Annual Grass Hub

Annual grasses, such as silver grass, barley grass and brome provide quality feed from the autumn break until early spring. After that:

seed heads contaminate wool and damage hides, eyes and mouths
digestibility drops markedly in late spring and over summer
seed production is very high (up to 500,000/m2).
Annual grasses are a valuable component of pastures where soil type and climate limit the success of perennial grasses, but can dominate a pasture at the expense of more desirable species.

Replacing annual grasses with perennials will reduce seed problems and reduce weed invasion.

Shallow-rooted annual grasses usually allow more moisture and nutrients to pass through the soil profile, and this can contribute to increases in dryland salinity and soil acidity.

Read more about managing annual grasses to boost pasture production.