By Newman Turner
Editor’s Note: This article is a part of our series on Forage Mixtures.
All the herbal ley mixtures are suitable for use as four-year leys where it is usual to break the ley after four years. Three years is too short a period in which to derive maximum benefit either in yield of grass or soil fertility; and I consider four or five years the optimum life. Each mixture is, however, basically also a permanent pasture mixture, so may be left down longer if necessary.
The quantities of seeds making up the mixtures are the ideal for quick establishment and soil coverage; but where extra economy is necessary in seasons of high-priced seeds, the eventual pasture, though slower to ‘fill up,’ will be ultimately just as good with up to a third less seed, thus reducing the cost by one-third. But soil conditions, seedbed and fertility must be perfect for this reduction of seed quantity.
All-Purpose Herbal Ley Mixture
Suitable for all soils (direct or undersown).
For all-year grazing where acreage will not allow for special seasonal mixtures.
If in any doubt about the type of mixture to sow for any particular conditions or purposes, this mixture provides a foolproof certainty for all conditions, with maximum grazing and mowing yield at all seasons of the year. It will not provide the same growth in out-of-season periods, i.e. early spring, late autumn and winter, as the mixtures I have suggested specifically for these purposes; but it is the best all-round general purpose mixture I have experienced.
Herbal Hedgerow Mixture
For supplementing existing pastures, particularly for goats
To be sown in or near the hedgerows at the rate of approximately 6¼ lb. for each one acre of the field.
The Goosegreen Herbal Ley Mixtures
The Goosegreen Herbal Ley Mixtures are a series of general-purpose mixtures which I have developed for maximum production and length of grazing season. None of them is designed for any special time of the year—but all are capable of adaptation by grazing management to provide growth when it is most needed. The wide variety of ingredients has enabled me to shift the maximum growth period according to the time of year at which the early and late varieties are grazed.
Each mixture here listed is varied only to suit different soil conditions or manner of seeding, i.e. with a cover crop or direct.
Goosegreen Herbal Ley (General Purpose)
(including H.1 Ryegrass for direct re-seeding)
(to be undersown in a nurse crop)
Source: Fertility Pastures