Lucerne (syn. Alfalfa)

A deep rooted, perennial legume, Lucerne is ideally suited to light, free draining soils with a pH of 7. The plants usually have a protein content of around 18% and their higher fibre levels complement items like maize silage in a ration.

Lucerne has a very good yield potential of 13 tonnes of dry matter/ha/year over the first 2 years.

The crop is usually sown between April and August at a depth of 1 c.m. and a rate of 8-10 kilos per acre. The thicker the sowing rate, the thinner the stems. Lucerne is usually treated as a 5 year conservation crop and cut 3-4 times. It is important to leave a minimum 10 c.m. stubble to speed regrowth and not scalp the plant.

All our Lucerne seed is now pre treated with inoculum for ease of drilling and maximum efficiency.