Livestock producers whose cattle rotationally graze permanent pasture or reseeded leys have the opportunity to cash in on the multiple benefits legumes have to offer by adding them to their forage systems, says Jerry Hall, director of research for Grassland Oregon.

As temperatures began to drop below freezing, southern Idaho livestock producer Justin Place of Place Farms had doubts about the field of cold-tolerant berseem clover he was trialling as a break crop and whether it would survive.

“Even though it just seems like dirt, it’s a very complex and intricate system. And the more we study it, the less it seems like we know,” says Keith Berns of Green Cover Seed.

Whether producers are wanting to grow more homegrown feedstuff without increasing acreage, improve soil structure, add organic matter into the ground, increase soil fertility or all the above – cover crops are an effective and quick way to achieve their goals, says Jerry Hall, director of research for Grassland Oregon.