PIRD - Bringing Lambs and Cropping Together

Summary

This Producer Initiated Research and Development (PIRD) project aimed to establish the benefits of an annual pasture legume phase in a cropping system. Namely to  achieve livestock production (kg/ha lamb) and an ability to finish lambs (growth and fat score measurements in conjunction with estimates of the lamb value into and off of the paddock); weed numbers and seed set; yield of cereal crop in the following year.
The project aimed to compare the gross margin of a pulse legume crop to that of an annual pasture legume grazed with livestock (ie To determine the financial return to the system by growing an annual legume in a crop rotation). The project also aimed to measure the performance of lambs on the sown annual legume pasture.
Overall the project aimed to determine the benefit to the cropping systems by including an annual legume in the rotation.  Other than the financial side (gross margins), annual ryegrass levels subsequent to the legume crop and input of nitrogen (via deep soil nitrogen tests) to the soil will be important to measure. At the groups request, this project was cancelled.