Thinking more about the role of SAM3 or CSAM3 herbal leys and choosing the best option for your own individual farming set-up could deliver benefits far beyond those resulting from the SFI payment alone.
Not all SAM3 and CSAM3 herbal leys are the same, and producers choosing the least cost seed simply to tick the SFI box required for the payment could be losing out on many of the real benefits associated with them, says Agrii national grass, roots and environmental seeds manager Adam Simper.
Make the right choices, and not only will you be adding highly valuable diversity to forage security throughout the year, but you’ll also see improvements in soil health, organic matter content and soil structure, as well as long-term productivity gains.
But for many tempted to start using them, it’s a completely new area of management and one which is further confused by an ever-growing range of mixes on offer together with a variety of claims made for these.
It’s far from a ‘one size fits all’ situation. While there are significant opportunities for improving livestock health and performance alongside soil health, carbon capture and biodiversity benefits, this does depend on their successful integration into existing grassland management systems.
Understanding the different options
The starting point for this is to ensure you understand the different options and the merits of the various approaches available. Herbal leys can be made up of a wide mixture of grasses, legumes and herbs, with their strength lying in this diversity.
The right mixture of species can create a varied and nutrient-rich diet for livestock due to deep-rooted species mining minerals from the soil’s depth and making them available via the forage.
Furthermore, this can be used for grazing or as a silage fed to livestock year-round.
When it comes to soil improvement, a carefully prepared mixture of species can ensure roots penetrate to different levels, dramatically improving soil structure and helping prevent leaching while increasing moisture and nutrient retention.
This, in turn, helps capture carbon, improves organic matter content and boosts the health of your soil. The legumes in herbal leys also fix nitrogen, which increases the nutrient value of the soil, helping to reduce costly fertiliser applications.
If this is not enough, the correctly specified herbal ley mixture can increase biodiversity, support a wide range of beneficial insects and wildlife, and improve the whole farm’s ecosystem. The diversity of swards from multiple plant species can bring strength and improve pest resistance by disrupting pest life cycles.
But to enjoy all these benefits, you must make sure the mixture you choose suits your livestock, soil type and grassland management. To get the widest range of benefits, producers should make sure they select something with a diverse mix of grasses, legumes, and herbs that is suited to your whole farm enterprise.
Common species in herbal leys include Ryegrass, Timothy, Fescues, Cocksfoot, Festulolium, Red and White clover, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Chicory, Plantain, Sheeps Burnet, Sheeps Parsley, and Yarrow.
A wide range of options
Agrii has a range of mixes designed to fit in with SFI requirements, ranging from those aimed at delivering maximum forage production for livestock to others specifically created for overseeding to increase the diversity of an existing sward.
Each farm’s management regime will be different, so it’s a good idea to speak to an Agrii specialist who can advise you on which mix best suits your specific needs. For example, Agrii SFI SAM3 & CSAM3 Grazing has been designed to produce high yields of good quality grazing forage for all livestock. Then there’s the Agrii SFI SAM3 & CSAM3 Cutting, which produces large cuts of quality silage and provides a highly palatable forage with variety when fed.
When Chicory is left to mature, it can become woody and cause fermentation issues when baled and wrapped, as the woody stems can easily pierce the film, so this cutting-based mix does not include Chicory.
Agrii SFI SAM3 & CSAM3 No Red Clover has been formulated for livestock grazing to avoid potential bloat in cattle when grazed and fertility issues in breeding ewes resulting from the inclusion of red clover.
Similarly, Agrii SFI SAM3 & CSAM3 No Red Clover & No Chicory has been designed to prevent the issues that Chicory and Red Clover may bring in both cutting and grazing scenarios, making this an ideal dual-purpose mixture.
In particular, the varied species within the formulation provide a resilient, valuable, and nutrient-rich forage during dry weather.
The Agrii SFI SAM3 & CSAM3 Overseeding mixtures options can be drilled into existing pastures where the objective is to increase the population of grass, legumes, and herb species within the sward.
As with all overseeding, any thatch in the base of the existing sward should be removed to allow good seed to soil contact and to enhance light penetration to the young emerging seedlings. The Agrii Legume and Herb Overseeding mixture options will also increase the legume and herb content in any existing sward.
Again, all thatch should be removed with any overseeding to allow good seed to soil contact and light penetration to the emerging seedlings. Nitrogen is not advised to be applied until the newly sown species are established, as this will only increase competition from the existing grasses.
Even outside of SFI, herbal leys are becoming more popular due to the benefits they bring to help produce sustainable, diverse forage in our challenging climate, along with many other environmental benefits.
