Abstract Farmers in Northern Ireland (NI) are increasingly facing financial, production and environmental challenges. With grassland being the predominant crop across Northern Ireland, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that increasing the diversity of plant species via the incorporation of multi-species swards (MSS) can meet many of these challenges; delivering a wide range of ecosystem services, reducing costs and positively influencing livestock production. There is therefore increasing interest within the NI agri-food industry but success will be dependent on uptake. Acknowledging knowledge gaps, this farmer-led project investigated the feasibility and practicality of incorporating multi-species swards on Northern Ireland commercial beef and sheep farms.
MSS was established on six farms in 2021 with animal performance and management requirements monitored over the following two years. The study has provided initial insight into MSS utilisation and the project results were largely positive regarding establishment, management and performance of MSS on the farms involved. Project findings indicate that MSS swards can maintain or enhance animal performance compared to grass-only or grassclover swards in terms of daily weight gain and age at slaughter, albeit switching swards in a rotation was found to be counter-productive. Sward establishment methods did vary across the farms and weather patterns were erratic during the two years of the study. Despite this, farmers successfully established swards with herbs and clover present along with grass. Although the seed mixtures used varied considerably on each farm, there was continuity in the main species present at the end of the project. The on-farm experiences of this project would very much concur with the findings of the literature review of the scientific data regarding MSS.
It Is clear from the level of interest in the project and the number of people attending the project associated workshops, webinars, meetings and farm walks that there is a definite industry interest in MSS going forward. The project has significantly increased the knowledge of multispecies sward establishment, management and use specific to Northern Ireland as well as its impact on animal performance (profitability) and wider environmental benefit. The project has overall highlighted the need for additional research in a number of key areas such as establishment, species persistency and grazing animal performance.
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