Rotational grazing cereal crops in a mallee farming system

Project: Rotational grazing cereal crops in a mallee farming system

Location: Nullawil

Species: Sheep

Date: Sep 2010 - Mar 2012

Status: Complete

Topic: Grazing and pasture management

State: Victoria

Objectives:

The inability of Mallee producers to sow perennial pastures due to the low and variable rainfall is a key limiting factor to the reliable production of quality prime lambs to meet market specifications. The need to develop and better understand the potential and possibilities of grazing cereal crops and newer varieties of forage is vital to the growth and profitability of the prime lamb industry in the Mallee and indeed all grain growing regions of Australia.

In the Mallee, as with most grain producing systems in Australia, the removal of infrastructure such as fences severely impacts on the precision management of both breeding ewes and the timely finishing of prime lambs.

The objectives of this PDS were to:

• develop profitable and sustainable precision grazing systems using rotational grazing technologies, incorporating current and emerging varieties of grain and fodder crops for Mallee prime lamb producers
• develop rotational grazing practices to better manage the nutritional requirements of prime lambs and their dams>
• evaluate fodder varieties suitable the Mallee grain farming systems capable of filling the winter feed gap
• understand the financial implications of Rotational grazing cereal crops in a Mallee farming system
• investigate grazing management practices which decrease the turn off times and increase kg/ha of lamb produced in Mallee farming systems

Progress:

This project was run over two years, with stage one in the first year being a screening stage where the group evaluated several varieties of cereal grain and fodder to decide on the most suitable varieties for final evaluation. Stage one of the project also included an evaluation of all current practices used by group members in the production of prime lambs within their farming systems. This information provided a benchmark for comparison of the results obtained from the PDS.

The project established 40ha of Moby barley inter sown with coral wheat and hindmarsh barley, to evaluate the grazing capacity of the Moby barley as compared to the more prevalent cereals grown in the district. The paddock was subdivided into three blocks using solar powered electric fences and rotationally grazed throughout the trial.

Other key work carried out included the evaluation of paddock grazing on grain yield and the impact on financial returns this practice may have.

In year one the sheep involved in the trial were educated in containment using water points and lick blocks as attractants for walkover weighing and also introduced to electric fences in containment prior to entering the trial block.

In the second year of the PDS two sites were sown down and the paddocks were subdivided into four blocks as it was discovered that not enough grazing pressure could be applied or recovery time allowed with three blocks.

In both years of the trial the lambs being run on the trial paddocks were tagged with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and body weighed upon entry and walk-over-weighing was carried out during their stay in the paddock to monitor body weight changes.

The inclusion of walk-over-weighing in the project demonstrated the value of this technology to the participants and provided an insight into the use of emerging technologies within the Mallee farming systems. This increased knowledge and understanding of the potential use of innovation in the production of prime lambs to meet market specifications. The walk-over-weighing was accomplished using water points and lick blocks as attractants to entice the animals through the walkover scales.

Pasture cages were placed in several locations throughout the trial blocks to monitor the effect of any preferential grazing which might occur. An assessment of remaining Feed On Offer was taken when sheep were moved from the paddock.  At various stages of plant growth additional pasture cages were positioned in the paddock to monitor the grain yield in response to grazing.

In addition, the trial investigated the potential to employ the use of solar powered electric fencing to strategically manage prime lamb production in Mallee farming systems where infrastructure such as fencing has been removed to facilitate cropping. It also identified and evaluated species of cereal grain crops with the potential to graze to fill winter feed gaps in the Mallee and thus produce prime lambs to specification in a minimum time by utilising the available dry matter in a more efficient manner.

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