Did Conditions this Spring Prevent Reseeding?
The weather this spring made for difficult conditions for reseeding, so many plans were abandoned. Whilst both spring and autumn weather conditions can be unpredictable - let’s keep our fingers crossed this year is the exception. Timely preparation is, as ever, essential to catch the best window of opportunity.
Establishing a new grass sward is a cost-effective way to increase production and reduce feed costs. Improvements in grass yield, quality, as well as increasing the economic response to nitrogen, will heavily outweigh the costs of reseeding.
There can be a large variation in the performance of your paddocks. When deciding which fields to reseed, use your grass yield records, both grazed & harvested, to highlight underperforming fields, and identify areas for reseeding.
Overseeding
With ever increasing pressure on your carbon footprint, reducing cultivations to protect your soil carbon should be considered. Overseeding can rejuvenate tired pastures at the same time as minimising soil disturbance. By minimising cultivation, the soil carbon deeper in the soil profile is protected, when compared to a full plough reseed.
Diverse Swards
Adding diversity to your swards can also improve soil carbon as well as improving soil structure, resilience to drought and enhancing the feed value. Overseeding with a diverse sward mix could also provide an opportunity to access SFI payments under SAM3 – Herbal leys for improved permanent grassland at £382/ha.
- 1st September 2023
