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Forage: Cool Season Legumes

With high costs of nitrogen fertilizer, many producers in the South are considering grass-legume mixtures for grazing, rather than grass alone. Legumes not only can fix nitrogen but also are highly digestible and high in crude protein.

Inoculate Seed

Legumes, if properly inoculated, can supply up to 200 pounds actual nitrogen per acre per year, depending upon the type of legume and density of stand.

Potential Nitrogen Production From Legumes

Legume

Lb N/Acre

White Clover

200

Red Clover

110

Crimson Clover

100

Arrowleaf Clover

100

Sub Clover

94

Ball Clover

80

W.W. Peas

80

Vetch

60

Source: Drs. William E. Knight and Vance H. Watson, Mississippi State University

Inoculation puts the correct strain of bacteria on the legume seed before planting. See Information Sheet 1083 Inoculating Forage Legumes for detailed information.

Types of Cool Season Forage Legumes

White Clover -- a perennial clover that grows best in northern Mississippi. If you use it in southern Mississippi, plant on heaviest soils or bottom soils.

Seed at 3 pounds per acre September 10 -- October 15. Don't expect grazing the first year until the following spring. After establishment, you can graze from October to July. Some improved varieties are 'Regal,' 'Titan,' 'Osceola,' and 'La-Sl' (southern Mississippi only).

White clover does best in a fescue sod with or without red clover, and in bermuda, dallis, or bahiagrass. Unless you want white clover to remain as a perennial, you usually do not seed it with ryegrass and small grains. Their production periods are not well matched and the grass may need nitrogen before the clover will produce it.

Red Clover -- a biennial that will volunteer from seed if allowed to seed the second year. Use red clover alone as a hay crop or in a mixture with tall fescue and white clover. Seed September 1 -- October 15 or February 15 -- March 1. Use 8 pounds seed if with fescue; 6 pounds in a mixture with white clover and fescue; and 6 pounds of red with 12 to 15 pounds of crimson or subterranean in winter annual grass mixtures. Red clover does best in heavy or silty soils in North Mississippi. Some improved varieties are 'Redland,' 'Atlas,' 'Cherokee,' 'Kenland,' 'Orbit,' and 'Chesapeake.'

More red clover is being used in winter annual grazing mixtures with annual legumes such as crimson clover. Crimson clover will produce more winter growth, with red clover producing extended spring and early summer growth. This late growth with ryegrass is often used for hay.

Crimson Clover -- an annual reseeding clover that can be grown throughout Mississippi. It is adapted to a wide variety of soils. Use in bermuda, dallis, or bahia pastures or seed with wheat and ryegrass. If you seed by October 1, begin grazing in late December. To let the clover reseed, don't graze between April 15 and May 1, depending on the flowering date of the clover. Use 20 to 30 pounds seed. If you are seeding crimson in a wheat and ryegrass mixture, use 20 pounds and try to plant by September 20. Early seeding allows earlier clover growth and grazing. Improved varieties are 'Tibbee,' 'Chief,' 'Autauga' and 'Dixie'.

Arrowleaf Clover -- an annual reseeding clover similar to crimson but grows taller and gives about 30 days longer grazing in the spring. Arrowleaf does not provide as early grazing in the fall as does crimson. Use arrowleaf overseeded in bahia, bermuda, or dallisgrass pastures. Plant 10-15 pounds seed per acre August 20 -- October 1. Be careful when calculating seeding rate. Some lots of arrowleaf clover contain hard seed. The seed tag will tell. Hard seed are good, but they don't germinate the first year. To insure a stand the first year, adjust seeding rate upward to offset the percent hard seed. Three varieties of arrowleaf clover are recognized: 'Amclo' matures mid-May; 'Yuchi' matures early June; and 'Meechee' matures June 20 -- July 15. 'Meechee' is the best variety for permanent summer pastures since it lasts longer into the growing season. To allow reseeding, remove cattle when clover is flowering. This usually takes about 3 weeks. You can graze again when seed are mature.

Subterranean (Sub) Clover -- an annual clover that is relatively new to farmers in Mississippi. It is used extensively in Australia and New Zealand. Sub-clover has a growing season similar to crimson (maybe a little longer) but not as long as arrowleaf. Sub-clover can tolerate close grazing since it produces the seed in the soil surface. Research at Raymond, Mississippi State, Pontotoc, and Poplarville indicates that it has potential for use with wheat and ryegrass. To get fall grazing, seed by September 15 but no earlier than August 15. Use 16-20 pounds seed. The leading varieties are 'Mt. Barker,' 'Woogenellup,' and 'Tallarook'. Research indicates you can produce as much grazing with ryegrass and sub-clover as you can with ryegrass and 120 pounds nitrogen. Conditions have to be very favorable for this, and most producers may not want to rely on sub-clover to supply all the nitrogen needed for steers on ryegrass. If you get an early stand of clover, you may not need mineral nitrogen on the clover-grass mixture.

Ball Clover -- an annual clover which has a comparatively short production period in the spring. Ball has a white bloom that begins to show in April. It reseeds, and the clover disappears by late May. Most of the ball clover in Mississippi grows in Southwest Mississippi in the Jackson to Woodville area. It seems to tolerate closer grazing than crimson, but you will need to reduce grazing pressure in May to allow adequate seed production. To establish, seed 3 pounds per acre August 15 -- October 15. No improved varieties are available in Mississippi.

Berseem Clover -- a cool season annual that resembles alfalfa. For more information on this legume, ask for Information Sheet 1306 'Bigbee' Berseem Clover.

Wild Winter Peas and Vetch -- two winter annual legumes popular in the Black Belt soil area and some sections of the Brown Loam Soil Area. They germinate in the fall and produce forage for grazing February to early June. Once you get a stand and reseeding is allowed, it is easy to maintain a stand year to year. Vetch will grow better on sandy, droughty soils than other winter annual legumes. Wild winter peas and vetch produce upright growth, thus making them easier to keep in a stand of tall fescue that is not closely grazed. The greatest potential for these two legumes is either with fescue or overseeded on bermudagrass. Seed September 1 -- October 15, using 30 pounds seed. Most producers use 15 pounds of each legume, since they grow well together. Hairy vetch is the common variety seeded in the South. New varieties include the Auburn University releases, 'CahabaWhite,' 'Vantage,' 'Vangard,' and 'Nova II' (listed in order of most to least cold tolerant). These have been selected for nematode resistance, forage and seed yields, and reseeding ability.

Renovation and Clover Establishment

White Clover Establishment

  • Need a pH 6.2 - 7.0
  • Graze or clip closely in September - October
  • Apply 300-400 pounds 0 20+B
  • Disk lightly and harrow
  • Plant 3 pounds inoculated seed by October 15
  • Cultipack
  • Graze February until fall frost
  • Don't damage by overgrazing in summer
  • With a good stand and two or more acres per cow, may not need N the following summer on common bermuda, bahia, or dallisgrass unless a hay crop is desired

Red Clover Establishment

  • Need a pH 6.2 - 7.0
  • Graze or clip closely in September - October
  • Apply 300-400 pounds 0 20+B
  • Disk lightly and harrow
  • Use 8 pounds inoculated seed
  • Cultipack
  • Graze February - summer
  • Don't damage by overgrazing in summer
  • With a good stand and two or more acres per cow, may not need N the following summer on common bermuda, bahia, or dallisgrass unless a hay crop is desired

Crimson, Arrowleaf, Sub and Ball Clover Establishment

  • Need a pH 6.2 - 7.0
  • Graze or clip closely in August - October
  • Apply 300 pounds 0 20+B
  • Disk lightly and harrow
  • August 25 - October 1; seed 20 pounds crimson, 10 pounds arrowleaf, 20 pounds sub, or 3 pounds ball clover. Inoculate seed
  • Cultipack
  • Graze to late April, May, or June for arrowleaf
  • If natural reseeding is desired, don't graze, except sub, between flowering and seed production
  • Will substitute for spring N application on summer pasture.

Revised by Dr. E. Lamar Kimbrough, Extension Agronomist. Originally prepared by Dr. Hiram D. Palmertree, former Extension Agronomist.

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Information Sheet 910
Extension Service of Mississippi State University, cooperating with U.S. Department of Agriculture. Published in furtherance of Acts of Congress, May 8 and June 30, 1914. Ronald A. Brown, Director

Copyright by Mississippi State University. All rights reserved.

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