Webinar: Forage options to increase resilience

There’s no escaping the fact that our weather patterns are becoming more extreme, from stormy springs to dry summers to sudden cold shocks. Planning is integral for successful farmers, and this uncertainty can strain your forage production.

Forage options to increase resilience is a brand-new webinar designed to help you identify hardy homegrown feeds that can deliver production and better adapt to climate challenges.

Watch grassland experts Dr Mary McEvoy, William Fleming, and Harley Brown-Keech below as they continue with part three of Performance plus sustainability: The Climate Smart Series.

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Extended Q&A

Here, our experts respond to any additional questions they didn’t answer in the webinar.

Do you think the soil benefited from multi-species over the four years of the trial, or would a grass-clover sward have been just as good?

This work is ongoing, and we will be analysing results for bulk density, soil organic matter, and worm counts at the end of this season. Research from University College Dublin (UCD) has indicated increased earthworm count and water infiltration rates in multi-species and ryegrass along with white clover swards compared to ryegrass-only swards. More research in this area is necessary from a soil health perspective.

A very interesting graph of the change in multi-species proportions over time. Do you think it would vary with the number of cuts?

Preliminary results suggest that fewer cuts improve persistence, but the full data analysis is still to be concluded. Keep an eye on the Germinal mailing list for future research updates.

Which fibre source do you recommend growing with the brassica (Redstart) for multiple summer grazing?

This depends on how productive the class of stock grazing the brassica is intended to be. High-performing cows or steers need better quality silage. Dry cows would be fine with straw or hay.

How does AberClaret score on palatability?

There is no research on the palatablity of red clover swards to date. However, generally speaking, animals do consume more red clover silage compared to grass-only silage, so it is considered a palatable feed.