There are many accepted benefits of growing herbal leys, they can:
- Improve soil structure and health
- Provide resilience in dry periods
- Extend the grazing season
- Benefit carbon sequestration
- Nitrogen fixation from legume species – so requires little fertiliser
- Improve livestock growth rates when rotationally grazed
- Improve biodiversity of bird and insect species
- Some species have anthelmintic properties – so less need for wormers
However, there has never been a study in the UK looking directly at the impacts of herbal leys on milk for dairy farmers.
In this field lab Andrew Brewer, a Famr Net Zero Monitor farmer, will split his herd into two groups. One group will graze a rye grass sward, and the other a herbal ley / diverse sward. Andrew will then monitor the milk yield and constituents fortnightly throughout the grazing season, and Cornwall Wildlife Trust will be sampling the forage monthly, to get an idea of which species are dominating.
For more information and updates on the trial see the Innovative Farmers website.