What is sainfoin used for?

What is sainfoin used for?

Hay/pasture: Sainfoin is an introduced non-bloat causing legume which can be used as hay, or grazed in pastures alone or in a grass-legume mix. It is often grown as a mix with Russian wildrye or crested wheatgrass or Siberian wheatgrass.

Can horses eat sainfoin?

Sainfoin can be used for either grazing or baling. ... Horses especially do well with sainfoin because of the non-bloating characteristic. Sainfoin is hardy in cold, winter temperatures and is more drought tolerant than alfalfa and has earlier spring growth.

How do you grow sainfoin?

Always sow sainfoin into warm soils in the spring. Sainfoin seed can be undersown to spring cereals or direct drilled in April or May at around 30mm. If undersown, the cereal sowing rate should be reduced to 50/40 kg/acre. Unlike lucerne ( alfalfa ) sainfoin does not usually require a seed inoculant to fix nitrogen.

What is sainfoin honey?

Sainfoin honey contains antioxidants called flavonoids and phenolic compounds. They help to protect your body from cell damage. It is pretty good for fertility, easing digestive issues, and healing skin wounds, and is a good source of nutrients.

Is sainfoin good for cattle?

A legume, sainfoin grows as a pink-flowered forage that is known to be very palatable and nutritious for all classes of livestock. Sainfoin may be a pretty pink-flowered forage, but cows go for it big time – and they don't get bloat from it.

What are the pink fields in Montana?

The most distinctive feature of sainfoin is the cone-shaped cluster of bright pink flowers which top each stem. Unlike alfalfa, sainfoin continues to grow (and doesn't lose its bottom leaves) during flowering, so sainfoin is often harvested when the flowers are in half to full bloom.

Where is Sainfoin from?

Where to find Sainfoin. As an escapee from cultivation, it can be found in roadsides, banks, quarries and railways, predominantly in the south and southeast of England and around East Anglia. It prefers dry grassland and limestone soils.

Is sainfoin native to UK?

Flowering occurs from June to August and pollination is mainly by bumble bees. Sainfoin is a perennial of unimproved chalk grassland where the population consists of plants that are probably native or possibly of ancient introduced origin....Prices.

£/1kg	£190.00
£/100g	£21.00
£/10g	£4.00
£/1g	£1.50

How do you grow sainfoin UK?

Sainfoin seeds should be sown in spring or autumn, outside, where they are to flower, and covered lightly with soil. Germination can be improved by lightly rubbing the seeds between 2 sheets of sandpaper. This is known as scarification and helps break down the seed's tough outer shell.

Do bees like sainfoin?

Not only do the sainfoin fields attract every honey bee within a two mile radius, but native bees and other pollinators are commonly seen foraging the pink blossoms. Deer are also frequent visitors; crossing over the neighboring alfalfa fields to help themselves to my sainfoin.

What is Sainfoin used for?

• Sainfoin is a deep-rooted perennial legume commonly grown in the western United States as a forage crop. It is used most commonly in hay and pasture plantings as a non-bloat causing legume. Interestingly, this crop is highly palatable; cattle and sheep prefer sainfoin over alfalfa.

Is Sainfoin good for cattle?

• Interestingly, this crop is highly palatable; cattle and sheep prefer sainfoin over alfalfa. With its high protein and palatability, sainfoin is also preferred over alfalfa by mule deer and other wildlife. Its blossoms attract many pollinator species and the honey made from sainfoin is reported to be very good quality.

Is sainfoin a good source of protein?

• Sainfoin has many positive characteristics as a forage. In ruminants, these are the result of its content of high levels of chemicals called condensed tannins. These bond to the protein in the rumen and allow it to pass into the abomasum where it is digested.

What is Sainfoin Hay?

• Sainfoin was largely grown in England during the 17th -19th centuries and, to a lesser extent, in the early 20th century. It was used as a source of very high quality hay, much of which was fed to the heavy working horses of the time.