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Sainfoin

Sainfoin is extremely palatable to livestock and has very good nutritional balance. It can be grazed or fed as hay or silage. It suits the thin soils and limestone rich downlands found in some areas of the UK. Loosely translated sainfoin in French means 'Healthy Hay'.

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Red Clover

Red clover is one of the most popularly used true clovers in the UK. Once established it’s capable of rapid growth and shows reasonably good persistence up to three years, although ongoing breeding work is being carried out to increase plant persistence. The highest yielding strains of red clover are called 'double cut' varieties, normally providing quick regrowth after cutting and several flushes or cuts per season. The 'single cut' strains of red clover, notably the variety altaswede provide one large cut per season, flowering approximately 2-3 weeks later than the 'double cut' strains.

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Wild White Clover (small leaved)

White clover is one of the most common legumes in the UK. This species can be recognised by its creeping growth habit. Its creeping stolons help to fill in gaps in the sward, putting down roots at each node. White clover varieties can be categorised into small, medium and large leaf sizes. Generally the smaller the leaf size, the more persistent and prostrate the plant will be, the small leaf type will tolerate closer grazing from sheep and tends to sit lower at the base of the sward, the small and medium leaf varieties are used for grazing mixtures. Using mixtures of white clover varieties helps to ensure that at least one can tolerate and contribute to what ever management regime is being imposed at a given time. The small leaf varieties are the lowest growing and the most prostrate. Due to the low growing point on the plant , they have a good tolerance to cattle and especially sheep grazing. The small leaf varieties are the most persistent perennial clovers. Small leaf varieties are sometimes call 'wild white clover', one of the best known was the Aberystwyth S 184 variety, another was Kent wild white clover, a more modern version of this variety type is called aberace.

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Alsike Clover

Alsike clover is a short term perennial that fixes nitrogen. It is a true clover, not a hybrid as the name suggests. Compared to many annual clovers it can be the slowest to flower after a spring sowing.

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Birdsfoot Trefoil

Birdsfoot Trefoil is a legume, it grows from a basal crown, with numerous stems that can vary from prostrate to erect in growth habit. In some parts of the country it is called the 'eggs and bacon' plant.

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Chicory

Chicory is an eye catching, mineral rich forage herb that has a long taproot capable of penetrating to great depth, breaking through plough pans and leaving the soil aerated, aiding drainage and crop root development. It’s frequently used in combination with other species as a soil improving species and is commonly used as an addition to grazing leys due to its high protein content and its ability to fatten lambs. It is also a known anthelmintic species.

Chicory Species Guide

Burnet

Burnet is a forage herb, It is noted for having deep tap roots, which helps it remain green on thin, dry soils. It is also early to grow in the spring, contributing to forage in late March to April.

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Ribgrass (plantain)

Ribgrass is a very popular perennial forage herb which is commonly mixed with sheep's parsley, yarrow and burnet to increase diversity and lift trace elements from deep within the soil profile. It can be mixed with regular grassland species to increase grazing quality, and with deep roots it is also popular in mixtures for lighter land. It is also known as Plantain or narrow leaf plantain.

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Yarrow

Yarrow is a small seeded forage herb which is commonly mixed with sheep's parsley, burnet and ribgrass to increase diversity and lift trace elements from deep within the soil profile, as a specific herbs mixture, or part of a diverse grass ley. It has been noted to improve circulation and blood flow in livestock.

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Meadow Fescue

One of the larger fescues this is a valuable grazing grass which can also be made into hay. Recent thinking has altered the Latin so that the flat leaved fescues (meadow fescue and tall fescue) have been given their own genus, separate from the finer leaved fescues.

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Species Guide