Perennial Profit in the Mallee Wimmera

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Background
Project objectives
Project phases
     Systems Innovation
     On-ground
     $eeing the Benefit$
     Walking the Talk

Background

Livestock have been an integral component of cropping systems since the advent of agriculture in Australia; however with the intensification of cropping rotations, the emphasis on the animal component of farming systems in the Mallee Wimmera has declined. In addition, the pasture systems that have evolved have been developed primarily as a means of improving crop performance. In recent times there have been higher than average returns to be gained from livestock renewing interest in their role in cropping systems, however the farming systems that have developed have exacerbated the livestock feed gap between February and May. This gap is especially evident in poor seasons.

Most livestock suffer from protein shortages during summer when annual pastures have dried off. Research has shown that the productivity of livestock can be greatly enhanced with small quantities of plant protein (eg. green pick) during the summer autumn period. The most suitable plants to fulfill this role are deep-rooted perennials.

Perennial species are also likely to have improved environmental outcomes through the reduction of recharge and the maintenance of ground cover to reduce erosion.

However, there is an opinion that perennial species do not contribute greatly to winter feed production and improvements in animal productivity will continue to be based on the contribution from annual species.

Project objectives

The Perennial Profit in the Mallee Wimmera project is supported by the National Landcare Programme. Its objectives are to:

• Establish profitable grazing systems that address Natural Resource Management (NRM) challenges
• Increase landholder adoption of sustainable land management practices within the Wimmera Mallee environment
• Utilise grazing systems to resource NRM activities and increase productivity
• Scope, test and validate pasture species suitable for the Mallee and Wimmera regions.

Alexandra Gartmann, BCG CEO, launches the Perennial Profit in the Mallee Wimmera project at the 2006 BCG Grains Research Expo.

Project phases

The project involves four phases, each with a number of components.

1. Systems Innovation

The initial phase is to review existing grazing systems within the Wimmera Mallee region and investigate novel grazing systems being used elsewhere in Australia and the world. The 'audit' was conducted by a group of national pasture experts and investigated potential pasture species options for the Wimmera Mallee. Some of the pasture types investigated include grasses and legumes, native and exotic, and subtropical and Mediterranean species. Each of the pasture species included in the report is described in terms of potential advantages of a system (adaptation, seed availability), benefits (biodiversity, water/salinity management), and constraints (establishment, anti-nutritional compounds).

The report was finalised in November 2006. It provides information for each of the following adaptation and feed quality parameters where information is available:

• Suitability to soil types found in the Mallee Wimmera.
• Climatic compatibility to the Mallee Wimmera environment.
• Sowing requirements including:
• Germination pattern.
• Pre treatment required of seed.
• Fertiliser requirements.
• Seed treatments including inoculation of legumes, fungicide treatments, etc.
• Seed bed requirements.
• Weed control measures including herbicide susceptibility and tolerances.
• Seed availability.
• Suitability and compatibility with other species in a pasture mix.
• Data on animal performance including feed quality and the presence of toxicities.
• Management strategies, if known, to minimize animal productivity losses.
• Recommended grazing management strategies.

Download a fulll copy of the report (please note: the report is 2MB and may take some time to download)

2. On-ground

2006 was a difficult season for pasture establishment.As part of the Perennial Profit in the Mallee Wimmera project, eight sites were sown, of which five established. In 2007, fifteen additional sites have been sown increasing the total area of trials and demonstrations to 254 hectares. 32 hectares of subtropical grass species will be sown in the spring of 2007. Phalaris pasture at Morton Plains - 4 December 2006.

Selection of the on-ground sites has been based on quality farmer participants, geographical location, access to water and shelter for the livestock grazing and suitable site history. The sites are geographically spread across the BCG area of influence, overlaying parts of three CMA regions and each site is approximately ten hectares in size.

Site locations:

SITE NUMBER	SITE LOCATION	SOWN	SPECIES 1	SPECIES 2
1	Nhill	2007	Lucerne	Chickory
2	Manangatang	2007	Lucerne	Panic
3*	Sea Lake	2007	Lucerne	Phalaris
4	Birchip	2007	Lucerne	-
5	Wilkur	2007	Lucerne	-
6*	Hopetoun	2007	Lucerne	Fescue
7	Tchum Lake	2003	Saltbush	-
8	Ballapur	2007	Lucerne	Cocksfoot
9	Corack	2007	Lucerne	Cocksfoot
10a	Nullawil	2007	Saltbush	-
10b	Nullawil	2007	Lucerne	-
10c	Nullawil	2007	Lucerne	Panic
10d	Nullawil	2007	Lucerne	Phalaris
10e	Nullawil	2007	Lucerne	Cocksfoot
11*	Donald	2007	Lucerne	Phalaris
12*	Tchum Lake	2007	Lucerne	Fescue
13	Tchum Lake	TBS	Saltbush	-
14a	Jil Jil	2007	Fescue	-
14b	Jil Jil	2007	Phalaris	-
15	Berriwillock	2007	Lucerne	Field Peas
16	Kinnabula	2007	Lucerne	Cocksfoot
17	Narraport	2007	Lucerne	-
18	Charlton	2007	Lucerne	Chickory
19	Morten Plains	2006	Phalaris	-
20	Morten Plains	TBS	Panic	-
21	Hopetoun	2003	Lucerne	Barley
22	Corack East	2005	Saltbush	-

The use of guidance technology for the establishment of stands of temperate and subtropical species is being investigated on two of the sites. Wide row spacing combined with guidance technology was used to sow Lucerne at the Dumosa demonstration site and the Manangatang site; inter-row sowing of subtropical grasses will occur in late spring provided there as suffcient rainfall. The combination of leguminous and grass species will enhance the long term pasture productive potential, but little is currently known about the row spacing's required for the different spcies to allow the utilisation of (leguminous) fixed nitrogen by the grass species.

Currently grazing is being monitored at one of the sites established in 2006. Grazing monitoring will occur at remaining sites depending on 2007 spring rainfall providing sufficient growth to allow grazing during the summer months. Decisions regarding grazing times will be based on a scientific approach with dry matter, plant height and available feed (kg/ha) measured before and afterlivestock graze; if dry matter production is below critical level (nominally 500kg/ha), the pastures will not be grazed. Stocking rates and animal live weights, if grazing continues for longer than one month will be recorded. Both the dry matter production data and the stocking performance data will be used to determine pasture growth rates. Results will be published in BCG's annual Crop and Pasture Production Manual.

The overall on-ground implementation program is overseen by a Reference Group representing local farmers and pasture specialists. This group has met several times to discuss practical aspects of the project establishment and communication. BCG welcomes any farmers who are interested to join this interactive group.

3. $eeing the Benefit$

The third phase is an analysis of system costs, to be undertaken in 2008. An economic monitoring framework has been established for the project and each site, to ensure data is collected from project commencement. Farmer adoption will not occur unless there are clear benefits to be seen. Clarifying the direct financial benefit and the NRM benefits must be addressed simultaneously. Grazing modeling and economic analysis will economically validate the systems under scrutiny. The modeling will complement the on-ground data and results, over a longer time frame and varying conditions. The economic analysis is a critical component for successful adoption by the farming community.

4. Walking the Talk

Communication is continuous within the project, and will concentrate on groups for information sharing and interpretation in the initial stages, with regular 'sticky beak' days, presentations and articles to describe the project and its achievements to a wider audience.

There were several activities undertaken in 2007 despite the extremely poor season and low mood of the farming community. These included:  BCG Grains Research Expo held Wednesday 4 July 2007 showcased the Perennial Profit Project with a Perennial Profit stand manned by leading pastures experts including Eric Hall (Tasmania Institute of Agricultural Research), Roy Latta (DPI Walpeup), Jake Howie (SARDI), David Peck (SARDI) and Anthony Whitbread (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems). Details about this event were advertised in BCG News June 2007 edition. This event was attended by 425 farmers and 200 researchers.

Two local Sticky Beak days were held. The first of these days was held on Monday 3 September 2007 and focused on plant establishment and potential need for insect control. For the September Sticky Beak day it was decided to only invite site hosts since the pasture stands were not well established and would not advertise the project in a positive light. Instead, the day was used as an opportunity to develop site hosts knowledge and understanding of perennial pasture species, establishment and management. It is intended that for future Sticky Beak and field days advertising will occur leading up to the event to encourage wider farmer attendance.

A second Sticky Beak day was held at the Manangatang site on 29 February 2008 and focused on the successful establishment of several lucerne varieties, chickory, hairy canary clover and medic.  A pastures bus tour was held on October 23 which involved visiting the Hopetoun sub-tropical pastures stand as well as the established perennial pastures site. This was in addition tovisiting pasture trials and demonstrations at the Walpeup Research Station. Discussing grazing strategies and nutritional capabilities of saltbush was a key feature of the tour. This event was supported with a media release “How do pastures fit into our farming systems?’ that was widely circulated across regional papers.

l to R: Anthony Whitbread, Peter Hayman, and Rick Llewellyn at BCG's 2007 Expo.	Lto R: Karl Drever from Stephen Pasture Seeds at the Hopetoun site, discussing ryegrass attributes.

A range of written information has also been compiled to help promote the project. This includes:

• An article in BCG’s 2007 Season Crop and Pasture Production Manual. The yearly results article published in the BCG manual has a distribution of 500.
• BCG News article, February 2007. The BCG bi-monthly newsletter has a distribution of 750 recipients.
• Filling the feed gap – Stock & Land article October 11^th 2007
• Perennial Profit page of BCG website has been kept updated with media releases.