We are three years into our sainfoin experiment.
The 5 acres directly behind our house is where the former owners kept their horses contained the most. It was highly compacted and had almost 0 vegetation. The sainfoin we planted here is doing well. (pictured above) It’s getting taller and it has been self seeding. It is a wall of pink blossoms we are blessed to stare at every day. It has been an incredible pollinator attractant.
It is slowly breaking through our compacted ground.
Areas that are not compacted, well there it’s flourishing. It is taller, thicker, seeding easier, where it does not have to work as hard.
This is sainfoin in a Krater.
Sainfoin in a swale.
The best growing sainfoin in what I thought was the worst faring krater.
I can’t speak to it’s palatability yet. The pigs have wandered through it and didn’t take a bite. The birds don’t seem to be interested in eating it either. I’m undecided on it as a forage. Time will tell.
Hey Peacock~ what are your final thoughts on the sainfoin as a forage? We have areas of awful compacted pasture and were looking at sainfoin too.
Sainfoin is doing fairly well on our compacted pasture. It is spreading and growing taller. It’s doing better in non-compacted land but… that’s obvious.
As far as it for a forage, I really can’t say. While our pigs free range they have gone to the alfalfa in the swales and have largely completely ignored the sainfoin. I hope to fence in the acreage that contains the sainfoin and run the pigs in it next year. We’ll see if the piglets take to it.