Legume crops

Providing home grown additional protein to stock, particularly ewes pre-lambing, is a challenge on an organic farm.

A mixture of spring oats and peas has so far met our needs in an attempt to increase the protein content of the harvested crop. It has also suppressed weed growth, which was a problem in a previous barley - pea mixture.

With the seed rate of the cereal reduced due to the inclusion of the pea seed, we harvested peas and oats in 2006 and 2007, yielding 3.75 and 4.9 t/ha respectively with protein contents rising to 13.2 percent and 13.1 percent compared to oats on their own at around10 percent protein.

© DARD  2008