Chicory

Chicory is an excellent source of home-grown protein and is full of essential minerals. It is a very palatable grazing option for livestock, especially sheep, and shows excellent results in terms of animal daily liveweight gains – making it an ideal forage crop for finishing lambs. Chicory also provides rapid regrowth, with the productivity benefits potentially paying for extra seed costs in a single year. Chicory lasts for up to four years.

Site

• Drought resistant due to its deep tap root • Produces very high levels of crude protein (up to 25%) • Excellent feed quality (ME=0.4 %, DM content =8%, D Value=66.1%) • Very persistent under grazing • Benefits animal health • High palatability • Can deliver lamb growth rates of 300-400g/day

• Deep, free draining soil • Soil pH of 6

Establishment

• Sow during the spring (usually April onwards-no later than the end of August) • Must be well established by the autumn before going dormant • Seed rate as part of a grass seed mix: 0.75-1kg/acre • Pure sward seed rate 2kg/acre • Do not sow any deeper than 1cm • Broad leaf weed control will kill chicory

Utilisation

• After the establishment phase, chicory can be grazed from around eight weeks • Graze the crop hard in the spring to prevent flowering (will rarely flower in first year) • Strip or rotationally graze to prevent wastage • Introduce lambs when 25-30cm tall – stock at a rate to take the crop to 5cm quickly • Graze accumulated regrowth before winter • Mature crops above 30cm are less palatable and poorer quality • Do not graze in the winter as this will damage the crown and reduce persistency

Look out for this symbol if you would like to add Chicory to your grass seed mix