Clover-boosted pastures make dairy cows more productive and profitable
Crop Improvement
The clover patch spreading through your lawn is quietly packing more nutrition per bite than the grass around it, which is exactly why farmers are mixing it back into pastures on purpose.
Researchers tested whether mixing white clover into ryegrass pastures helps dairy cows produce more milk, and it does: cows on clover-grass mixes gave nearly 600 extra kilograms of milk a year and grew more total pasture to eat. The type of ryegrass, whether a 'double dose' tetraploid or regular diploid variety, made almost no difference, but which clover was added and which cow breed grazed it did. Jersey-crossbred cows on clover pastures turned out to be the most profitable combination of all.
Key Findings
Clover-ryegrass pastures increased milk yield by 596 kg/cow/year and milk solids by 48 kg/cow/year compared to ryegrass-only pastures, adding €305/ha in profit.
Ryegrass ploidy (tetraploid vs. diploid) had no significant effect on milk yield, clover content (averaging 23%), or cow intake.
Jersey-crossbred cows on clover pastures were the most profitable system overall at €2,751/ha net profit, outperforming pure Holstein-Friesian herds.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Adding white clover to ryegrass pastures boosts milk production and farm profits for dairy cows in Ireland, while the clover also lets farmers cut back on how much ryegrass seed type matters.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Effect of Lolium perenne L. ploidy, Trifolium repens L. inclusion and cow breed on the productivity and profitability of pasture-based, spring-milk systems
With the recent abolition of milk quotas in the European Union, there has been a large increase in milk production in Ireland driven by an increase in cow numbers and milk yield per cow. Dairy prod...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Trifolium repens, the white clover, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the bean family, Fabaceae.