What are the Benefits of Reseeding?

Well managed grass is the cheapest feed for ruminants.  Research has shown that reseeding increases the amount of grass grown and utilised, resulting in increased profitability.  As we head into Autumn, now is a good time to assess the condition of your grass leys and identify any that need reseeding or overseeding.

When assessing which fields to reseed/overseed look at each ley’s overall productivity, and does it show signs of:

• Bare patches
• Poaching/machinery damage
• Drought/water damage

The Benefits of Re-seeding:

• Improved grass yield and quality, reducing the need for bought-in feed
• Clover can be introduced, which fixes nitrogen and provides a source of protein
• Eradicate weeds; weed and weed grasses have a lower nutritional value and do not use fertiliser efficiently.
• Improved genetics can be introduced, resulting in improved productivity, durability, disease resistance and increased response to fertiliser.

Why Re-seed in the Autumn?

• Generally the soil is much warmer which increases the speed of germination and growth
• Weed pressure is greatly reduced in autumn which means less competition and better establishment
• An established autumn ley will go through the winter in a position to storm away in the spring as soon as the soil is warm enough
• If we have a very dry summer the roots are already well established giving a greater drought resistance

When selecting grass mixtures, you need to consider what will the sward be used for, will it mostly be used for cutting or grazing? 

If you are re-seeding following grass, it might be worth considering a break crop such as stubble turnips to help break any pest or weed cycles.

There are a number of grant opportunities through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) including the inclusion of legumes for improved grassland and herbal leys, so it is worth bearing this in mind when selecting your grass mixes, please contact us for further advice.

It is important to check the varieties are listed on the Recommended Grass and Clover List (RGCL).  To be included on the list, each variety goes through rigorous testing for attributes such as:

• Yield
• Persistency
• Quality
• Disease resistance

DBL have for the past five years sourced seed from Horizon Seeds.  Horizon seeds only use varieties on the RGCL recommended list, and happily list all the varieties in their mixes so you can check the individual varieties against the recommended list, characteristics you are looking for, e.g. ME, D-Value, disease resistance, early growth, etc.

Through Horizon Seeds, we can offer you a full range of products including grasses, herbal leys, legumes, lucerne, environmental mixes to meet countryside stewardship requirements, wholecrop and forage crops.  If you would like a seed guide, please do contact us and we can either e-mail or post a copy.

We can also offer bespoke mixes to suit your individual needs.

Testimonial from Mark Humphry, Bartletts and Southey Farm, Isle Brewers, DBL Buying Group member and a member of Somerset Grassland Society.

“We first started using Horizon Seeds about 5 years ago, we were short of forage mid-Summer and wanted something to sow behind wholecrop Wheat to give us a late cut of Silage and multi-cuts through the following season. We were introduced to Jim Juby of Horizon Seeds through DBL, Jim pointed us in the right direction and then took an interest in that grass crop through the Autumn to make sure it fulfilled our requirements.

Jim now visits our Farm at least once a year to discuss the grass mixtures we want to sow, the cover crops for the winter and the correct grasses to select to drill into our growing maize crops. We always go out to look at some of their leys, whether they have been in one year or four, they are still important.

Some of our land is prone to flooding, one field in particular gives us problems to keep grass established. Horizon through Jim, suggested a trial with five different mixtures to see what would be most suitable, including a Festalonium/IRG mix, long term grazing and a multi species ley. Ironically it is a mixture called “Droughtstar” that we now use in that situation, where the strong rooting system helps it recover quickly after a Stressful time, whether drought or flooding.

We have recently been delighted to have Horizon Seeds sponsor Somerset Grassland Society’s Summer Farm walk held at our Farm”

If you would like re-seeding advice, please contact Louise Cox on 07943 684215 or e-mail louise@dblbuyinggroup.co.uk