Farmers Urged to Make Most from Clover

17 November 2004

Dairy farmers could increase profit by up to €5,000 per year by making better use of clover in grassland, according to a Teagasc scientist.

Dr. James Humphreys of the Teagasc Research Centre at Moorepark, Fermoy told the Teagasc National Dairy Conference in Cork that greater use of white clover has immense potential to reduce chemical fertiliser use, cut costs and boost income.

“Our research shows that white clover has the potential to supply up to 140kg of nitrogen/ha through the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by rhizobium bacteria that grow in symbiotic association with the clover”.

“We have developed a low cost system of sowing clover at our research farm at Solohead, Co. Tipperary. The clover-based swards on this farm are producing 13,500 litres of milk/ha (1,200 gallons/acre) with very low levels of chemical nitrogen. The net savings on fertiliser amount to €90/ha (€36/acre)”, he said.

Dr. Humphreys told the conference that the impending Nitrate Directive and other environmental regulations are creating pressure to increase the efficiency of fertiliser use on farms. In addition, these regulations are subject to cross compliance and could therefore have implications for the payments farmers receive under the new farm policy reforms.

“A Teagasc survey has shown that some intensive dairy farmers are spending almost twice as much on fertilisers compared to other farmers operating at similar stocking rates. This shows that significant cost reductions can be made by following Teagasc blueprints on fertiliser application”.

“Savings can also be made by more effective use of slurry as a replacement for chemical fertiliser, particularly during the spring”, he said.

Proceedings of the National Dairy Conference are available. (1.47MB PDF document)