Pasture Monitoring in the Rangelands
| Project start date: | 20 December 2021 |
| Project end date: | 17 February 2027 |
| Project status: | In progress |
| Livestock species: | Grass-fed Cattle, Sheep, Lamb |
| Relevant regions: | Southern Australia, Dry, Mediterranean |
| Site location: | Central & Western NSW: Hay, Oxley, & Booligal |
Summary
The aim of this Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) project is to demonstrate that using routine monitoring and managing key species in rangeland pastures can increase productivity of livestock businesses.
Objectives
By January 2027 in the Oxley/Booligal area of Western NSW:
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Demonstration trials across 5 core sites will have increased understating of how feed quality changes at various stages in the plant lifecycle and how this influences livestock production.
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Conduct an analysis of the costs and benefits using pasture monitoring to inform tactical and strategic decision making to show a positive return on investment (estimated) for livestock businesses.
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100% of core producers and 80% of observer producers will have improved their knowledge, skills, confidence and understanding of key pasture species and their management on their property.
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75% of core producers and 40% of observer producers will have adopted (or intend to adopt) the use of routine pasture monitoring to guide their management objectives and grazing strategies.
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The results of the PDS will be widely disseminated with targeted extension and adoption activities including 5 webinars, 5 field days, 10 key pasture species profiles and a producer guide to improving tactical decision making in rangeland pastures.
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Ground cover percentage will be maintained above 50% at demonstration sites and the number of key perennial species will increase from the baseline measured at the commencement of the project, at each site.
Progress
Five producer sites in the Oxley and Booligal areas of Western NSW, currently managing a total of 342,346 hectares, 38,200 sheep, 2,150 cattle and harvesting 5,000 rangelands goats annually, have been selected to demonstrate feed base species and management systems, particularly perennial grasses and shrubs, suited to low rainfall mixed farming zones and rangelands.
Being facilitated by LLS’s Land Services Officer Max Brownlow, the project is tracking how groundcover percentages and the nutritional value of four key species is changing throughout the different seasons of the year.
The project will run for five years. Thus far, a round of autumn and winter pasture monitoring has been completed with all the result being stored in a spreadsheet to compare the data over the years of the project.
