The SFI is a governmental scheme designed primarily to improve environmental factors including maximizing soil function and organic matter, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints, maintaining water and air quality and supporting biodiversity in and above the soil.

There are numerous individual actions available to farmers, but herbal leys stand out for their potential environmental benefits, as well as giving a boost in livestock performance. In simple terms, herbal leys are a combination of grasses, legumes and herbs. However, ratios can be very different, with well-structured mixtures being able to focus more on grazing or cutting and can be tailored to soil type. The annual payment for the SAM 3 scheme is £382/ha making it one of the more financially rewarding options, but herbal leys have many other benefits.

Using a more diverse range of grasses, such as timothy and cocksfoot, can extend the grass growth curve into the shoulders of the season. Through our own trials, we have seen that mixtures with more diversity can have 300kg DM/ha more in the spring. These species are also deeper rooting and can act as a soil conditioner that will increase biological activity and organic matter and, subsequently, improve drought tolerance making it a far more robust sward. This rooting also allows the herbs to bring nutrients up from deeper within the soil profile which can boost livestock performance. The inclusion of legumes can enhance the protein content. Also, some of the species, such as chicory and birdsfoot trefoil, have anthelmintic properties, which can reduce the worm burden. An increase in the nitrogen fixing legumes reduces the reliance on bought in fertiliser.

Management is vital and the key to sward health is rest and recovery and if you set stock or let sheep selectively graze the crowns, the herbs/red clover will not persist. You should be prepared to plan for a 28-40 day rotation with a longer residual left of around 6cm. It is possible to produce quality, silage but will require a bit more care than a conventional ley. Cutting time is fundamental to the energy potential of the silage, with some species likely to become woody if left too long and a residual of around 7.5cm should be left. The sward will have a lower dry matter content, so will require longer to wilt and care must be taken to avoid leaf shatter in the legumes.

Herbal leys stand out in their ability to meet environmental objectives whilst also extending the grazing season, minimizing expensive inputs, and improving livestock performance. They would be a worthwhile consideration, but combined with favourable schemes, they are hard to ignore and would suit most farming systems.

We have a large range of mixtures to suit the SFI options, including SAM 3. Click here to view our comprehensive guide