Low nitrate leaching from long-term grass-clover

Abstract

In the future there is expected to be a higher proportion of grass in the dairy crop rotation than today. Changes in the EU Common Agricultural Policy stipulate that subsidies should be decoupled from production. Pastures are thus better able to compete economically with other roughage/feedstuff sources. Also, the development in farm size is dramatic and as dairy farms grow bigger, an increasing number of farms cannot use the entire crop rotation for grazing. The management of dairy cattle grazing becomes increasingly difficult with distance to the milking parlour, and on these farms we already experience grass-intensive rotations located close to the farm buildings. Because of these conditions grass leys are expected to become older than the 2-3 years, which is currently most common. And this may affect both the production and the environment