Shaftal Persian Clover

We recommend Shaftal Persian Clover. It tolerates seasonal flooding and waterlogging and has some salt tolerance. It performs best on clay loams to heavy clays around pH 5 to 8, and offers excellent winter and spring production. It is extremely palatable, high quality forage for pasture, hay or silage.

Our catalogue gives 4 to 10 kg/ha for Shaftal Persian Clover as a monoculture, and our 2026 guide lists 4 to 6 kg/ha. The seed is very small, so aim for at least 100 plants per square metre and sow no deeper than 1cm into a prepared seedbed.

Shaftal Persian Clover is a multi-cut crop suited to pasture, hay and silage, and pairs well with Italian tetraploid ryegrass such as our Tetila. It is highly productive through autumn, winter and spring and regrows well after cutting or grazing. It flowers late, around 140 days.

Yes. Shaftal Persian Clover is non-oestrogenic, so it won't cause infertility or reproductive disorders in ewes. It is highly nutritive feed for sheep, cattle and horses and is extremely palatable. Sowing it with oats or ryegrass helps reduce bloat risk in cattle.

For our Shaftal Persian Clover, sow dryland crops in mid to late autumn and irrigated crops in February. Sow no deeper than 1cm into a prepared seedbed and inoculate with Group C inoculant. It is late flowering, at about 140 days in Perth, so it gives a long growing season.

We recommend sowing Shaftal Persian Clover with Italian tetraploid ryegrass or oats to reduce bloat risk. Our Tetila ryegrass or Saia or Bannister oats are good companions. Introduce hungry cattle gradually onto lush clover. Shaftal itself is non-oestrogenic and highly nutritive for sheep, cattle and horses.

Shaftal has a low level of hard seed, which makes it ideal as an annual forage rather than a reliably regenerating pasture. Most seed germinates the following season, so plan to resow. For a regenerating Persian, our hard-seeded Kyambro is the better choice.

Shaftal Persian Clover has moderate to mild salt tolerance and excellent waterlogging tolerance, making it suited to wet, mildly saline flats. It prefers clay loams to heavy clay. For more saline areas, look at Strawberry Clover or Puccinellia.

Shaftal Persian Clover suits clay loams to heavy clays in medium to high rainfall. Our sources give different minimum rainfall figures, so check with us for your district. It is late flowering (about 140 days in Perth), with large leaves on thick, hollow stems.

Both are soft-seeded, late annual clovers suited to multi-cut hay and silage. Shaftal flowers around 140 days, prefers clay loams to heavy clays and is non-oestrogenic. Our Berseem Clover flowers around 144 days, prefers neutral fertile soils, establishes rapidly and has low bloat risk.