This week’s episode of OviCast finds out about an ongoing study between Teagasc and UCD examining how companion forages – chicory, plantain, red and white clover - perform alongside a perennial ryegrass sward in sheep systems.

Lisa McGrane a postgraduate student who is working on the project joined Ciarán Lynch on the podcast to explain more and began by discussing the crops and how they are being managed as separate farm lets in a system.

She then discussed how they are examining the effects on animal performance. They are also investigating how the sward performs under grazing conditions and the changes seen in sward composition during the year.

In addition to the animal component of the study Lisa discussed another aspect of it that is looking at various establishment methods and seeding rates to see how these influence the sward composition and performance. Part of this is also examining the effect of different post grazing sward heights on how these companion forages perform.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast