Paradana Balansa Clover

We recommend Paradana Balansa Clover for winter-wet paddocks. It is a self-regenerating annual selected for waterlogging tolerance and clover scorch resistance, and it tolerates acid soils from about pH 4.5. It suits sands to heavy soils in medium to high rainfall areas.

Paradana Balansa Clover is particularly useful for early hay. It produces strong growth over late winter and early to mid spring and can grow over 80cm tall. Cut it early, as the thick stems can collapse if left for late hay, and late cutting also limits seed set and regeneration.

We recommend sowing Paradana Balansa Clover at 1 to 4 kg/ha. The seed is very small, so sow it shallow and inoculate with Group C inoculant. On infertile soils it may also need trace elements such as copper, molybdenum and zinc for good establishment.

For our Paradana Balansa Clover we recommend sowing between April and June on dryland, or in February under irrigation. Sow shallow, as the seed is tiny. It flowers around 120 days after sowing in Perth, and it is mid-maturing.

Lightly graze Paradana Balansa Clover in its first year and limit grazing during flowering so it can set plenty of seed. Over summer, graze the plant residue to help break down hard seed and maximise regeneration. It persists better under continuous grazing than in rotational systems.

Yes, Paradana Balansa Clover was selected for clover scorch resistance and is suited to areas where the disease is common. It also handles waterlogging and acid soils. It suits medium to high rainfall country, with a catalogue minimum of 450mm, although one source line suggests 500mm+.

Paradana Balansa Clover handles waterlogging well but only low to mild salinity, so it suits wet flats with little salt. For wetter, more saline patches we would look at Strawberry Clover or salt-tolerant grasses such as Puccinellia or Tall Wheat Grass. Talk to us about your soil test.

Paradana Balansa Clover is hard seeded and sets a large amount of seed, which helps it regenerate year after year under the right grazing management. Allow good seed set in the first year and graze residue over summer. Regeneration is limited if you cut it for late hay or silage.

We suggest Paradana Balansa Clover. It is a semi-erect annual that boosts the legume component of grazed pastures from late winter through mid spring, and it ends up prostrate under grazing. It provides palatable green feed and can give reasonable, though lower quality, summer feed too.

Both tolerate waterlogging. Our Paradana Balansa Clover is mid-maturing, flowers around 120 days, tolerates acid soils and suits early hay and continuous grazing. Kyambro Persian Clover also flowers around 120 days, handles mild salinity and makes higher quality hay than Balansa. Shaftal Persian is a later, soft-seeded option for annual forage.