Question about chicory

[anvoj]

Hi all,
I'm renovating a pasture and am interested in planting a little chicory in my mix. I like that it has a deep tap root and is supposed to pull up minerals from deeper in the soil. Also it's supposed to be productive in warmer weather.

Anybody have experience with it? Do livestock like it? Anything to watch out for/dos and don'ts?

Also looking at sweet yellow clover. Same questions.

thanks in advance

[agmantoo]

I have chicory in one of my paddocks. I was disappointed with the low amount of forage produced. Sweet clover is a good soil builder but produces very little for cattle to eat. I did try some forage radishes but planted them late. They did germinate and product some top growth that the cattle readily ate. The radish itself was had the top bitten off but the cattle were not able to extract the radish itself from the soil. When cold weather arrived the in ground portion froze and did leave a deep void and may have reduced some hardpan if it existed. Here you can read about the forage radishes if you have not seen anything on them
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/f...eil_radish.pdf

[anvoj]

the radish sounds similar, but with more leaf I guess? Also, it looks like you want to plant the radish for fall and the chicory in the spring, so maybe they could be grown consecutively in the same pasture. ? I was mostly thinking about the soil building aspects of the chicory, but I might as well grow some forage at the same time. Is it pricey?

I haven't checked in on the rotation thread because I've been away for work and have nothing to report. I did get a line on free lime (including the hauling), which is exciting. I get back there in 2 weeks so then I'll get to start my pasture renovation project. Spring came early though, so I'm afraid I'll be a bit behind the curve. Better late than never.