Future Farm Issue 11

ISSUE 11 AUGUST 2012

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in this issue

4 Saltbush development narrows the field

12 Perennials turn summer rain into feed

18 Students find focus in agricultural challenges

EverFarm predicts potential of integrated solutions CRC tool assesses farming system options against climate change scenarios

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Where to from here?

contents

By Peter Zurzolo

• Researching with care

exhibits due diligence ....... 3

• Saltbush development

narrows the field ............. 4

• Saltbush supports system

flexibility and productivity .. 6

• Integrated farming systems

in a changing climate ........ 8

• Perennials turn summer

rain into valuable feed .... 10

• Tropical grasses useful

across Australia ............ 12

• Perennials support

generational regeneration

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CEO, Future Farm Industries CRC

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here are now less than two years to go until Future Farm Industries CRC closes its doors and for the remainder of this year we are focused on the transition of the CRC’s Research, Development and Extension (R,D&E).

By November 2012 we will have developed a Transition Strategy, which will seek to ensure our projects continue to have an impact on Australian agriculture beyond the CRC. This not only means that the technology, such as new plant lines, have been commercialised, but the farming system RD&E continues to be rolled out by suitable agencies or joint ventures.

• Perennials offer security in

The CRC is looking at two approaches; one for the pasture research and the other for the new woody crops program.

• Students find focus in

For its pasture research, the CRC will work with its Participants to see what opportunities exist to ensure the farming systems and technologies continue to be adopted and the projects fulfil their potential in creating lasting change in Australian agriculture. We have forecast the long-term benefits that our projects could deliver and now need to ensure they have the necessary momentum to deliver on these targets.

mixed farming system ..... 16 agricultural challenges .... 18

our cover Prediction tool assesses integrated farming systems under a changing climate.

• See full story page 8.

Photo: Cliff Winfield, courtesy WA Department of Environment and Conservation.

8 Future Farm magazine is published three times a year by the Future Farm Industries CRC Ltd (FFI CRC) ACN 125 594 765.

Future Farm Industries CRC is a unique co-investment between meat, grains and wool industry research corporations, the Landmark agribusiness company, and the combined research power of CSIRO, seven State agencies and four universities. It was established in 2007 under the Commonwealth Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Program to build on the research of the former CRC for Plantbased Management of Dryland Salinity (CRC Salinity).

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ISSUE 11 7 APRIL AUGUST 20112012

For its research on new woody crops, the CRC will initially lead a bid to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). This will seek to take the mallee work and extend it to other biomass feedstocks. To improve the chances of success with this bid, we will seek the support of organisations that could

DISCLAIMER The information in this document has been published in good faith by Future Farm Industries CRC Limited to promote public discussion and to help improve farm profitability and natural resource management. It is general information and you should obtain specialist advice on the applicability or otherwise of the information in this document. Neither Future Farm Industries CRC Limited nor any of its Participants endorse the information contained in this document, nor do they endorse any products identified by trade name. The information in this document is made available on the understanding that neither Future Farm Industries CRC Limited, nor any of its Participants will have any liability arising from any reliance upon any information in this document.

This document is subject to copyright, and the prior written consent of Future Farm Industries CRC Limited must be obtained before it is copied.

The CRC will seek to take its mallee work and extend it to other biomass feedstocks by leading a bid to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). (Photo: Peter Garside)

potentially be end users of the energy, fuel or heat created from biomass.

If successful, this project will provide industry with confidence about the long-term costs of sustainable biomass feedstocks.

It is anticipated that the bid will seek to answer research questions around mallee, other short rotation tree crops, straw, stubble, grasses, shrubs and other sources of woody waste. The research will also look to minimise the cost of supply and the pathways to technology.

If successful, this bid could result in a new five-year project with a strong industry focus.

It could lead to the development of a biomass facility using regionally-based biomass. This is a truly exciting prospect.

For further information about the CRC visit www.futurefarmonline.com.au E: enquiry@futurefarmcrc.com.au T: (08) 6488 2505

ISSN (Print) 1835-9906 ISSN (Online) 1835-9914 Published August, 2012

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Researching with care exhibits due diligence

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t was with quiet confidence that a team of Future Farm Industries CRC researchers recently monitored a small group of sheep exclusively grazing the new forage legume tedera for the first time to identify any adverse effects.

As exciting as the research results continue to be from plant breeding projects such as the tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata) project, duty of care obligations are an important consideration for the CRC and highlight the way in which good research is undertaken, according to CRC Research Director Dr John McGrath.

“It’s important we try to anticipate any likely adverse effects the new plants we are developing may have,” John said. “By anticipating any potential issues, we can conduct the research to determine the likelihood of any problem. This enables us to develop appropriate management recommendations to reduce negative impacts where appropriate.

Dr Daniel Real (DAFWA), project leader for tedera breeding and Dr Chris Oldham (DAFWA), said it was important to ensure sheep could safely graze tedera as a sole diet.

“We know tedera contains secondary compounds called furanocoumarins, which in some plants, in some situations, can cause grazing animals to develop sensitivity to sunlight, so we needed to make sure there were no problems,” Daniel said.

There has never been a report of tedera causing sensitivity to sunlight when grazed in its native environment of the Canary Islands.

“Previously we fed sheep exclusively on tedera for 35 days, but it was cut and carried green to them in an animal house. They were not grazing and they were not in the sun.”

Sheep exclusively grazed tedera in a recent trial at Dandaragan, Western Australia (main picture).

INSET: Researchers assess sheep during the recent tedera feeding trial: (foreground) Helena Bailey, UWA Honours student; (background, L to R) Chris Oldham (DAFWA), Daniel Kidd (formerly DAFWA, now UWA) and Daniel Real (DAFWA). (Photos by Daniel Real and Chris Jones, DAFWA)

For this latest 21-day trial, the young Merino wethers in the Dandaragan, Western Australia experiment were examined daily for the first week, and four times per week in the last two weeks, for clinical signs of photosensitisation (sensitivity to sunlight). Blood samples were taken weekly to assess for any ill-effects, including photosensitisation.

No ill-effects were reported during the trial. The entire trial, and the observations, were conducted under strict animal welfare requirements and the supervision of the DAFWA Animal Ethics Committee.

“While there is further work to be done to assess animal health and productivity, we have taken a big step forward to confirm the safety of grazing tedera,” Daniel said.

Weed risk follows similar path The CRC’s Weed and Genetic Risk Project is another good case in point, illustrating a proactive duty-of-care approach.

CRC researchers undertake risk assessments of the plants they are working on, using a worldwide information search and their own knowledge, to assess the plants’ potential to become a weed in the natural environments.

Christine Munday, a researcher with the CRC’s Weed Risk Project, said that weed risk assessment was part of the CRC’s strategy to minimise risk to the natural environment and address the duty of care.

“The thing that is really interesting about the CRC’s weed risk project is that it is about understanding the risk that agriculturally useful species might pose to the natural environment. It’s not directly about risk

within the agricultural system itself,” Chris said.

“In fact we are often assessing plants that are widely used and greatly beneficial in agriculture — such as kikuyu for example.

We look at the plant’s potential as a weed in natural environments and make recommendations for its management in agricultural systems that reduce the chances of it invading those natural environments.

“Dealing with weeds in agriculture and in the natural environment is a very costly process.

The characteristics that make a species useful in agriculture may also increase its potential as a weed, so management is important.

“With a plant like tedera, that is not yet widely grown in Australia, we use any international experience and the Australian research available to assess if it is likely to be invasive. In the case of tedera, at the present time, we found it to have medium weed risk in WA and South Australia, and low weed risk in victoria and New South Wales. Making the assessment up-front enables us to incorporate relevant management recommendations where appropriate.

“What the weed risk assessment does is provide the checks and balances to help make sure the CRC doesn’t inadvertently promote or release a plant that goes on to become an invasive problem in natural environments.”

contact

• John McGrath, FFI CRC M: (08) 6488 4841 E: john.mcgrath@futurefarmcrc.com.au

Weed risk note: Weed risk assessments for tedera and other plants being researched by the CRC are available at: www.futurefarmonline.com.au/about/weedrisk.htm

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Saltbush development narrows the field W

ith the help of some experienced tasters, researchers have fasttracked the identification of elite lines of oldman saltbush, which are now being trialled on properties across Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia.

Lead researcher, Dr Hayley Norman (CSIRO) is passionate about the potential of the elite native shrubs as a nutritious and palatable perennial option across marginal saline and non-saline soils in the low-to-medium rainfall regions of southern Australia where producers have few perennial forage options.

“This Future Farm Industries CRC-funded project is unique in that it has taken a native perennial shrub, which we know is adapted to local conditions, and delivered a range of cultivars that show significantly higher nutritive value than the average across the species,” Hayley said.

key points •

• •

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Researchers, with the help of some dedicated taste-testing sheep, have narrowed a selection of promising saltbush cultivars from 80,000 to 12 elite options.

Elite lines have substantially higher digestibility and palatability than the average of the original pool of oldman saltbush cultivars.

The elite lines of saltbush are being sown and trialled on properties across Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia.

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“Oldman saltbush has been a part of marginal grazing systems for a long time, but this is the first time anyone has tried to improve its feeding value through a simple selection process.”

Partners in palatability According to Hayley, she has it on good authority that the elite line of saltbush cultivars is not only nutritionally superior, but one that producers can be confident sheep will find palatable.

As a source of feed for sheep, saltbush has its limitations — not only in terms of low energy and high salt levels, but also in terms of palatability.

“For me one of the most exciting aspects of this project is that we have rather unique project partners —sheep — who have helped us shortcut our plant selection process in terms of palatability, and somewhat surprisingly, nutritive value,” she said.

With a base number of more than 80,000 cultivars to choose from, the selection process had the potential to be both timeconsuming and costly.

“A small team of researchers were looking at three replicated plots across WA, SA and NSW, with 20,000 plants in each, which represented the collection for across Australia,” Hayley said.

“At a higher level we measured nutritive value of plants from each collection site through the lab (20 plants from each of the 27 collection sites — plant samples, which represented the diversity of cultivars).”

to measure the digestibility of a plant as complex as saltbush.

“Native perennial shrubs, such as saltbush, have survival mechanisms that involve a range of compounds that impact on digestibility and play havoc with standard laboratory analyses.

“So in addition to the laboratory testing, we grazed sheep across the trial plots, looked at their grazing preferences and used animal data to identify premium families — essentially we used the sheep to narrow the field.

“What the sheep were telling us made sense when we cross referenced against laboratory data.

“We took the top material from the laboratory; checked it against animal preference and anything the animals consistently rejected; we rejected.”

Narrowing the field The research team established plots of 90 elite genotypes of the preferred material across the three new trial sites.

“For the past three years we have monitored this second series of experiments.

This included grazing, further laboratory analysis and animal house feeding trials,” Hayley said.

“We have now narrowed the field to 12 elite lines, which will go through further on-farm evaluation and out to commercial testing.”

But as Hayley explains, measuring the nutritive value of saltbush as a species using standard laboratory analysis alone was fraught with difficulties.

Within this final cut, all plants show superior digestibility, but vary in biomass production. Some produce more biomass in salty areas and others performed better on non-saline soils.

“The tools developed to analyse plants for nutritive content were designed for simple annual and perennial plants, such as oaten hay or lucerne — they were never designed

“We looked at biomass production, preference and various components of nutritive value to come up with 12 that are superior,” Hayley said.

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How the taste test works

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efore grazing, researchers estimate dry matter on each plant across the trial site. Every week during grazing the team scores the plants for defoliation.

“An untouched plant is clear,” Dr Hayley Norman, CSIRO explained. “And as they get more intensively grazed, the plant gets bared back to sticks.”

The trial sites are assessed weekly until everything is gone.

“During the trial, sheep also have access to high quality hay — it is important for producers to note that saltbush is not suitable as a single source of fodder; it should only form about 30–50% of the total diet on offer.

“By the time we got down to the 90 preferred lines, all the plants were grazed back to sticks, but there were still clear preferences.”

(Above from left to right): Dustin McCreery, Chatfields Tree Nursery, Hayley Norman, CSIRO and Peter Zurzolo, FFI CRC peruse 20,000 elite saltbush cuttings being grown in the nursery.

(Photos: Hayley Norman, CSIRO and Jill Griffiths, FFI CRC)

“It’s not going to be a case of finding a single miracle plant for all of Australia — what has the highest digestibility won’t be the highest biomass producer at a given environment.

“Our final goal is to get the best options across arrange of environments.

As well as providing energy, crude protein, sulphur and vitamin E to livestock, Hayley sees these plants as having a role in drawing down the water table, providing habitat and other environmental benefits.

“Due to the salt levels in saltbush, as a fodder species the plant should form part (up to 50%) of a total diet during summer– autumn,” she said.

“Saltbush, like many hardy perennials, isn’t a single-species silver bullet — but there is plenty of variation in nutritive value and farmers should use the best material available.”

The next step Researchers are already working with a commercial nursery in WA to propagate the 20,000 shrubs needed to run the project.

“The new saltbush genotypes will be most reliably established through cuttings,” Hayley explained.

“We do hope to develop seed lines, but because of the breeding process of saltbush the cuttings are much faster and will deliver a pure result — you know exactly what you are going to get.

“When you plant an oldman saltbush seed it is a product of four sets of chromosomes from each of the parent plants.

“Stable seed lines of saltbush are therefore much harder to achieve than seed lines of many of the traditional pasture plants.”

In addition to her excitement at the many unique aspects of this project, Hayley believes this project has provided a good model for domestication of other native shrubs.

“The CRC FFI Enrich project has identified at least four other well-adapted shrub species that we could improve.”

To preserve the genetic integrity of the new genotypes, cuttings are the most reliable method of propagation and establishment in the field. (Photo: Hayley Norman, CSIRO)

Acknowledgements: The research team also includes Peter Jessop, NSW DPI and Dr Greg Sweeney, SARDI.

Saltbush yields vitamin E benefits

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eaders of the CRC’s Focus on Perennial publication may well remember the investigations of PhD student, Chelsea Fancote into vitamin E levels.

Chelsea’s PhD is nearing completion and her findings make for interesting reading.

“It only takes a couple of weeks of exposure to saltbush to boost the vitamin E levels of sheep and these levels will carry through a subsequent feedlotting phase of about six-weeks,” Chelsea said.

Low vitamin E is common to sheep coming out of poor seasons and feedlots, where there are low levels of available green feed. According to Chelsea, the issue is exacerbated when lambs are born during a dry period and go straight into a feedlot after weaning.

contact

• Dr Hayley Norman,

CSIRO Livestock Industries T: (08) 9333 6636 M: 0447 600 160 E: hayley.norman@csiro.au

Weed risk note: FFI CRC weed risk assessment gives a low risk score for oldman saltbush for WA, SA, NSW and victoria

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Saltbush supports system flexibility and productivity

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farm info .

ony york, Anameka Farms Tammin, Western Australia is eagerly awaiting the final results of the Future Farm Industries CRC saltbush project. He anticipates the elite lines could treble the impressive benefits he already gains from his traditional saltbush stands.

Case study: Tony and Simon york Location: Anameka Farms, Tammin, Western Australia

Property size: 12,000 ha Mean annual rainfall: 325 mm

“Rehabilitating our 2000 ha salt-affected land has been a 30-year project and the 1000 ha we now have under saltbush is proving both productive and sustainable.

Soils: Heavy clays on the valley floors, with lighter hill country Enterprises: Cropping and sheep

Through their oldman saltbush trials, Dr Hayley Norman and her team from CSIRO have demonstrated to us that saltbush could boost returns even on our saltiest, most marginal land.

These woody perennial forage shrubs are using summer rainfall — reducing the recharge of the water table — so you could argue they’re also reducing salinity.

When we started the trial about 11 years ago, underground water on the site was 1.5 times saltier than sea water and returns from the site were a mere one-fifth of those from more arable land.

The saltbush we now have established provides feed during that critical autumn feed gap, allowing us to boost stocking rates across the farm by 20%.

We’ve about exhausted our ability to incorporate perennials into this landscape, but with the outcomes from Hayley’s recent varietal work we will work towards improving the varieties.

Mind the gap We farm in a typical Mediterranean climate of long hot summers and short, mild winters.

Cropping across our arable country dictates a system of annual pastures, which provide feed from late winter through to late summer.

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Saltbush provides autumn grazing, reducing supplementary feeding and delaying grazing winter pastures.

Previously unproductive saltland has become an integral part of the York’s farming system.

New saltbush lines could double or even treble productivity.

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Tony York and CSIRO researcher Dr Hayley Norman (Photo: FFI CRC)

Grazing our sheep on saltbush during autumn when there is little, if any, other green feed available means we can delay turning them on to winter pastures.

Depending on the season, we graze our salt country during autumn for 4–6 weeks.

If it still hasn’t rained we will keep them there up till the end of June with plenty of supplementary feed.

For this two-month period we run anywhere between 10 DSE/ha up to 30 DSE/ha (although feed doesn’t last long at the higher end of the stocking rates).

When the sheep first go onto the woody perennials there is a bit of grass between the bushes and we only provide a minimum of supplementary feed (mainly lupins and hay) for the first month. As the grazing period extends, we increase the supplement ration.

Diversity breeds flexibility Saltbush has kept us in livestock. The fact that we have 10% of the farm committed to grazing has made us much more open to retaining a substantial livestock component

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to our enterprise, which offers flexibility and diversity.

At the moment cropping is running into trouble and those that haven’t been salt affected have been disadvantaged as they are totally reliant on a single source of income — from crops.

We run about 6000 Merino ewe mothers and turn off 2000 Awassi lambs into the live sheep market each year.

We think the way the Awassi contract has been marketed, providing a contracted price before joining, is great as we can assure a market 12 months in advance — it’s all about price security.

Saltbush is a secure feed base that supports this livestock system — intensively graze during autumn, spelled when you graze the annual pastures. They key is to give saltbush plenty of time to recover.

Broad-scale plantings We have planted about 500 hectares of our total farm to saltbush and another 500 hectares is mostly self-sown perennial

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bluebush. I’m told it’s one of the most significant farm revegetation projects in Australia, with up to 60,000 saltbush seedlings planted annually.

Planting is a fairly straightforward process using seedlings or cuttings — we use commercial tree planters and mechanically plant, with two people planting about 10,000 (10 ha) a day.

We plant at the start of winter on a full soil profile — this is essential for success — and usually achieve between 90–100% survival.

Depending on the season (summer rain) the cuttings will be well established and ready to graze as early as the following autumn; if the season is dry then they will still be ready by the following autumn.

We can get a whole lot more growth with a bigger, more established, robust plant before you turn the sheep onto them and you end up with more feed.

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Bright future Although we are thrilled with our current system, the point about Hayley’s research is that we’ve not been using the best varieties.

Hayley’s team has been coming up with plants that have twice the production and much higher nutrition and palatability than our varieties.

For us, that means we can turn 1000 hectares of saltland from being marginally useful (the biggest being the whole-farm benefit of destocking the rest of the farm) into being truly productive in its own right.

The capacity of our saltland could be doubled or trebled.

In the trial plots, we can already see the difference, but haven’t been able to commercially graze with meaningful animal results.

With some local funding Tony and Simon York are helping Hayley Norman’s project team establish 10 ha of new saltbush plants to assess their commercial value. (Photos: Jill Griffiths, FFI CRC and Hayley Norman, CSIRO)

These elite varieties will really give a shot in the arm to the efficiency of our saltland — we are really looking forward to paddockscale plots of the new plants.

contact

• Tony york M: 0427 949 992 E: anameka@bigpond.com

science behind the story

By Dr Hayley Norman, CSIRO

• Old man saltbush is an Australian

native shrub found across the arid interior. It is understandably well adapted to drought and tolerates high soil salinity. From a commercial livestock production perspective its benefits also include summer activity and the ability to quickly respond to out-of-season rainfall.

Livestock scientists, agronomists, ecologists and hydrologists from the Future Farm Industries CRC have investigated the value of saltbush within farming systems such as Tony’s for many years. The outcome of this work is to conclude that incorporation of saltbush leads to a range of moderate benefits that, when combined, can lead to a significant increase in farm profitability and sustainability. Tony has identified these benefits within his own whole-farm system and understands how to manage the plant’s limitations through strategic supplementation.

Salt accumulation in saltbush leaves can account for as much as 20% to 30% of the dry matter. Sheep grazing saltbush alone would potentially consume 1.4 to 2 kg of salt per week! Mature wethers or steers could not maintain weight on saltbush

alone as salt limits the intake of biomass, even when the saltbush is growing on non-saline land.

Tony manages the nutritional constraints of saltbush by feeding his ewes hay and lupin supplements to ensure a balanced diet. The hay provides energy and fibre, the saltbush provides some energy, crude protein, sulphur, minerals and vitamin E while the lupins provide energy for pregnant ewes.

Equally, saltbush can be used to complement crop stubbles as long as energy is sufficient for the class of stock.

Although saltbush does not provide a balanced diet on its own, it has the advantage of growing marginal soils where there are few options, tolerates drought and offers a highly predictable quantity of biomass of known nutritive value every autumn.

The major economic benefit saltbush offers Tony is the ability to run 20% more animals through autumn with less risk.

The saltbush also provides Tony a place to feedlot stock so annual pastures can get away at the break of season.

CRC research also shows that saltbush helps to manage salinity by reducing the amount of summer–autumn rainfall

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that reaches the water table. Tony’s annual program of saltbush planting is likely to be maintaining and possibly improving the productive capacity of his saline land.

The CRC saltbush improvement project has been identifying genotypes of old man saltbush with higher energy values, better biomass production and improved palatability to livestock. Tony and Simon york have been enthusiastic hosts of the WA component of the research and we are currently establishing a 10 ha plot of the new shrubs on their farm to provide grazing data. The knowledge, enthusiasm and support of york family has been critical to the project.

• Dr Hayley Norman is a Research

Scientist with CSIRO Livestock Industries who is developing strategies for the profitable use of saline plant communities for livestock production.

contact

• Dr Hayley Norman, CSIRO T: (08) 9333 6636 E: Hayley.Norman@csiro.au

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Integrated farming systems in a changing climate

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arming systems based on perennial plants are being assessed for their resilience to climate change in a new Future Farm Industries CRC project, EverFarm. The project combines knowledge of farming systems with economic analysis skills to better understand how well the CRC’s EverGraze, EverCrop and New Woody Crops farming systems can adapt to climate change.

The CRC Research Director Dr John McGrath said previous work on these farming systems had analysed them only in terms of current climatic conditions.

“EverFarm investigates how these novel farming systems perform under projected climate scenarios for the dryland agricultural zone of southern Australia. An important aspect of the project is that it will analyse the impact of these systems in combination at a whole-farm level rather than just as individual farming systems” John said.

key points CRC’s farming systems based • The on perennial plants have proven

to be more productive and profitable under current climatic conditions but their performance under a changed climate is as yet unknown.

is a new $500,000 • EverFarm project that will assess the

profitability of the CRC’s farming systems under projected future climate scenarios.

will help farmers to • EverFarm identify the best management

options and researchers to identify future research needs.

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ABOVE: Whether or not mallee belts will help farms adapt to climate change will be investigated in the EverFarm project (Photo: Cliff Winfield, courtesy DEC).

INSET: Researchers have visited farmers to discuss farming systems and potential changes under climate change: (L to R) Helen Casburn, Ramilan Thiagarajah (University of Melbourne), Amir Abadi (DEC) and Geoff Casburn at the Casburn’s Tarcutta property. (Photo: Bob Farquharson)

EverFarm will use data from four of the CRC’s research sites — Tarcutta in New South Wales, Hamilton in victoria, and Katanning and Cunderdin in Western Australia.

The $500,000 project is funded jointly by the CRC and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF). It is being led by agricultural economists Dr Amir Abadi (WA Department of Environment and Conservation) and Dr Bob Farquharson (University of Melbourne) and will be completed during 2013.

“It is important to realise that we are looking at profit,” Bob said. “The project is running on a very tight time frame, so we have tightly defined study parameters. At this stage, we are not looking at environmental impact or any other outcomes. We are asking whether or not, in a changed climate, perennial plants are likely to improve farm profit compared with current benchmarks in the industry.

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“We don’t know what we will find. We are not being advocates here, because we don’t know.

“We don’t have a set agenda. We are keen to reach our conclusions based on objective analysis of our findings. In fact, we expect that for every question we answer we will find two or more new questions that require additional research effort to unravel.”

Prediction models A range of biophysical models, such as the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) and Grassgro, will be used to estimate yields that could be expected under the current and predicted future climate scenarios.

CSIRO researcher Dr Michael Robertson said APSIM was a sophisticated calculator, developed by CSIRO and partners to estimate crop yield under various conditions.

“We can take daily weather information, soil parameters and various management

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economics team to evaluate the economics of alternative land use sequences at a block or field level over one or more decades.

“It was designed to handle analysis of mixed land use, such as belts of energy tree crops in conjunction with crop and pasture rotations,” he said.

“Its architecture enables the analysts to include the influence of climate change and seasonal variability on yields, prices, and on the interaction between crops. We can use IMAGINE to look more analytically at the paddock level and at the land use sequences. We can assess their profitability as well as the distribution of returns that the changes and chances of rainfall and markets create for our landholders. In this way, we can assess the relative profitability, as well as riskiness, of a range of rotations over the longer term of 20 to 50 years.”

strategies and predict the agricultural productivity of the system,” Michael said.

“Field data are used to characterise the soil — its depth, water-holding capacity and nutrient supply. And models are also verified in the field, so that after making a prediction about yield, we go back and test the prediction. This is how we test models to make sure they are accurate. Then when we make predictions about yields under future projected climates, we can do so with confidence.”

Michael said there was a degree of uncertainly with climate projection for a number of reasons, but modelling could estimate a range of yields that may be plausible and expected under different scenarios.

Grassgro is a similar sort of model to APSIM, except it makes predictions about pasture growth and yield, whereas APSIM predicts crop yield.

To date, CRC projects have assessed agricultural productivity of novel farming systems under climatic conditions that have been experienced in the past. They have included the known level of variability of agricultural productivity under existing conditions. EverFarm will take this research a step further and assess profitability under a projected climate change scenario.

“We have not previously assessed the responsiveness of these systems to climate change,” Dr John McGrath said.

contacts

“The knowledge of perennial systems and the analytical skills being put into this project will underpin the transformation necessary for dryland agriculture to adapt to climate change.

• Dr Amir Abadi, Department of

“Australian agriculture needs to adapt to climate change. This project will help inform the best approach to making the necessary adaptations. It will also help identify research gaps and show the direction for future research.”

• Dr Bob Farquharson,

Environment and Conservation T: (08) 9334 0321 E: amir.abadi@dec.wa.gov.au

University of Melbourne T: (03) 8344 7390 E: bob.farquharson@unimelb.edu.au

Other models — MIDAS and IMAGINE — would then use these estimated yields to simulate and assess the various rotations in the farming systems under current and projected climate scenarios.

MIDAS is an agricultural modelling tool researchers use to assess the effect that changing one aspect of a production system has on the entire farm. It is a whole-farm optimisation model capable of identifying the best use of a farm’s limited resources by finding crop and pasture rotations that result in the highest returns.

Amir said the MIDAS model would be used to select the mix of options that provide the most profitable outcomes. The farming systems investigated would have a component of the production provided by perennial plants.

As one of the developers of IMAGINE, Amir said it was developed by the CRC’s

Keep up to date with what’s happening in the CRC with our new-look monthly e-newsleter FocusOnline.

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Perennials turn summer rain into valuable feed

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hefty supplementary feed bill and below par lamb and weaner survival and performance prompted Mokanger manager Shane Arnold to make some pasture changes. He needed to fill the summer feed gap with a high protein and high energy diet for weaners, and the combination of lucerne, chicory and plantain, seemed to fit the bill.

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Case study: Shane Arnold Location: Cavendish, western victoria Property size: 1650 ha Mean annual rainfall: 550–600 mm Soils: Range from sandy loam to heavier soils Enterprises: Self-replacing Merinos

In the beginning “When I took over the management of Mokanger during 2003, the pastures were predominantly phalaris and sub-clover.

About 15% of the pastures were annuals, which had erosion issues during the drought,” Shane said.

“There was also about 200 hectares of river flood plain country, which inundates for some months during winter each year. This unimproved area has traditionally been used as sacrifice paddocks during the summer months, to rest the phalaris paddocks.

This winter-dominant pasture base provided limited, high-quality summer feed options to support weaners from the 8000-head, selfreplacing ewe enterprise, run in addition to 6500 wethers.

We had nothing to take advantage of the relatively reliable summer rainfall of 75 mm average.

Lambing started during mid-August to ensure the lambs could be weaned onto green feed, but this meant the lambing ewes were often exposed to poor weather.

The enterprise also had a very high supplementary feed bill for weaners and ewes during summer and autumn, exposing the

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Introducing summeractive perennial pastures has significantly reduced supplementary feed costs for Merino weaners.

Later lambing has better matched feed demand and supply for the ewes, allowing a higher stocking rate and improving wool production and weaner survival.

Rotationally grazing all pastures has significantly improved pasture performance and persistence.

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Summer-active perennial pastures, which include lucerne, chicory and plantain, have significantly reduced supplementary feeding costs for the Merino weaners on Mokanger, western Victoria.

INSET: Shane Arnold (centre) discussing grazing management and pasture species selection with agronomists Will Osmond and Lisa Warn at an EverGraze–Hamilton CRT field day on Mokanger.

(Photos: Pamela Lawson)

business to fluctuating grain prices; especially during the drought.

or spring, the summer pastures will still grow and be green.

It also produced a significant tail in the weaner flock as not all the weaners would get onto the grain supplement immediately.

Immediate changes

We can then wean the lambs during midDecember, at about 12 weeks of age (and about 20 kilograms liveweight), onto these pastures, which are productive between December to February most years.

The first thing we changed was to gradually sow some of the pastures to chicory, lucerne and plantain to provide summer feed.

The chicory and plantain are especially good at responding to summer rain and the autumn break.

The aim was to balance the strong winterdominant perennial base of phalaris and subclover we already had.

Great results

The first two years we sowed 40 ha of chicory and then moved to a lucerne and chicory mix. We are continuing to sow 40 ha of this combination each year to accommodate 7000–8000 Merino weaners.

These summer-active pastures have enabled us to move lambing later from August to midSeptember, because even during a dry winter

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We estimate the lucerne and chicory produces an extra 3–4 tonnes of pasture (dry matter per hectare) during summer, compared with phalaris and clover. This saves on supplements, such as lupins and barley, which we would otherwise purchase for the Merino weaners.

Put another way — if we assume these pastures produce one tonne of extra dry

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Same place, different pasture: Annual pastures that did not survive the drought and were subject to erosion issues (top left). This provided an ideal blank canvas for Shane Arnold to plant summer-active perennial pastures to fill the summer feed gaps (top right).

INSET (Right): By lambing later in the warmer weather of mid-September, the marking percentage on Mokanger has increased from a 75% average to 80–100%.

matter per 25 mm of summer rain, the 150 ha we have in would typically produce 450 tonnes of dry matter over a summer with 75 mm of rain.

To buy this feed in at $200 per tonne and 85% dry matter would cost $235 per tonne of dry matter or $105,750 in total, so the summeractive pastures offer a significant saving.

Increased production The later lambing, during warmer weather, has increased lamb survival, resulting in our marking percentage increasing from a 75% average to 80% from a September lambing.

During 2011 we marked 102% from joining.

The later lambing also better matches feed supply to demand for our ewes, allowing us to increase ewe numbers and the average mid-winter stocking rate from 15 to 17 dry sheep equivalents (DSE) per hectare. In turn we now cut more wool per hectare that is of a better quality due to improved nutrition.

Our wool production, averaging 65 kg/ha greasy wool at 16.5 micron for the adult sheep and 14 micron for the lambs, is still our greatest profit driver.

Our weaner mortalities have also decreased by 5% as a result of good growth rates during summer and autumn and higher weights going into winter.

If we save 350 weaners valued at $80 per head that is an extra $28,000 in our pocket.

We have also seen an improvement in the joining rate of our maiden ewes, as they are heavier at joining due to the time they spend on summer-active perennials.

We cut the summer pastures for silage during spring, producing high-quality fodder (11 MJ ME/kg and 20% protein) and controlling the spring flush to be ready for our December weaning.

The green feed provided by lucerne, chicory and plantain during summer also provide peace of mind by creating an excellent fire break around the house and sheds.

Establishment success We have found it is important to select the right location to sow lucerne — it needs to be well drained and low in aluminium. The last two wet winters have demonstrated where we cannot sow lucerne.

When we identify a suitably well-drained paddock we carry out a soil test to check for acidity and aluminium levels. Liming is a simple solution for acidic areas.

Weed control measures need to start in the paddock two years before a spring sowing to ensure effective control and the lucerne seed must be freshly inoculated. We add molybdenum to fertiliser at recommended rates to support effective rhizobia. Plantain is very easy to establish and we can grow it in paddocks unsuitable for lucerne, but we are still experimenting with the range of soil types we can grow this species in.

Plantain and lucerne have very different grazing requirements and we don’t sow the two together due to the high losses of lucerne from selective grazing.

Ongoing management We rotate all our pastures which has significantly improved production and persistence. We generally allow about 20 days recovery between grazings, depending on the season, pasture growth and type.

Our average stocking rate in mid-winter is now 17 DSE/ha (ranges from 25–30 DSE/ha) on the renovated paddocks, compared to 7–8 DSE/ha on a typical annual pasture.

We also run replacement ewe weaners on the lucerne, chicory and plantain to bring them up to weight for joining. But we remove them to allow the pasture to recover adequately before silage production.

As we currently do not have enough summer perennial pastures for all the weaners, we draft the tail off soon after weaning to give them preferential treatment on the more productive pastures.

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After they have fattened up a bit, we put them back with the main weaner flock and then draft the tail off to do the same again.

This allows us to gradually bring the average weaner weight up and get the most out of the summer pastures.

Most of the property remains phalaris and sub-clover pastures, so we run the ewes and wethers on these throughout the year.

Some challenges We have found the biggest limitation with chicory is getting it to persist beyond six years, due to root disease problems. As such, we are now moving away from chicory and including plantain in the summer perennial pasture mix and have been very impressed with the results at this stage.

We are also aware of the livestock health issues than can arise when sheep graze predominantly lucerne pastures, so we provide straw to the weaners on the lucerne so they can balance their own diet.

From ongoing benchmarking studies with Holmes and Sackett, our annual return on assets (ROA) was 9.6% during the 2010–11 year. This was an exceptionally good year after a near perfect season.

We hope to maintain, and even improve on these figures into the future by continuing to reduce our average micron, increase our stocking rate and keep supplementary feed costs down.

To achieve these goals we will keep improving perennial pastures each year, especially the more summer-active species.”

contact

• Shane Arnold T: (03) 5574 2367 E: mokanger2@bigpond.com

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Tropical grasses useful across Australia Tropical or subtropical or C4?

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ropical perennial grasses are proving useful additions to grazing enterprises in widely different climatic zones across Australia. Using clever agronomy to establish the grasses, the same group of plants is being used across the agricultural zone of southern Australia, from northern New South Wales, right through to the northern agricultural region (NAR) of Western Australia.

The tropical perennial grasses — or subtropicals as they are sometimes called — are adapted to a variety of different climates but require warm, moist soil for germination and establishment.

Future Farm Industries CRC is testing and researching tropical perennial grasses in the NAR and south coast of WA, in northern NSW, and also in the mallee in South Australia.

Dr Suzanne Boschma, NSW Department of Primary Industries, said tropical perennial grasses are now being used across a broad range of soils and environments in NSW and their usage is increasing.

key points perennial grasses are • Tropical improving pasture productivity in various climates across Australia.

establishing • Successfully tropicals depends on adequate soil moisture and warmth, and correct sowing depth.

can vary with soil • Productivity fertility and rainfall, but can be up to 20 tonnes DM/ha/year.

Tropical grasses and subtropical grasses are different names for the same group of plants. Broadly speaking, they tend to be grasses that originate in tropical areas but will

grow in subtropical or even temperate climates as well. Sometimes they are called C4 grasses, because they are distinguished from other grasses by the way in which they photosynthesise.

“There is a range of tropical perennial species being used across the country. Here in northern NSW, the species vary depending on the soil type. For example, you might see Bambatsi panics on heavier soils and other panic grasses on lighter soils. Rhodes grass and digit grass are also commonly sown,” Suzanne said.

“North of Perth the growing season starts around May and goes through until the soil moisture runs out. Depending on how far north you go that could be as late as November or as early as September,” Geoff said.

Highly productive

Geoff said that, in WA’s NAR, tropical perennial grasses need to be sown as early as possible — early August to mid-September, depending on the location.

“The productivity varies widely with soil fertility and rainfall, ranging from 10–15 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year up to 20 tonnes DM/ha/year.

“Across northern NSW, the growing season varies, but starts as the soil warms up, generally around September or October, and continues through summer until frosts commence during April or May. “When establishing tropicals in northern NSW, producers need to take this growing season into account. They need to sow these grasses during late spring when the soil temperature is warm enough and summer rain will help them establish successfully. If they are sown too late the grasses may not establish properly before frosts commence, which can either kill the plants or greatly reduce their production potential the following spring,” Suzanne said.

In WA, an alternative approach is used to fit in with different climatic conditions.

Geoff Moore, Department of Agriculture and Food WA, said the tropical grasses work in WA because they grow well during the growing season.

Balancing act

“It’s a balancing act between the soil being warm enough for the grasses to germinate versus sowing later when there is a decreasing likelihood of follow-up rain. The seedlings need to get up and established by the start of summer as in some years there is summer rain and other years a long summer drought.”

“On those occasions when we do get summer rainfall, the tropical grasses are fantastic.

For every millimetre of rain we get during summer, the tropical grasses will produce 20–30 kg/ha. That’s growth outside the recognised growing season for the region and it’s a great way to provide summer feed.

“Of course, there are some years when we don’t see any rain over this period, but even in those years, the tropicals can persist.

They can tolerate the drought and very high temperatures. We have trials that have been growing since 2003 and there have been a few very dry years since then,” Geoff said.

Weed risk note: Producers need to take care to manage the large and rapid biomass potential of some tropical grass species during favourable seasons. FFI CRC environmental weed risk assessments and management guides are available for some tropical pasture grass species at: www.futurefarmonline.com.au/about/weedrisk.htm

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Keys to successfully establishing tropical grasses in southwestern Australia: 1. Plan a year ahead and reduce weedseed set. Control rabbits and kangaroos and consider sowing a cereal to provide stubble for reduced erosion risk 2. Buy high quality seed of appropriate species and varieties

Tropical grasses, which can respond immediately to any summer rain, are an ideal source of green feed during summer, when few other options are available. (Photo: Suzanne Boschma, NSW DPI)

“North of Perth, we tend to grow a mix of panic grass, which is a bunch grass, and Rhodes grass, which is stoloniferous. Signal grass has been used during the past, but it can cause photosensitisation in livestock.

Digit grass was used in early trials in WA, but it was not as drought tolerant or productive as panic grass. However there is some renewed interest in digit grass because it doesn’t cause photosensitisation and it may have a role in pasture cropping.

“On the south coast of WA, a lot of kikuyu is grown as it does particularly well in that region. There are some other species used there as well.”

Establishing tropicals DAFWA recently surveyed farmers in WA’s NAR about drivers and barriers to the adoption of tropical grasses. Respondents included producers without perennial grasses, those with some perennial grasses and those with large areas of perennial grasses (>200 ha or >15% arable or both).

“The survey results showed that for producers without perennial grasses, or with little experience, establishment was one of the main factors stopping them sowing tropical grasses,” Geoff said.

Geoff said establishing tropical grasses is different to sowing a crop, particularly on sandy soils.

“These grasses tend to be grown on the poorer sandy soils that aren’t productive enough for cropping.

“But we now have a good understanding of the agronomy and have developed a package for establishing tropical grasses in the NAR of WA. “Provided the key steps are closely followed, successful establishment can be achieved in most seasons,” Geoff said.

A series of fact sheets on tropical grasses can be downloaded from the CRC’s website: www. futurefarmonline.com.au/research/ future-livestock-production/tropicalgrasses.htm These fact sheets are most relevant to northern NSW.

Panic grass survives drought well, as shown in this image taken immediately before rain and after 4.5 months without rain (below). It also responds to rain remarkably well, as this image of the same area taken a week later shows (inset left). (Photos: Geoff Moore, DAFWA)

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3. Control weeds and insects before sowing 4. Sow into moisture during late winter– early spring (depending on district).

If soil moisture is limiting defer sowing until the following year 5. Set up the seeder to sow into furrows with trailing press wheels and a row spacing of 50−60 cm and at a depth of 5−10 mm 6. Sow 2−5 kg seed/ha, depending on seed quality and whether seed is coated or uncoated 7. Don’t sow too fast 8. Defer grazing until grasses are well established 9. Control weeds and pests (insects, kangaroos and rabbits) post-sowing.

The technical report Establishment of subtropical perennial grasses in southwestern Australia can be downloaded from Future Farm Industries CRC’s website: www.futurefarmonline. com.au/LiteratureRetrieve. aspx?ID=114762

contacts

• Dr Suzanne Boschma, NSW DPI T: (02) 6763 1202 E: suzanne.boschma@dpi.nsw.gov.au

• Geoff Moore, DAFWA T: (08) 9368 3293 E: geoff.moore@agric.wa.gov.au

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Perennials support generational regeneration

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n Mitiamo and Berrybank, fourth and fifth generation farmers, Don and Gay Mack and son Jason have seen the full spectrum of intergenerational farming systems. The current focus is on sustainable production for the long term based on perennial tropical and native pastures.

Case study: Don, Gay and Jason Mack Location: Bingara, New South Wales Property size: 3100 ha Mean annual rainfall: 700 mm Soils: Highly variable, including black and grey clay soils, fine-grained red basaltic clays and pale Kaolinitic clays

Enterprises: Beef cattle and fodder crops

“Our farm is an extension of ourselves,” says Don. “Our properties need to generate enough income for our families to live comfortably, to be viable and to be able to invest back into our farm.

We want our land to be covered in diverse pastures making a healthy environment for our beef cattle production and native wildlife to flourish. We also want to pass the land down to future generations in the best condition possible.

After decades of dryland cereal cropping and set stocking the soils of our two properties were worn out and prone to erosion.

Approximately 50% of the property was cropped at Mitiamo until recently. We had no organic matter in the soil and the soil surface had developed hard crusts in some paddocks.

In turn, the lack of infiltration resulted in poor crop establishment and yields, with areas of bare and eroded soil.

The entire farming system was breaking down, depleting our soil, consuming excessive time, becoming expensive and unsustainable. We needed to change the system and decided to head down the conservation farming path.

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A conservation farming approach using native and introduced perennial pastures has revived a system depleted from continuous cropping.

Paddock subdivision and rotational grazing has revived native pastures and maximised production and persistence from tropical perennial grasses.

Tropical perennial grasses respond to summer rainfall and yield impressive liveweight gains.

Tropical perennial grasses have provided multiple benefits for Don Mack (pictured speaking at field day on his property) and his family, including improved ground cover, soil fertility, bountiful summer feed and increased carrying capacity. Inset: Rotational grazing is the key to managing plentiful feed produced in response to summer rainfall. (Photos: Carol Harris, NSW DPI and Nick Reid, UNE)

Incentive to change

Grazing conversion

During 2006 we received a grant from the Border Rivers-Gwydir Catchment Management Authority (CMA) to convert to a direct drill sowing system. We have since reduced our cropping area from 800 ha to 240 ha and now only grow oats and lucerne on the heavy clay soils on the flats in the valley. This is the best fit for our landscape.

More recent funding from the CMA has allowed us to subdivide some of our larger paddocks, install new water points and move away from set stocking to a rotational grazing system.

These days, only about 10% of the properties are fodder cropped, while the balance is sown to tropical grasses and native pasture.

The direct drill system has reduced the need for multiple passes and has cut back the wear and tear on the tractor and the number of hours we clock up on it each year.

Since we stopped chisel ploughing there is more organic matter in the soil, we have seen less run-off from our paddocks and the moisture is held in the soil longer, giving us a longer sowing window.

Many cropping paddocks at Mitiamo have returned to native pasture, simply through the passage of time, and are now dominated by redgrass, Queensland blue grass, plains grass and slender rat’s tail grass.

There is close to 100% ground cover in most paddocks, protecting against erosion and encouraging water infiltration.

We apply single superphosphate fertiliser at the rate of 125 kg/ha every three years or so, in rotation across the property. We also sow sub-clover at the same time to provide extra protein for the stock during winter, unless the clover is already well established.

The clover also provides the nitrogen for the native grasses and tropical grasses.

Weed risk note: Producers need to take care to manage the large and rapid biomass potential of some tropical grass species during favourable seasons. FFI CRC environmental weed risk assessments and management guides are available for some tropical pasture grass species at: www.futurefarmonline.com.au/about/weedrisk.htm

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Tropical grasses are sown following an oat crop, where we carefully manage weeds. It’s a quick way to get back into a permanent and productive grass-based pasture.

Our preferred mix of grasses includes Bambatsi panic, Gatton panic, Premier digit and Katambora Rhodes grass. More than 300 ha are established now with more planned for the future.

We’re interested to see whether the natives come back in these paddocks, because they have typically done poorly in these paddocks since taking them out of cropping.

Tropicals top production The tropical pastures serve a dual purpose: they provide year-round ground cover and a productive, resilient feed base.

The tropical pastures cope well with the warm climate and respond well to rainfall, which can be erratic in this part of the world.

We have been planting tropical pastures on Mitiamo for about eight years — they give us a more productive pasture base than the natives, which boosts cattle production.

Establishment costs about $100/ha including labour, seed and fuel. But it’s a good investment in my eyes.

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The cattle gain about one kilogram a day on the tropical grass pastures and maybe only half a kilogram a day on the native pastures.

We aim for a tropical pasture paddock size of around 20 ha and a stocking rate of up to 300 head.

We supplement with a dry mix during winter, depending on the season. We make our own dry mix with cotton seed meal, urea and various mineral supplements.

Because the tropical pastures grow so quickly, rotational grazing is essential to manage the excessive biomass production.

Our grazing management revolves around the 30% rule, across all our pasture: that means the cattle eat 30%, trample 30% and leave 30% of the biomass.

The biomass allows the pastures to regenerate and maintain ground cover to slow erosion and soil loss.

Looking forward Our plan is to move from a principally cattle trading enterprise to a cattle breeding venture. We’re in the process of building up our cow numbers, which will take time.

Our five-year production goal is to have a self-replacing EU herd. To achieve this, we are taking a long-term view towards our pasture base, with paddocks small enough to rotationally graze, without cell grazing.

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Stock records help us manage and plan our rotation around the paddocks. Our records also allow us to keep track of where the stock are gaining weight and which paddocks are our most productive.

We have embarked on significant changes recently and it has been critical to get quality advice along the way. The FFI CRC experiments on our property illustrate what works and what won’t with our soil types, climate and management, reducing the risk of failure.

It’s always good to compare what you are doing with what others round about are doing, to benchmark your successes. We can see where we are ahead and what we can do better just by looking around the valley every now and then.

This case study has been adapted from a larger case study prepared for the Border Rivers-Gwydir CMA

by Dr Rhiannon Smith and A/Prof.

Nick Reid University of New England, which is available from — www.www.brg.cma.nsw.gov.au

contact

• Don Mack T: (02) 6724 1178 E: berrybank@bigpond.com

science behind the story

By Carol Harris and Lester McCormick, NSW DPI

• Climate variability is a major issue facing many producers as they try to maintain production from their feedbase. Greater flexibility and a suite of pasture-based options will help producers, like the Mack family, meet the challenges.

There has been widespread interest in tropical perennial grasses in the northern inland of New South Wales during the past 15 years, sparked by their ability to respond to rainfall, providing quality feed during summer, and to produce large quantities of dry matter in highly-variable seasons.

Long periods of dry conditions, coupled with drier autumn, winter and spring conditions meant the traditional reliance on temperate pasture species had to change.

Coupled with increased summer rainfall tropical perennial grass pastures have played an increasing role sustainable natural resource management. These grasses can quickly produce dense ground cover in the establishment year and maintain it year-round; reducing run-off and soil erosion, suppressing weeds, improving soil carbon levels

and structure, reducing ground water recharge and lowering water tables.

A concentrated research and extension effort by NSW DPI has resulted in a rapid increase in the area sown to tropical perennial grasses. Estimates from 2011 commercial seed sales across NSW indicate that 400,000 ha have been sown during the past 15 years.

During the past four years, the Mack family has hosted a FFI CRC experiment as part of the Productive, persistent tropical grasses for farming systems project. The results from this trial, and others in northern NSW and the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR) in Western Australia, have led to the decision to release two new cultivars with Heritage Seeds. The accessions of these new cultivars will be based on demonstrated excellent persistence, forage production and quality compared with commercially available cultivars.

Other FFI CRC experiments at the Mack’s are also evaluating a number of temperate and tropical legumes for use in tropical grass pasture mixes. Tropical grass pastures can be more productive with 50–100 kg of nitrogen per hectare,

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however, fertiliser is costly and the inclusion of a productive, resilient legume is essential for a sustainable, productive feedbase.

Tropical perennial grasses dry the soil profile leaving little, or no, soil moisture for an establishing companion annual wintergrowing legume during autumn, meaning that legume regeneration and growth depends on rainfall received during their growing season. The change in rainfall distribution and forecast climate changes for this region suits the growth pattern of tropical legumes.

This is a relatively new suite of species for northern NSW, but preliminary evaluation results indicate they may be a promising companion legume option.

• Lester McCormick is a pasture

specialist and Carol Harris is a research agronomist and both are with NSW DPI.

contact

• Lester McCormick, NSW DPI M: 0427 401 542 E: lester.mccormick@dpi.nsw.gov.au

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Perennials offer security in mixed farming system

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s far as diversity goes, Tasmania is renowned for its mixed farming systems.

Richard and Emily Gardner personify modern Tasmanian farmers with an enterprise mix that includes sheep, irrigated poppies, irrigated and dryland winter cereals and grass seed crops.

Case study: Richard and Emily Gardner Location: Tunbridge, Tasmania Property size: 2600 ha Mean annual rainfall: 465 mm Soils: Highly variable shallow duplex soils — sands to heavy clays Enterprises: Mixed farming system — sheep, irrigated and dryland cropping

Throw into the bag an assorted range of soil types and a highly variable climate and you’ve got a management challenge that requires a delicate balance of a strong operations plan and timely decision making.

For Richard and Emily, a carefully chosen mix of perennial pastures offers a resilient and productive feed source that complements the livestock and cropping enterprises on their 2600 ha mixed farming property.

Diverse property “The reasons Tasmanian farms can sustain diverse farming systems are the variable seasons and country — our properties are diverse by nature,” Richard said.

“On Annandale we have native run country, with shallow ironstone soils that we largely manage for conservation values, through to fertile country ideal for livestock, dryland and irrigated cropping, including poppy production.

However, our systems haven’t always been that diverse — the decline in returns from sheep forced us to look harder at other options, such as irrigated cropping.

The benefits from this process are manifold — our risk is spread across multiple enterprises and the returns from irrigation have allowed

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Diverse enterprises including livestock, dryland and irrigated cropping (including poppies) give greater flexibility and less exposure to risk.

Choosing pasture species has required balancing feed quality, palatability and drought resistance.

Perennial pastures and rotational grazing have enabled about 25% of the property to be taken out of production and managed for conservation.

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In Richard Gardner’s (pictured above in a cocksfoot paddock grown for pasture seed production) diverse mixed farming operation, a mix of resilient perennial pastures offers security across variable soil types and seasons. INSET: While drought tolerance is a key species selection criteria, managing feed quality during a bountiful season is a challenge — particularly when combining pasture seed production with grazing. (Photos: Catriona Nicholls)

us to increase our ability to manage our native areas sustainably.

We have moved from set stocked wool production on our native country to managing most of this country for conservation values under a management covenant (25% of the whole property is managed for conservation outcomes).

When sheep were our major focus, every blade of grass across the property was vitally important, forcing us to extensively graze our native country.

We now graze very little of our native country and our perennial pastures are the backbone of our livestock operation.

On the flip-side, enterprise diversity has meant juggling multiple balls and timeliness of operations can suffer.

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Shift in focus We’ve had to learn to be in a different business — we’ve grown up in conservatively managed dryland systems, where labour efficiency is paramount.

On a recent irrigation tour of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, one of things that struck me was the number of farmers who are focused on a single enterprise across their entire farm — cotton for example — and because of this focus, they are really efficient.

At the end of the day our systems have greater variability and finding and managing the right mix will provide the balance between risk management and returns.

While irrigated cropping can provide lucrative returns, it is still a high-risk venture

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and the livestock provide a long-term risk management tool in their own right.

However, the formula of keeping it simple within each enterprise is important and our livestock enterprise is focussed on Merinos, breeding for a balance of wool and meat production.

Some of our contemporaries have gotten out of Merinos and jumped into breeding for meat production — but in this environment they will struggle; it’s wool growing country.

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requirements and it is easy to lose a species after a couple of years in a mixed pasture.

In terms of resilient pasture species that will persist across variable seasons, we have had to look elsewhere.

It isn’t that easy to manage pastures in this part of the world, because of the variability, because of the topsoils and the nature of having diverse farming systems.

Lesson from the drought Drought has taught us a lot about managing pasture — conserving important pastures through sacrifice paddocks and drought lots.

It highlighted the benefits of our phalaris and lucerne as resilient, drought-tolerant species.

The shift has been to move from a woolfocused breeding index to one that incorporates a stronger focus on bodyweight.

From a drought-tolerance perspective, we could run a phalaris-dominant system, but during the past couple of wetter seasons the challenge has been managing feed quality.

Phalaris is great, but managing growth during a big season is difficult.

As with any livestock system, the pastures are the backbone and we have developed a mix of species that offers year-round feed production (in conjunction with our crop stubbles and dual-purpose cereals), feed quality, palatability and drought resistance.

While perennial ryegrass arguably outperforms many species in terms of feed quality and palatability, it is not ideal where you have pasture grubs and highly variable seasons — it’s hard to match production to stocking rates. We have the right combination of season and stocking rate in about three years in 10.

Although it is relatively low-cost and easy to establish, it outcompetes companion species if grown in a mix and disappears when things get tough — leaving nothing.

s y stems

In saying that, it still plays a role in our system. We use ryegrass as a biennial pasture break in a two-year rotation with our poppies and where we have sub-optimal spring sowing conditions for our other pasture species, we can follow up with ryegrass during autumn for lower cost and risk.

We toyed around with incorporating a meat breed into the mix, but the benchmarks show that the dual–purpose Merino flock will provide the risk management we need while yielding a solid return.

Place for perennials

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Traditional cocksfoot varieties have been drought tolerant, easier to manage in terms of feed quality, but have had palatability issues.

We have been growing Uplands cocksfoot for four years for seed production and it remains drought tolerant, but is much improved in terms of palatability.

Because we are rotating sheep from pasture species to pasture species, changes in palatability can have quite an impact, particularly on young sheep. The higher palatability of Uplands means the sheep adjust more quickly.

We maintain single-species swards — each species has its own management

Lucerne is a prime example — it can be difficult to establish, particularly in a pasture mix and is not suited to all soil types.

Management challenges

Management of our pastures is probably not at the optimum as so much of it revolves around the cropping enterprises.

Pasture establishment also can be very challenging because of the risk of a dry autumn so we have moved to a spring sowing for establishing cocksfoot and phalaris.

The species mix we have means we now have the dry seasons under control, but it is the good seasons that are challenging in terms of eating the pasture effectively and controlling the dry feed — we are seeing that now.

The other issue is that because we grow pasture crops for seed, we always have dry material on top, so feed quality and grubs are a bigger challenge — which we hadn’t anticipated.

Farming is always challenging, but developing a complementary mix of enterprises and finding the best pastures and crops to support those enterprises certainly helps to achieve a productive, profitable and sustainable balance.

contact

• Richard Gardner, Annandale M: 0419 374 511 E: r.gardner@bigpond.com

science behind the story

By Catriona Nicholls, Sheep Connect Tasmania

• As Richard has identified in

his own business, a spread of enterprises provides multiple benefits, but also comes with its own set of challenges.

and implementation of grazing and livestock, Richard aims to be able to focus on other parts of his business, while optimising the performance of his livestock enterprise.

Many producers in mixed farming systems face the same challenges and question the role of perennial pastures in such a system.

The selection of perennial species within the farming system also aligns with the principles of right plant, right place, right purpose.

The solution is two-fold — one relates to the management of each enterprise and the other to the structure within each enterprise.

Perennial ryegrass is used in conjunction with a cropping rotation; it is winteractive, and along with dual-purpose wheat, provides quality feed during a period where the other pastures are relatively dormant. Due to the seasonal impacts, perennial ryegrass is a shortterm pasture option. It fits in well as a rotational break for poppies.

To manage the former, Richard has recently chosen to bring additional resources into the business to ensure his pastures and livestock get the attention they deserve to drive sustainable returns on investment. By bringing specific expertise in to oversee the management

Lucerne, phalaris and cocksfoot provide drought-tolerant options that fit well

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across varying aspects of Annandale’s landscape. Lucerne is more suited to the deeper, more fertile soils, while phalaris and cocksfoot persist in shallower, less fertile soils. All three pastures provide feed during summer and will respond to late summer rainfall, extending the grazing season.

• Catriona Nicholls works as a project

coordinator for the AWI-funded Sheep Connect Tasmania program.

contact

• Catriona Nicholls M: 0427 571 199 E: cat.nicholls@utas.edu.au

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Students find focus in agricultural challenges

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he Future Farm Industries CRC has a history of investing in the future, not only through improved plants and systems, but also through people with our PhD scholarships and Postgraduate Professional Development Program.

On these pages we offer a taste of what our some of students have been up to. We will continue to profile our students in future issues.

Gina Lennox — land ownership reveals surprises

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bsentee landownership in 1849 was extensive and has been on the rise since the 1970s, according to research carried out by Gina Lennox, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.

Gina is set to finish her PhD later this year.

Her thesis topic, Absentee ownership of rural land: types, trends and implications, didn’t initially interest her, but her supervisor had other ideas.

“Prof Allan Curtis at CSU’s Institute of Land, Water and Society urged me to research this area. I was initially lukewarm, but when I started the swim through the literature, the topic’s

Gina Lennox with ‘Crab’ near her property on the south coast of New South Wales

historical and international scope excited me, as did the discovery that it was very under researched,” Gina said.

During her research in the Lachlan River catchment, Gina collected more than 130 maps, identified 2700 landowners, and with the support of CSU staff, Lachlan historians and long-term residents was able to map historical trends in absentee landownership from 1849 to 2009.

“Prof Curtis was unsure about the historical component of the research, and I had no idea what the outcome was going to be. When he saw the results he was as excited as me,” she said.

Gina enjoyed interviewing 102 people in the Lachlan catchment and says the process helped her describe different types of absentee landowners, from mining multinationals to local town-based farmers, and each type’s implications for agriculture.

She found many absentee landowners involved in commercial agriculture relied on a farm operator, whether this was a farm manager, lessee, share farmer or other waged labour.

“One of the most important findings was the complex interplay between the owner and operator, their relationship and the quality of the farm operator influencing production outcomes,” Gina said.

Shawn McGrath — strong links between research and practical outcomes

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focus on supplementary nutrition of ewes grazing dual-purpose wheat could see more producers integrate this cereal option into their mixed farming operations.

Based on anecdotal evidence, PhD student Shawn McGrath identified a need to address concerns related to high ewe death rates associated with grazing dual-purpose wheats, which may have previously

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restricted use of these crops for reproducing ewes.

University (CSU), Albury, NSW Shawn has a clear area on which to focus.

An interest in mixed farming, animal production and grazing systems led Shawn to research a topic he hoped would provide solutions to a problem baffling sheep farmers in the medium to high mixed-farming zones: high ewe deaths associated with grazing dualpurpose wheat. Now in his third and final year of PhD study at Charles Sturt

“Dual-purpose wheat is sown early and grazed by sheep during winter while still producing a grain yield. These crops can help fill the winter feed gap in southern Australia, and high lamb growth rates have been achieved on wheat crops,” Shawn said.

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Shawn’s research included field trials, which didn’t reveal any particular issues with grazing dual-purpose wheat by lambing

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Penny Roberts Craig — the potential of intercropping

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ntercropping in the higher rainfall zone of southern Australia has the potential to increase overall productivity across the farm, according to PhD graduate Penny Roberts Craig.

Penny’s interest in systems-based agriculture — a great fit with the CRC — combined with a love of study and research, drew her to PhD study at Adelaide University between 2005 and 2011. In particular, she was keen to explore how to create a flexible farming system in the higher rainfall zones, which are dominated by mixed livestock and cropping farms.

Her project, Development of a novel crop-pasture system for mixed farms in the higher rainfall zone of southern Australia, demonstrated the potential of intercropping in these areas. She used wheat, lupins and canola as the crop species, with lucerne and chicory as pasture plants. All possible combinations of these crops and pastures were tested, as well as monocultures of each component.

The results were positive for intercropping.

“Despite yield reductions in the intercrop components, intercropping increased productivity compared with growing the components as monoculture stands,” Penny said.

ewes. It wasn’t until he carried out a research survey of local primary producers that he gained insight into the problems experienced by some producers and the management practices used to prevent high mortality rates.

“The survey identified that metabolic diseases were a key cause of high ewe mortality rates when grazing dual-purpose wheats, including pregnancy toxaemia, hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia (grass tetany),” Shawn said.

“These results suggest the high death rates may be linked to the low calcium and sodium levels in wheat forage compared with the ewe’s requirements. As a result, changing practices, including feeding

“It also provided an environmental benefit of retaining perennial pastures in the system, and produced comparable economic returns to the growing of monocultures.

“As with most research, I found there were more questions posed by the end of the study than I had actually answered. This is not a bad thing though, as it means there is always room to improve the outcome, and hopefully this will enable us to meet the growing global demand for food.”

Penny hopes to continue research in agricultural systems with the aims of providing better farming systems options to primary producers, and contributing to the knowledge base of the science community. With that in mind, she has some specific areas she would like to explore further at both an agronomic and whole farm economic level.

Penny Roberts Craig, with Charlie and Amaya, at her graduation ceremony at the University of Adelaide

“I’d like to look at the range of pasture and crop species suited to intercropping, and through this also determine the characteristics that make a species or variety more suited to intercropping.

I’m also interested in using modelling to develop a better understanding of how intercropping fits into a whole farm production system,” she said.

“I’m happy and fortunate to have the opportunity to work in an area that I have a real passion for, and I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my life.”

Penny says her thesis journey was a long but generally enjoyable one, and she’s happy to keep rising to the challenges that agricultural research brings.

mineral supplements and managing ewe body condition score, can help prevent high losses in ewes grazing dual-purpose wheat.”

Shawn identified that more research needs to be done around the use of dualpurpose wheat, although he hopes his work is already filling a knowledge gap by allowing better utilisation of these crops for reproducing ewes. When he completes his PhD, Shawn is considering further postdoctoral research into mixed farming and grazing system, but will keep his eyes firmly on the practical outcomes.

“I enjoy being able to convey the results of the research to farmers who can see the direct application this can have to their system to improve productivity.”

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Shawn McGrath weighing lambs during a field trial at Cookardinia, south of Wagga Wagga New South Wales, during 2011

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The final word

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uture Farm Industries CRC has spare copies of some of its publications, including past issues of Future Farm and the discontinued Focus on Perennials.

We also have copies of Integrated Forestry on Farmland (2007), Saltland Prospects (2007) and Prospects for Perennials (2009).

There is a wealth of information in these publications, which are available free from the CRC office by calling (08) 6488 2505 or emailing: enquiry@futurefarmcrc.com.au

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Please return this form to: Future Farm Industries CRC The University of Western Australia M081 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 Tel (08) 6488 2505 Fax (08) 6488 2856 Or email: gmadson@futurefarmcrc.com.au

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