With 80% of the farm reseeded over the last decade, Brian Hogan understands the value of grass. The value for him is the ability to grow high quantities of top-quality feed to give to his cows. This year, his 126 mostly Holstein Friesian cows are on track to produce 560kg MS/cow from around 650kg of meal.
The herd is stocked at 3.15 cows/ha and so far this year Brian has grown 8.5t/ha. By the end of the year he expects this figure to be closer to 15t/DM/ha. Improving soil fertility and replacing poor pastures with better performing varieties has been his mantra over the last few years. Brian is farming with his father Pat at Horse and Jockey in Co Tipperary where they are milking 126 cows along with replacements and an ever-dwindling number of beef cattle.
Clover
Clover is a big part of the Brian’s system. He has seen for himself the value of clover in terms of milk production, even before the environmental benefits are taken into account.
“We had one field that had great clover and whenever the cows went into it they went up in milk by one litre per cow. But dandelions were a major problem in the field so we made the decision to spray it, which also resulted in the clover dying out and now we no longer get the same kick in yield when the cows go into that field,” Brian says.
Clover has been included in most of the grass seed mixtures sown, but where it hasn’t been included he has started to over-sow clover.
Brian over-sowed clover into this field on 10 June this year and the take seems to have been good
One field which was reseeded two years had clover sown and it established well, but a very bad weed outbreak meant Brian was advised to spray the field with a non-clover spray, with the result that the clover died off.
Brian over-sowed clover into this field on 10 June this year and the take seems to have been good. The field was grazed tight by the cows and 2kg/acre of Aberherald grass seed was sown along with one bag/acre of 0:7:30. Only two bags of fertiliser were spread at a time and 2kg of the clover seed was let into the fertiliser spreader at the same time as the bag of fertiliser. Small bags of fertiliser were used. Brian spread the fertiliser at half rate, criss-crossing the field at 9m spreading widths. He says he doesn’t think clover will spread far so he went over it twice at opposite directions.
Luckily, the field got rain a few days later which was definitely a help. The field was grazed again at a light cover of only 700kg and Brian reckons the cows helped to press the seed into the soil. The field has been grazed three times since sowing and the clover is visible in all sections and seems to have been well established. No nitrogen was spread for the first month after sowing, but it has since got two rounds of 20 to 22 units/acre of protected urea plus sulphur.
Mary McEvoy from Germinal says that best results are achieved with over-sowing clover when the field is grazed regularly and tightly for the few months after sowing. Spreading watery slurry will help to press the seeds into the ground and aid germination. Soil fertility is also a big issue as clover has a higher nutrient requirement than grass. The field that Brian over-sowed was index four for phosphorus and index three for potash and on target for pH.
Brian reseeded two paddocks so far this year. One field got Top 5 Extend which is a mix of Abergain, Aberchoice and Drumbo along with 0.5kg of Aberherald medium leaf clover.
This field was reseeded on 2 May having been disced twice and sown with a one-pass power harrow/seed drill at 14kg/acre. The field was sprayed with a clover-safe spray for weeds and grazed and is due to get another grazing this week.
Brian’s reseeding policy is to burn off the field with round-up, cut the field for bale silage, let it sit and die back for a few weeks and either rotavate or disc, before sowing with a one-pass. He spreads four bags/acre of 10:10:20 at sowing and tops up with fertiliser at the same time as the post-emergence spray.
Farm walk
Most of the grass seeds Brian has used have been sourced from Germinal who are based up the road at Horse and Jockey. Germinal are hosting a reseeding farm walk and demonstration on the Hogan farm at 11am on 3 August where visitors will get an overview of the Hogan farm, learn about soil structure and soil health, choosing grass seed varieties, weed control, environmental management and see machinery in action.