Fearga Red Clover is Irelands first ever Red Clover variety bred in Ireland. It was Bred by Teagasc as part of the Pasture Innovations collaboration with Goldcrop. Fearga was bred with an Irish focus in mind. Specifically, Fearga was bred with a focus on improved persistence. This is hugely beneficial to the Irish system. Crop rotation isn’t as common in Ireland as it would be in mainland Europe. Therefore when a Irish farmers sows Red Clover, they want it to remain productive for as long as possible.
Award Winning
Fearga was recognised as the sustainability winner at the 2022 Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena, held at the National Ploughing championships. Key sustainability traits include the ability to produce home grown protein for growing and productive livestock when grazed grass isn’t available. Further, Fearga can remain productive for longer, thus displacing the need for imported chemical nitrogen for a longer period of time.
Red Clover Evaluation
Official Evaluation of Red Clover by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) in the republic of Ireland will get underway in 2024. It will be a number of years before this will lead to a published Recommended list for Red Clover specific to Ireland. A recommended list is available from England and Wales. Within this list Fearga shows very strong Yield over the 3 years of evaluation, with very strong ground cover at the end of the third full year, which is a very good indicator that Fearga can persist for an extended period.
To supplement data coming from official trials, Teagasc undertook sowing a more detailed Red Clover evaluation study at Teagasc Moorepark, which was sown in 2022. The trial comprises evaluation of 8 red clover varieties under 3 different chemical N levels. This will help to better understand the traits of importance for evaluating Red Clover varieties. Fearga is included in this trial. The trials is being run by PhD candidate Sinead Kearney, under the supervision of research officer Dr. Tomas Tubritt. An update on this trial is available here:
Early Sowing
Due to limited seed availability, a small number of paddocks containing Fearga were sown in 2022. These give a field scale insight into Fearga’s performance potential prior to the availability of the first commercial seed in spring 2024. One paddock of Fearga was sown at Teagasc Clonakilty Agricultural College in West Cork. The following seed mixture was sown per acre:
AstonConqueror – Intermediate Diploid 3.5kgs
Glenfield- Late Tetraploid 3.5kgs
Chieftain – White Clover – 1.0kg
Fearga – Red Clover – 4kgs
The crop was sown in spring 2022. Initial Silage cuts and grazing was completed in 2022, with 2023 the first full production year. A small amount of chemical N was included in the seedbed. No chemical N has been applied since, with P and K offtakes being re- applied via slurry and O:7:30
