South East Prime Livestock Achievers
| Project start date: | 15 November 2010 |
| Project end date: | 14 May 2014 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Grass-fed Cattle, Sheep, Lamb |
| Relevant regions: | Southern Australia |
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Summary
The South East Prime Livestock Achievers group (now an integral part of the MacKillop Farm Management Group) has been trying to resolve some of the conflicting local advice about the best ways to establish and manage their pastures and a desire to assess some of the newer pasture varieties against those that had been used for many years.
This Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) addressed some of the conflicting local advice about the best ways to establish and manage perennial pastures in the mid to lower southeast of South Australia and tested some of the newer pasture species on the market.
The project clearly established that phalaris is still extremely hard to beat as a high quality, productive and very persistent perennial grass option for the region. Economic analyses supported this conclusion.
Objectives
The objectives of the project were to:
• run trials over a range of sites to reflect the different soil constraints that exist at a regional level, trialling several recommended solutions for the sites
• find the least cost/highest return option for long term productive pasture stands for the region
• improve the ability of the group’s members to take pasture persistence measurements.
Progress
Economic analysis using the EverGraze Pasture Improvement Calculator demonstrated a clear economic advantage in sowing a perennial pasture over resowing annuals each year. This is due to the annual cost of establishing the pasture not being met by growing more dry matter by using annual pasture mixes.
Tall fescue and some of the more ‘exotic’ options such as chicory and Barberia ryegrass were identified as reasonable alternatives in certain situations, particularly to extend the period of the year in which green feed can be produced.
The paddock scale assessment of pasture growth, quality and persistence undertaken in this project has backed up many of the observations and gut feel by some producers involved in the project about the substantial benefits of phalaris in their pasture mixes. The project also opened their eyes to the significant opportunity to use chicory in more pasture mixes to provide some early autumn green feed.
