Grain and Graze 3 is the third phase of a long-term mixed farming program, supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). The initiative aims to improve understanding about grazing crops, how to integrate livestock and cropping on farms, and the management challenges and risks of operating a complex farming system. As part of the project a series of case studies have been produced that provide information about grazing crops and the effects on livestock and crop production.
Case study: Howard Hepburn and Lachy Ralton
Location: Woodstock West
Farming operation: Dryland cropping/sheep
Annual rainfall: 400mm
Soil type: Shallow clay and some hard setting ground
A sheep-first approach underlines most decisions made on Howard Hepburn and Lachy Ralton’s mixed farm at Woodstock West.
Howard said livestock have always been an important part of the business, so when they were looking at incorportaing dual purpose grain crops into their rotation, it was from the perspective that it would enable them to better meet the nutritional needs of their livestock.
According to Lachy, who manages the 1500ha property with his uncle in north central Victoria, the practice made sense.
“It had been done in the past,” he said.
“But with the availability of longer season varieties that were better adapted for our environment, it seemed to be a good option.”
The system
Howard and Lachy crop 600ha of their property, with the remainder used to support their 900 Merino ewes and a mob of 800 Merino x White Suffolk ewes, plus 500 Merino replacement ewes.
Joining occurs late in the year with the crossbreds joined a month earlier than the Merinos to ensure they are on the ground early, so some can be sold before harvest.
In February the ewes are pregnancy tested, with those carrying twins grain-fed.
Lachy said this strategy has had a positive effect on lambing percentages which were up to 120 per cent in 2014, although a bit lower in 2015 owing to the dry season finish.
“If they don’t get pregnant they get a second chance, but two strikes and they’re out,” Lachy said.
The cropping rotation includes Echidna oats and Gairdner barley which are grazed. More recently they have trialled Wedgetail wheat and plan to refine their management of this dual-purpose wheat variety to benefit both their livestock and cropping enterprises.
As with any mixed farming enterprise, logistics are a constant challenge but with planning and the inclusion of crops that can also be grazed, Howard and Lachy said they were finding it easier to meet their livestock’s nutritional demands at a time of year when, typically, feed can be scarce.
“We try to sow early (late March/early April), then we can graze crops by mid-July, after muelsing, which helps with their recovery,” Lachy said.
Usually Howard and Lachy graze 200 ewes plus lambs in paddocks of about 32 hectares.
“It seems to be working well,” Lachy said. “The ewes have had good milk, lambs are performing well and the worm burden is less when they are on cleaner crop paddocks (as tilllage knocks worm larvae).”
Trade-offs
The workload, particularly during the sowing period, remains a challenge for Howard and Lachy.
“Every crop can’t be sown early and we’re often checking lambing ewes at the same time,” Lachy said.
And while early sowing is the ideal, the opportunity to do this is often dictated by the season.
“We get it in when we can,” Lachy said.
“In a poor year the crop will take a harder knock (from grazing), but we don’t want our stock to go backwards … that’s our priority.”
Mirroring the experiences of most grain growers in the region, 2015 was disappointing with the Wedgetail a particularly poor performer.
While earlier sowing may have negated some of the losses, Howard said it was a reminder that growing a long-season variety didn’t come without risks.
Nevertheless, Howard said the stock benefited with the crop producing more biomass, resulting in good feed from the residue.
Benefits
Since introducing the practice of grazing crops Howard and Lachy believe the overall productivity and profitability of their business has improved with better prices achieved at sheep sales and reduced overalll business risk.
“We are carrying more sheep now that we have crops to graze,” Howard said.
“It’s also given us more flexibility … we can use our crops for fodder and there is less of a need to constantly chase high gross margin crops.”
Because livestock come first in Howard and Lachy’s business, they look after them even if the season is late.
“It’s so hard to know what the rainfall is going to do,” Lachy said.
“Thanks to the feed provided by grain crops we can lamb early enough to turn them off in spring and not have to hold on to them into summer.”
Looking ahead
Howard and Lachy intend to keep grazing crops as part of their farming system with plans to refine it even further.
The timliness of sowing is one area they hope to improve on, particularly as they increase the area sown for grazing.
Howard said unlike the Moby barley and oats, Wedgetail wheat will always be viewed as a grain crop.
“You put too much money upfront to view it just for grazing,” he said.
They are also toying with the idea of growing and grazing milling oats after grazing a crop of Matika in 2015 when they needed the sheep feed.
“It put it back a couple of weeks, but I think it recovered okay,” Howard said.
To hear more about Lachy and Howard’s farming system listen to the podcast (linked below).
