The results indicated that the legume companion crops used  in this study did not compete with BFT even though they in creased forage accumulation during the year of establishment  without penalising the subsequent yield of BFT. This provides  a viable option for farmers wishing to establish BFT for forage  production. The yield advantage was 37%–55% in the year of es tablishment when BFT was sown with a companion legume spe cies. Neither the seeding rate nor the legume species caused any  reduction in the forage accumulation in the following growing  season. Nurse cropping with red clover had a greater increase  in forage accumulation compared with nurse cropping with an nual legumes, albeit at the expense of a lower proportion of BFT  in the mixtures. A low seeding rate (1.6kgha−1) of red clover  leads to a more balanced mix of BFT and red clover in the bo tanical composition. The BFT yield in the second growing sea son was not penalised at medium and high sowing rates, but the  lack of DM yield difference across companion crop seeding rates.