Brassica & Forage Crops
Instantly download our Brassica & Forage Crops Guide for practical management advice.
Lucerne is a highly nutritious forage for livestock. It combines good digestibility with high proteins providing excellent milk yields or daily live weight gains.
Well managed, this perennial crop can persist for up to five years and performs well in free-draining, drier environments due to tap roots. A more mature hay crop would be more suitable for feeding young stock.
Artémis seeds are coated with Barenbrug’s Yellow Jacket Rhizobium technology. Our Yellow Jacket system embeds high levels of Rhizobia in a protective polymer matrix that coats individual seeds. This matrix includes a nutrient booster that contains all the essential minerals and trace elements needed to get a lucerne crop off to the very best start.
Expert Advice
- One of the most underrated and underutilised forage crops available to livestock farmers in the UK
- To get the best from your lucerne crop, ensure a minimum of 50% of the tallest stems have a flower prior to the first grazing/cutting.
- If the stand is weedy at establishment it can be grazed/cut ONCE if it is 15-20cm tall and then left to flower to a minimum of 50%
Advantages
- Dual purpose
- Perennial - Well managed crops can persist for up to 5 years
- Performs well in free draining, drier environments due to tap roots
- >300 - 500 g/hd/d – rotationally grazed or cut
- High MJME and high protein, which is easily digested
Limitations
- Legume – pH 6.0 and high levels of P to establish
- Requires good management
- For more information and advice on management, please contact us for the guide
Sowing rate: 8-10kg/acre (20-25kg/ha). Drill at 5 - 12mm deep on normal soils or up to 25mm on light sandy soils.
Pack sizes: Available in pack sizes 25kg