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market-farming - RE: [Market-farming] Winter sowing red clover

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  • From: "Wiediger, Alison" <awiediger AT HART.k12.ky.us>
  • To: 'Market Farming' <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [Market-farming] Winter sowing red clover
  • Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 13:09:24 -0600

We frost seed various clovers into fescue to improve the pasture. Clovers
fix nitrogen which is good for grass growth, improve the protein content of
the forage which is good for animal growth, and dilute the effects of fescue
endophyte toxicity. We either graze down close or cut close in winter to
get good soil contact for the clover seed. On a really bad pasture, we have
also run a disk harrow to open up some pockets of soil. We try to overseed
by the end of February here in zone 6 so we still have some surface freezing
and thawing, the action of which covers the clover seed. For clovers, it's
also a good idea to lime if your soil tends toward being too acidic. We
notice some clover the first year, a really nice flush the second year (if
there's enough rain), and it can start to decline after the third. We are
planning to overseed 1/3 of our pastures every year - planning!! The cattle
really like the forage, and we think our finished weights and the quality of
our meat shows the value of the clover.

Alison Wiediger, Au Naturel Farm

> ----------
> From: Liz Pike[SMTP:liz AT laughingbrookfarm.com]
> Reply To: Market Farming
> Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 12:41 PM
> To: Market Farming
> Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Winter sowing red clover
>
> just curious, why red clover into fescue?? and where are you located??
>
>
> Liz Pike
> Laughingbrook Farm
> Westfield NC
> http://www.marketfarming.com new content added daily!!
> http://www.laughingbrookfarm.com
>
>
>




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