# Anyone plant Red Clover?



## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Dad and I were talking last night about raising Red Clover. Dad and Grandpa raised a lot back in the day, but he doesn't remember fertility needs or seeding rate anymore. Can someone give a little help?


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Don't know about your neck of the woods but here it is the cheapest form of protein you can grow and it keeps growing in the summer until everything is dormant. Unfortunately, the horse owners don't like it because it causes the slobbers in horses and while it does not hurt anything, it is unsightly. My horse has red and white clover in his paddock and when they pig out on it, they drool a half a bucket on the asile floor while being tacked up. The other problem is that we use a fairly aggressive weed control program in our hay and everything that works on weeds, works on red clover.

But, it does really bulk up both og and timothy hay, takes an extra 1/2 to full day to cure. We plant as a mix with grass about 8-10# an acre innoculated seed.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

It thins blood so it can cause horses to hemmorage. Also take cattle off it for a couple weeks before dehorning castration or calving.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Didn't we already debunk the red clover, blood-thinning fears on another thread?


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I dont no but I saw a guy dehorn calves and a couple bled out eating red clover silage


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Figure on a minimum of 1/2 day extra to dry but more likely one full day extra to dry it out. Other than that it can be pretty good stuff. It will be coarser stemmed in general than alfalfa.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/nutrition/feeding-clover/


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

How does it happen then? You guys can be the guinea pigs im not trying it with my critters and find out the hard way. In our area its a PITA to make hay out of anyway.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Sweet clover is the one that is an issue with blood thinning not red clover.

I had one field come to me as an almost pure stand of red clover and I tried to make hay out of it and being inexperienced with anything other than grass I baled it too damp and it molded.....the leaves were plenty dry but not the stems. I also planted a field two years ago as a mix of orchard, timothy, and red clover....the problem was the grass was ready to bale a day before the clover and I had broadleaf weed issue so I had to sacrifice the clover. As a pure stand where it would dry down even would be better in my opinion if you want red clover hay. Here the main downside to clover is there is not a way to control broadleaf weeds in it. I know a guy that feeds red clover hay to his horses with no adverse effects except slobbering.

Freedom red clover is a variety that has less hair on the plant which supposedly improves dry down.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

barnrope said:


> Figure on a minimum of 1/2 day extra to dry but more likely one full day extra to dry it out. Other than that it can be pretty good stuff. It will be coarser stemmed in general than alfalfa.


Also slows my haybine down to a crawl. If I had a redo I would have no clover in my hayfield planted the year before last. I think I like it in the pasture though.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

We plant a mix of 50% clover and 50% grass. Can't grow alfalfa on our ground. So we grow clover. Use a nurse crop of oats. Don't spray chop the oats then usually the clover grows back enough to cut or graze. Good crop the following year and gets the grass growing good then usually done the year after that and then you have grass hay. I like it. Usually don't spread fert on it maybe some manure. Usually have to dry it 4-5 days to bale.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

We gave up clover, except mixed in some pasture with grass. Chopping it for silage was fine, but baling it was a major problem drying down. We have lost a cutting from having to mess with clover and longer drying periods. Our area of SE IA we struggled enough with drying hays as it was, didn't need to add any aggravation. We tore up the last of our fields with clover in them in the late '80's.


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## Fossil02818 (May 31, 2010)

Can't agree more with the dry down advice you have been getting. We have kept one field in marathon red clover and some timothy and OG for a few years and it yields very high quality protein hay. It also requires a FULL additional day to dry down vs the grass or even any of our alfalfa/grass mix fields. Our livestock love it and the early spring growth is appreciated by wildlife. However, we just don't get enough consistent stretches of dry weather to risk planting more fields to it. I continue to cut it for maximum nutrition and frequently lose one out of three cuttings per year to rain or mold. Its worth the effort if you have enough acreage to risk a field or two, but, I would never plant my whole operation to it. Its like alcohol.... great in moderation.


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

FarmerCline said:


> ...Freedom red clover is a variety that has less hair on the plant which supposedly improves dry down.


Just this morning I had a customer from south central IA tell me that he will only plant Freedom MR red clover for hay.

Says it yields is usually better than other varieties, but more importantly, it dries noticeably faster.

http://www.barusa.com/forage/products/freedom-.htm


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## Fossil02818 (May 31, 2010)

Farmer Cline and Prairie thanks for the recommendation. I've been happy with other Baranbrug seeds and will plant some of this to see if it really does dry down faster. I've got a small expansion planned this year for one of my fields, maybe only a half acre addition, and this would be a good test site for freedom clover. i won't be getting it planted until late summer so you'll have to wait awhile before I can report back about its suitability for hay. Still, I'm already excited to get started. Isn't that what winter is all about up here.... waiting for spring?


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Fossil02818 said:


> Farmer Cline and Prairie thanks for the recommendation. I've been happy with other Baranbrug seeds and will plant some of this to see if it really does dry down faster. I've got a small expansion planned this year for one of my fields, maybe only a half acre addition, and this would be a good test site for freedom clover. i won't be getting it planted until late summer so you'll have to wait awhile before I can report back about its suitability for hay. Still, I'm already excited to get started. Isn't that what winter is all about up here.... waiting for spring?


February and frost-heaved ground=time to plant clover in Va so planting season is just around the corner! Course-ya want the clover seed under the snow not on top of it-ya aint running a bird bailout program


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## astropilot (Jun 3, 2008)

The reason why most horse owner do not like it is the sober factor, we all know this. Did you know that its the second cut that is worst than any other. The true cause is not known, but the slobbering appears to be associated with a plant disease called Black Patch caused by a fungus, Rhizoctonia leguminicola. Since the fungus is present in most red clover fields and no resistance is available, it is difficult to prevent infection. Historically this was more of a problem when red clover was cut only twice per year. Slobbers is usually not a problem with properly managed stands.

Also, Freedom clover is better because of its free from pubescence (non-glandular hairs) was developed to permit faster drying and to reduce dustiness of hay. It is especially recommended for hay because it is less dusty than other varieties. Less dustiness should result in improved air quality that may be associated with reduced respiratory hazard for both humans and livestock. All of the information above is on the University of Kentucky Forage website.


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## DSLinc1017 (Sep 27, 2009)

Have a cover / OG mix in the pastures. And a 2 acre plot of heavy red clover / OG that we hay for the last trimester of lambing. We save that plot for the nice stretch of weather for first cut, give it a few weeks and let the sheep at it for the rest of the summer. With this rotation that field stays weed free and well fertilized.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

I piddled around frost seeding red clover by hand one year on the back yard that i grazed some weaned heifers. It worked best on the bare ground that they made around the water and grain troughs. Gotta get the right conditions to make it work. Need the residue to be short and a week or too of freeze thawing action. Snow on top of it helps to work the seed in when it melts.


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