millet and rape than turnip-rape or radish. Metabolisable energy (ME) content of millet and turnip was lower, and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content of millet higher than all other crops. Inclusion of herb/clover reduced ME and increased NDF at the second grazing. In autumn 2004, an Italian ryegrass + herb/clover mix was direct drilled into plots without the spring sown herb/clover mix, and Italian ryegrass only into the remaining plots. The spring sown herb/clover system resulted in higher herbage DM at the first grazing (June 2004) after sowing Italian ryegrass, but lower production in spring 2004 than the autumn sown herb/clover system. There were no differences in DM production at any other grazings. In winter and spring 2004, ME was higher for autumn than for spring sown herb/clover. Crude protein content was higher for autumn sown herb/clover in June and July than for spring sown, but lower from December 2004 to April 2005. From September 2004 to August 2005, the NDF content of spring sown herb/clover was lower than for autumn sown. Throughout the study, both chicory and plantain content (%DM) was higher and weed and dead matter lower, with spring compared to autumn sowing. Keywords: herbage production, chicory, plantain, metabolisable energy, weed suppression