How to increase forage resilience

• Keep surplus stocks for winter

• Factor in risks to be shockproof

• Ensure feed strategy is timely

Forage should be top of the list for livestock farmers wanting to build resilience to insulate against shocks caused by climate change.

A dry spring and record-breaking June heat have again focused attention on the need for livestock systems to cope with extreme weather. Temperatures hit 33°C on 12 June – amid an ongoing challenge to grass production this season.

Farmers should prioritise robustness in their systems by matching stocking rates to production capacity and building buffers into winter forage budgets, says Mary McEvoy, technical director for grass specialists Germinal.

“We are more likely to experience summer droughts and wetter, milder autumns and winters. Homegrown protein will become increasingly important. It’s essential we factor these risks into our planning to help farms cope with the unexpected.”

Requirements

Based on a grassland utilisation of 85%, a dairy cow requires 5 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year of grass and silage – on top of concentrates, says Dr McEvoy.

“Therefore, a farm producing 10.5t dry matter/ha can sustainably carry 1.7 cows/ha. To increase stocking rates to 2.1 cows/ha, the farm must produce over 14t DM/ha to meet demand and avoid excessive reliance on external inputs.”

Increasing stocking rates places a greater dependence on artificial nitrogen unless legumes are incorporated into grassland to fix nitrogen naturally, says Dr McEvoy, who also stresses the importance of timely winter feed planning.

A two-month surplus will help buffer against unpredictable weather. “Winter feed budgets must be calculated after second cut. If there’s a deficit, you still have time to plan for a third cut. The later you leave it, the fewer options you’ll have to address shortages.”

Red clover and multi-species

Dr McEvoy encourages farmers to utilise clover to maximise homegrown forage production and reduce emissions to help lessen the effects of climate change. Growing red clover with grass can help lower nitrogen requirements while producing high-quality forage, she says.

Research suggests red clover and grass can yield up to 15t DM/ha without fertiliser. But performance varies significantly by variety with AberClaret outperforming the lowest-yielding red clover variety by almost 4t DM/ha.

To enhance resilience, Dr McEvoy also recommended sowing white clover or multi-species leys on part of the grazing platform.

Trials at Germinal Horizon in Wiltshire revealed a grass-white clover mix or a six-species mix (two herbs, two legumes, and grasses) both significantly outperformed grass-only and more complex multispecies mixes.

Different species

Perennial ryegrass yielded 8.9t of dry matter per hectare on average over the four years. The addition of clover improved this to 11t DM/ha, while using a multi-species and herb mix produced 11.1t DM/ha, on average.

“The incorporation of different species contributes to growth at different stages of the year. Perennial ryegrass does well in the spring but slows down in challenging conditions compared to other species,” explains Dr McEvoy.

Germinal sales manager William Fleming suggests farmers should have 20% of the grazing platform sown to multispecies leys with the rest made up of clover and perennial ryegrass. Mr Fleming offered guidance on selecting resilient species.

“While multispecies swards can be more difficult to manage, around 20% offers a good buffer when maintaining high-quality grass and clover swards on the rest of the platform,” he suggests.