Chicory

Chicory is an excellent source of home-grown protein and is full of essential minerals. It is a very palatable grazing option for livestock, especially sheep, and shows excellent results in terms of animal daily liveweight gains – making it an ideal forage crop for finishing lambs. Chicory also provides rapid regrowth, with the productivity benefits potentially paying for extra seed costs in a single year. Chicory lasts for up to four years.

• Drought resistant due to its deep tap root • Produces very high levels of crude protein (up to 25%) • Excellent feed quality (ME=0.4 %, DM content =8%, D Value=66.1%) • Very persistent under grazing • Benefits animal health • High palatability • Can deliver lamb growth rates of 300-400g/day

• Deep, free draining soil • Soil pH of 6

• Sow during the spring (usually April onwards-no later than the end of August) • Must be well established by the autumn before going dormant • Seed rate as part of a grass seed mix: 0.75-1kg/acre • Pure sward seed rate 2kg/acre • Do not sow any deeper than 1cm • Broad leaf weed control will kill chicory

• After the establishment phase, chicory can be grazed from around eight weeks • Graze the crop hard in the spring to prevent flowering (will rarely flower in first year) • Strip or rotationally graze to prevent wastage • Introduce lambs when 25-30cm tall – stock at a rate to take the crop to 5cm quickly • Graze accumulated regrowth before winter • Mature crops above 30cm are less palatable and poorer quality • Do not graze in the winter as this will damage the crown and reduce persistency