How growing lucerne could build resilience for Welsh farm

Integrating drought-tolerant lucerne into its sheep rotation has helped a Welsh livestock farm reduce the risk of feed shortfalls.

Nitrogen fixing as well as deep rooted, lucerne has leaves with an average crude protein content of 24% and a metabolisable energy value of 12MJ/kg dry matter (DM).

This provides high-quality grazing for lambs.

See also: The benefits and uses of lucerne in poultry production

During recent hot and dry summers, Newton Farm, Brecon, has at times struggled for feed.

With a tap root of up to 3m, which can “mine” for moisture and nutrients deep in the ground, the crop is well suited to such conditions and could help fill that gap.

The Roderick family – Tudor and his parents, Richard and Helen – are also in the process of changing their sheep system, with plans to lamb greater numbers of sheep outdoors in April to reduce concentrate use and feed costs.

In May and June 2024, they established 6.9ha (17 acres) across two fields a short distance from the main holding and alongside some permanent pasture.

The work was done with support from the Farming Connect Try Out Fund, an initiative that funds individuals and groups of farmers and growers in Wales to experiment with ideas and bring them to life.

Lucerne is successfully used by sheep farmers in the east of England and in New Zealand, but it is less commonly grown as a grazing crop in the wetter West.

The Rodericks wanted to see how well it could perform in the Welsh climate.

Growing conditions

Lucerne does not tolerate waterlogging or acidity: it needs deep, free-draining soils with a minimum pH of 6 at depth.

After soil testing at Newton Farm, lime was applied at 5t/ha on the two trial fields to raise levels ahead of planting.

No selective herbicides are currently available in the UK for use on lucerne, so a herbicide was applied before establishment to kill docks.

To increase DM yield and provide wholecrop silage before grazing, the fields were undersown with home-saved spring barley seed.

Independent grass and forage seed specialist Francis Dunne, who is overseeing the trial, also advised undersowing with a companion crop of timothy and white clover.

“Lucerne is a very open crop, and in high-rainfall areas there is significant poaching risk, which can lead to an ingress of weeds, particularly weed grasses, and premature decline in yield,” says Francis.

As lucerne is slow to establish, the choice of companion grass to prevent it being smothered is important; species such as timothy, meadow fescue and cocksfoot are recommended.

Lucerne was sown at the recommended full rate of 25kg/ha with 4kg/ha of timothy and 2kg/ha of white clover.

Varietal choice and cost

Two lucerne varieties were chosen: Luzelle, which has been bred specifically for grazing, and Artemis, a very persistent and high-yielding cutting variety.

Luzelle has a different plant architecture to other varieties, Francis explains.

“It has a lower potential yield than the highest-yielding types but is much better suited to grazing management.”

This is because the crown sits flatter to the ground and produces more shoots with less fibre and a higher protein content; it also has a very high level of winter dormancy.

With the companion grasses and a total seed rate of 31kg/ha, the Luzelle field cost £381.65/ha to establish and the Artemis £269/ha.

Francis says challenges with seed availability in 2024 drove prices up, making the seed unusually expensive.

In another year, he reckons a budgeting figure of £250/ha for the Luzelle mix, or £219/ha for straight lucerne, would be nearer the mark.

The seed was pre-inoculated with rhizobium, as lucerne needs this bacteria to be present for successful nodulation.

However, Francis advised the Rodericks to apply a fresh inoculant to the mix on the day of drilling as well, because some growers had experienced total crop failures after the pre-inoculation failed.

This fresh inoculant added £12/ha to the cost.

Management

Lucerne takes 18 months to reach its full potential, and critical to this is management during the establishment phase. Once established, however, it can last five years.

The Rodericks cut the two fields as wholecrop on 11 August, applying an additive at harvesting to optimise fermentation in the baled silage.

“It is critical to ensile it on the right day, and that can be tricky in high-rainfall areas like mid-Wales,” says Francis.

On 3 October, 53 days after cutting, 400 ewe lambs averaging 37.5kg were introduced to the crop ahead of tupping.

The adjacent fields of permanent pasture provided a run back for lambs to transition onto the crop.

The lucerne was split into 1ha (2.5-acre) paddocks, with each paddock grazed for an average of three to four days.

The ewe lambs spent 12 days transitioning onto the lucerne, followed by a further 12 days grazing it.

After 24 days, their average weight was 41kg.

Francis describes lucerne as a crop of two halves, with high nutritional quality in the leaves but less in the stem.

Lambs mostly favour the leaves over the stem, he says, adding: “It doesn’t matter if the stems are not eaten because they provide a green area to allow the plant to photosynthesise and grow.”

Resilience

Tudor says the lucerne has performed well.

He believes that spreading risk with a range of feeds that respond to different weather conditions is important.

“If we have a really hot and dry summer, as we did in 2022 and 2023, the lucerne will come into its own, and for summers when those conditions aren’t as extreme, the rest of the farm will perform well, so it should allow continuity of feed availability,” he says.

By trialling lucerne in local conditions, other farms in the region can also potentially benefit, as the results will be widely shared with the industry, he adds.

However, Francis cautions: “We need to see how this trial works out before other farms with similar conditions grow it.

“If you get it right, it can maintain high levels of production, but when farmers get it wrong, they tend to give up quite quickly.”