All Game Cover Seed Crops

Interval is a hybrid variety, produced by crossing rape and kale together. Creates a thick, leafy canopy to utilise in as little as 10-12 weeks.

• Fast growing properties of rape with the greater leaf canopy of kale.
• Winter hardy for a full season of cover.
• Grows to a height of 80-100cm.
• Sowing Rate: 2kg per acre. 

Quinoa will provide cover and a plentiful supply of seed making it a popular crop for holding partridges, pheasants and attracting seed eating song birds.

• Produces a number of seeds to provide a valuable source of food
• Also attractive to many species of seed-eating song birds
• Often grown with kale as it begins to collapse with first frosts
• Available ready blended with Kale, see Overdrive Seed Mixture
• Sowing rate: 2kg per acre. Pack size: 2 kg

Dwarf sunflowers are a shorter stemmed hybrid variety which provide better standing ability over conventional varieties.

• A stiff stemmed, shorter hybrid variety
• An effective feed crop for shoots in the southern half of the UK
• May require 'swiping' down to allow game birds to access the seeds
• Frequently sown as part of a game mix or with kale
• Sowing rate: 5kg acre. Pack size: 5kg

Thousand Head Kale is a popular, tried and tested variety with good standing ability and winter hardiness.

• Thousand Head is a slender stemmed variety bearing leafy foliage. 
• Excellent winter hardiness providing forage for feeding after Christmas. 
• Can supply approximately 90 tonnes/ha of green forage matter.
• Sowing rate: 2kg per acre.

This fastest growing rye, POWERGREEN is a high yielding variety which can grow at the lower temperatures, making it ideal for late sowing or early harvests.

• Fast initial development, high tillering and high output
• Good growth in cold conditions, excellent winter hardiness
• High nitrogen uptake throughout autumn
• Sow in autumn for incorporation and use in the spring
• Sowing rate: 150kg / ha

A combination of three excellent game cover kale varieties will provide a tall varied canopy over an extended period of time.

• Provides superb cover.
• Kale provides cover for two shooting seasons.
• The flowering kale will attract insects and songbirds.
• 40% Goldeneye, 30% Gruner Angeliter, 30% Inka
• Sowing rate: 2kg per acre. Pack size: 2kg

Japanese Reed Millet is a stronger and hardier member of the millet family when compared to Red and White Millet.

• Stronger plant than others of the millet family
• Improved winter hardiness
• Mix with white millet to provide an excellent cover and feed crop
• Sowing rate: 5kg per acre.

Giant Sorghum is a cross between Sorghum and Sudan Grass Hybrid. It can grow over two metres tall providing excellent cover.

• Produces warm and dense cover that can grow 2-3 metres tall.
• Deep roots help it to withstand drought conditions
• Works well as a windbreak protect more vulnerable crops
• Sorghum is useful for flushing as it encourages the birds to lift above the cover
• Sowing rate: 12kg per acre.

Very popular for use in potato rotations to control soil borne pests and can be incorporated into moist soil to maximise biofumigation.

• Green manure crop with biofumigant properties
• Winter-hardy, easy to establish, cost effective
• Reduces wireworm and PCN populations and their effect on potatoes
• Suppresses Verticillium wilt and Sclerotinia in potato production
• Sowing Rate: 5kg / ha
• VITTASSO Brown Mustard Brochure

Vittasso Brown Mustard is a highly versatile game cover crop - easy to establish, quick growing and winter hardy.

• Sow from late July onwards to produce a dense, leafy canopy.
• Winter-hardy, easy to establish, cost-effective.
• Can be sown as a rescue crop for failed spring sowings.
• Can grow up to 1.5 metres dependent on sowing period.
• Sowing rate: 2kg per acre (5kg per ha).

Buckwheat is a fast-growing annual crop, with a dense canopy for excellent weed suppression. Buckwheat scavenges phosphates, helping to reduce leaching. Use as a short-term, fast growing cover crop, or as a companion crop to oilseed rape and other species.

• Rapid establishment and growth make it an ideal short-season crop
• A dense canopy works efficiently as an excellent weed suppressant
• Nectar-rich, helping boost pollinators and other beneficial insects
• Scavenges phosphates from the soil for future crops
• Sowing rate: 50kg / ha

Short stemmed, sturdy, broad-leaved and has a substantial seed head. Its shorter growing habit is ideal for exposed sites.

• Average height 1 - 1.25m.
• Very good standing power due to short growth habit.
• Ideal cover providing a warm holding area for birds.
• Sowing rate 12kg per acre.

A crop well suited to poorer and nutrient deficient soils. Fast maturing, free-branching plant producing seed attractive to birds.

• Useful mixture for exposed areas.
• Sow April/May for use from September onwards.
• Available mixed with Triticale, Barley and Linseed, see Partridge Mix.
• Annual specie providing cover up until Christmas.
• Sowing rate: 5kg per acre. Pack size: 5kg.

A fast establishing, maturing mixture ideal for patching failed crops or where a later sown crop is wanted. 

• Provides cover and potentially seeds within 16 weeks of sowing
• Rescue mixture for failed crops 
• Rapid establishment
• 50% Buckwheat, 15% Fodder Radish, 15% White Mustard, 10% Gold of pleasure, 10% Texsel Greens
• Sowing rate: 5kg per acre. Pack Size: 10kg 

White mustard is an ever popular choice for game cover. Very easy to establish and grows rapidly, providing cover until the first winter frosts. 

• Can be sown alone or as a companion to other species
• Ideal for early cover, killed off by frost will create shelter for birds
• Quick growing - ideal for patching failed spring cover crops
• Also opular as a green manure crop
• Suitable for Countryside Stewardship (CSS): AB2 
• Sowing rate: 15kg / ha

Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea) is similar to Canary Grass (Aquatica) however it is much hardier.

• A perennial species which can last for 10 years
• Suitable for exposed northern sites - good frost and winter hardiness
• Strong stems and thick leaves provide reliable cover for ground-nesting birds
• Similar to conventional canary grass with improved hardiness 
• Inoculated with rhizobia
• Sowing rate: 2.5kg per acre Pack Size: 2.5kg

Canary Grass (Phalaris aquatica) gives excellent long term nesting cover for partridges and pheasants.

• A perennial species which can last for 10 years.
• Perfect for poor quality sites where annual sowing is difficult or impractical.
• Can grow to 60cm in first year and over 150cm in following years.
• Requires sowing in wide rows to prevent it from becoming to thick
• Sowing rate: 2.5 kg/acre Pack Size: 2.5kg.

Intermediate Sorghum as the name suggests grows to a height between the Giant and Dwarf varieties. 

• Grows to a height of around 1.5 metres.
• Useful as a windbreak around other game cover crops
• Tall cover provides birds with protection from overhead predators
• Similar to maize but does not produce a cob
• Sowing rate: 10kg per acre.

Sunflowers are another great option when it comes to cover crops, whether used straight or in a mixture to produce combined benefits.

• Standard tall variety.
• Excellent nectar rich flowers provide food for pollinators.
• Dead flower heads provide an ideal overwintering habitat for pollinators. 
• Frequently sown as part of a game cover mixture or with Kale.
• Sowing rate: 5kg per acre.

A high yielding, shorter stem variety - a popular option for spring sowings to help control black grass and broad leaved weeds.

• Very quick and early to mature, generating excellent yields
• Strong reputation for producing high yields in following wheat crops
• Performs well on thin soils. Not frost hardy
• Provides interest well into the winter, particularly sown with other species
• Sowing Rate: 50kg / ha

Spitfire Hybrid Forage Rape is a rape and kale hybrid, is a good companion to use with other fast establishing brassicas. 

• Provide cover for a whole season
• Very vigorous and quick growing, ideal for replacing failed crops or patching
• Good disease and bolting resistance
• Sowing rate: 2.5kg per acre.

Use this mixture for CAHL2 (2024) and AHL2 (2023) Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and AB9 Countryside Stewardship (Winter Bird Food), to provide important food resources for farmland birds, during autumn and winter.

• Farmland birds eat the seeds from October and beneficial insects including bees and butterflies use the flowers during the summer
• Sow in spring or early summer for optimum establishment - suitable for later sowings and re-sowing of failed crops, where permitted
• Re-sow in each year of your agreement
• Suitable for Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI): CAHL2 AHL2
• Suitable for Countryside Stewardship (CSS): AB9
• Contains: 35% Buckwheat, 30% Linseed, 15% White Mustard, 10% Oil Radish, 5% Brown Mustard, 5% Phacelia
• Sowing rate: 8-10kg/ha (added to c.40kg cereals) or 15-20kg/ha (as a standalone mix). Pack size: 20kg

White millet is a popular choice as it provides cover and a source of food. Particularly attractive to English and French partridges.

• Produces a plentiful supply of small seeds for birds
• Often sown in conjunction with maize or kale
• It is vigorous and will grow to a height of up to 90cm
• Thicker leaved and higher seed production than red millet
• Sowing rate: 5kg acre.

Red Millet is best sown alongside other crops to provide a source of food which will help to keep birds in the covers. 

• Will produce a plentiful supply of small seeds for birds
• Often sown in conjunction with maize or kale
• Red millet is earlier maturing than white millet
• Susceptible to frost
• Sowing rate: 5kg acre.