{"id":1333473,"date":"2024-06-21T06:10:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T05:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agriland.ie\/?p=1333473"},"modified":"2024-06-20T17:26:53","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:26:53","slug":"are-multi-specie-swards-an-option-on-your-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightsail.agriland.ie\/farming-news\/are-multi-specie-swards-an-option-on-your-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"Are multi-species swards an option on your farm?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
With the tightness of grass growth in recent weeks and the poor grazing conditions at the start of the spring leaving it difficult to achieve good residuals and avoid poaching, multi-species swards could be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Multi-species swards have a better tolerance to drought (due to an increased rooting depth), less weeds (after establishment) than grass swards and the flowering plants are excellent for pollinators and biodiversity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This begs the question, considering the frequency of droughts in recent years and the unpredictability in grass growth during the summer months, can multi-species swards aid in times of poor grass growth and droughts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The drier summers and wetter winters may see the benefits of multispecies swards come into play as they have the potential to increase sward diversity that might have the potential to allow us to adapt to changing weather patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n