Winter frosts can lift soil over the winter leaving the roots of young grass and legume plants explosed and vulnerable to winter kill. Rolling these fields in late winter will consolidate the soil around the roots and promote the health of the ley. Rolling should be done when the crop is still ...

Many livestock farmers plant brassica root crops over winter to supplement winter grazing. To make the most of this highly nutritious crop - and finish lambs quickly - is fairly simple. To minimise wastage and ensure the leaf and bulb of stubble turnips is eaten any field of stubble turnips should ...

A new £3.5million research project, Legume Plus, led by Dr. Irene Mueller-Harvey of Reading University got underway last week (23-27 January 2012) in the Netherlands. The four year project will focus on sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil and red clover with an emphasis on plant ...

It is between January and March that birds are experiencing the ‘hungry gap’ and can literally starve to death. Luckily many farmers are acting to prevent this, planting thousands of acres of wild bird seed mixes right across the UK. Plants including kale, fodder raddish, ...

Temperature has a massive impact on seed germination and both grasses and clovers requite a similar temperature to start growing from seed. Soil temperatures needs to be in excess of 4°C, usually late February in southern UK, two weeks days later in the north. The optimum soil temperature for ...