Winnaleah Towards 2000 with legumes
| Project start date: | 21 July 2010 |
| Project end date: | 11 July 2014 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Grass-fed Cattle, Sheep, Lamb |
| Relevant regions: | Tasmania |
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Summary
The Winnaleah/Ringarooma Meat and Cropping Discussion Group has sought to improve productivity within the beef and crop enterprises that characterise in Tasmania’s fertile northeast.
This Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) sought to investigate whether similar gains can be achieved by managing for more adequate legume composition (eg 30-40%). In doing so, the PDS has attempted to place some value on the proposition for managing legume composition in pasture.
Over the two years of the PDS Pastures including red and white clover recorded a production advantage of 22% or 421kg/ha cumulative beef live-weight gain above the grass only pastures. Desktop analysis extrapolating from prior responses to nitrogen further indicated that the advantage achieved from legume composition was likely to be more profitable than using nitrogen application to achieve an equivalent production advantage.
Objectives
This PDS project has aimed to demonstrate the livestock production value of legume-based pastures and increase awareness of the role of legume in sustainable grazing systems. The trial has sought to compare the kg/ha live-weight gain achievable with legume-based pastures against the potential from grass-only pastures with and without exogenous nitrogen applications.
Progress
Over the duration of the data collection, legume plots achieved a cumulative advantage of 22%, or 421 kg of live-weight gain per ha above ryegrass alone, over a period of 25.5 months. It was estimated that this indicated a potential economic advantage of up to $660/ha over this same period, or approximately $330 / ha per year, in the high utilisation environment of the trial.
Modelling of likely nitrogen response indicated that this advantage was comparable to production achievable from the application of 84 kg of nitrogen per ha per year. The legume-based pasture however yielded $63/ha per year more, net of the cost associated with achieving the legume pasture.
A physical comparison of this extrapolated nitrogen response and the pasture including legume is still required.
