Multispecies swards have the potential to dramatically reduce nitrogen fertiliser use on farms, while also helping to improve soil health, animal health and performance. However, research is still in the relatively early stages.

In many ways, it is farmers who are leading the way on researching these swards as they try them out on their farms.

In January, the Irish Farmers Journal, along with University College Dublin, compiled a survey to see how farmers are getting on with these swards, the advantages and the disadvantages.

In total, 54 people responded to the survey and given the relatively small area of these swards in the country, this is likely a good gauge of opinions.

A total 45% of respondents were dairy farmers, 24.5% were beef farmers, 19% were on a mixed farm, 7.5% were sheep farmers and the remaining 4% described themselves as other, some of which were contract rearing heifers.

Of those farmers surveyed, 64% stated that they are grass measuring on-farm.

A massive 47% of those who took part in the survey had planted multispecies swards in 2021 for the first time, while 21% planted in 2020 and 13% planted in 2019. Some swards were planted as far back as 2009.

Of the farms with multispecies swards, 59% had planted between 2ha-5ha, 17% had planted 11-20ha of these swards, while 13% planted less than 2ha and 9% planted 6-10ha.

The total areas were not necessarily planted at the same time.

Reason for planting

Looking at Figure 2, we can see that 27% of those surveyed stated that reduced fertiliser use was one of the main motivations for planting these swards, 21% were hoping it would help to improve animal performance, 19% hoped to improve soil health, while another 19% of those surveyed outlined a mixture of reasons for planting.

Establishment

Ploughing proved the most popular method of reseeding. In total, 46% of respondents ploughed when planting these swards.

However, a large proportion of those surveyed –43%– used minimum tillage to establish these swards, while 9% stitched in plants into existing swards.

Of those surveyed, 82% were very happy with the establishment of these swards.

Challenges

When it came to challenges, some farmers acknowledged that the swards were not planted long enough to know all of the challenges, if any, that they would pose.

However, weed control did top this poll. A total of 39% respondents outlined weed control as the biggest challenge with these swards, 28% outlined persistency as a challenge, while 8% stated establishment was a challenge.

Likely to plant again

Those surveyed were asked how likely they were to plant again, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being extremely likely. Most of those surveyed, 72%, stated they were extremely likely to plant again, recording a rating of 4 or 5.