COMPANION SPECIES
Companion plants are beneficial species that improve grassland quality, productivity and visual appeal.
If you are thinking clover, then forget it! Traditional clovers produce a pasture that is too lush and full of sugar, leading to scouring and loss of conditions of horses and deer.
Once soil and grass are efficiently talking to each other, incorporating Companion Species into the sward complements the whole improvement. Companion Species can also allow animals to self-medicate and access essential minerals for their general health and well-being.
We introduce herbaceous and complementary plants to suit the prevailing environment, the requirements of your animals and your objectives.
Trefoils Lotus, as an example, looks brilliant, can generate a ten-fold increase in grass productivity and is a free fertiliser in a natural form that complements grass growth, but without adversely increasing the sugar content of the grass.
Trefoils Lotus spp
• A long-lived legume of ten or more years on a wide range of soil types
• Root depth of 25mm
• After the first year it survives under continuous grazing
• Tolerant of dry summers once established
• Once established, Trefoils naturally re-seeds the sward
• Bloat free feed of high nutrient value
• Generates a ten-fold increase in sward productivity when compared to grass alone
• Trefoils are particularly valuable during mid and late season when grass growth starts to fall away as the flowers are nutritious, and the plant themselves provide invaluable Nitrogen for the sward
Yarrow Achillea millefolium
• Yarrow is a diaphoretic herb that ensure efficient blood circulation, and sweating. Extremely beneficial to prevent / treat Laminitis in horses
• It is high in Vitamin A, which helps young Deer and Horses with bone remodelling (Efficient and consistent growth)
• It is also particularly useful to improve general blood flow, especially throughout the skin
• Rooting depth of 150mm
• Trefoils are particularly valuable during mid and late season when grass growth starts to fall away as the flowers are nutritious, and the plant themselves provide invaluable Nitrogen for the sward.
Black Medic Medicago lupulina
• Black Medic is a prostrate legume that is an excellent addition to pasture grass
• Providing a lower level of Nitrogen than White Clover, so it complements grass growth rather than over stimulating it
• Root depth of 25mm, and it spreads via Stolons that make it ideal for preventing soil erosion. (Stolons are above ground creeping stems that are full of carbohydrate, and enable the plant propagate it’s self)
• Extremely drought tolerant, significantly maintaining food supply when grass growth starts to fall away in the autumn
• Horses, deer and Sheep thrive on eating Black Medic as well as the grass species in the sward
• Flowers from April through to October.
Burnet Sanguisorba Spp
• Sheep’s Burnet, often called Salad Burnet, is a fodder herb and an excellent addition to pasture grass as both animal health and live-weight gain improve
• Root depth of 75mm, and is therefore ideal for preventing soil erosion
• Burnett is a perennial evergreen herb that stays green in the autumn
• Burnet is highly nutritious for both ruminants and pseudo-ruminants (Horses) alike.
Chicory Cichorium intybus
• Chicory contains lactones and lactucin, which in combination with chicory’s 5% tannin content makes chicory forage inhibiting toward intestinal worms.
• Rooting depth of 300mm (12 inches)
• Chicory is highly nutritious as it is full of carbohydrate.
• The relatively high levels of condensed tannins improve protein utilization efficiency in ruminants and pseudo-ruminants alike.