sheep Farmer-led research disproves red clover fears on sheep fertility Farmers leading research into red clover are proving that the nitrogen-fixing plant can benefit farm businesses and the environment without impacting sheep fertility. The four farmers, who are working with ADAS in an Innovative Farmers field lab, have found grazing ewes on herbal leys containing the legume can even have a positive effect on pregnancy rates. The group hope to inspire others to reap the benefits from growing red clover by challenging and updating 50-year-old research from Australia and New Zealand. This older research found fertility can be impacted when
ewes are grazed exclusively on red clover, as the plant contains phyto-oestrogens. But this winter these farmers, based in the West Midlands and Powys, grazed their sheep on herbal leys with an average of 17.6% red clover -resulting in positive rather than negative impacts. Triallist Marc Jones, who farms sheep and beef cattle across 700 acres in Powys, said: “We’ve been putting ewes on leys with red clover for six or seven years now and although we’ve never seen any negative impacts, we wanted to have some evidence to back it up. “A lot of farmers are hesitant about giving it a go, but the
original research was done so long ago and with ewes grazing pure red clover, which is not how we use it. “We’ve been able to prove that growing it alongside other herbs and legumes does have higher digestibility for the ewes, without impacting pregnancy
scanning rates. It’s a good technique for flushing the sheep and for finishing lambs – and young cattle also do well on it. “We do different tests and trials every year but putting some figures to it with research done on real farms makes a huge difference.”
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