Productive, persistent and profitable pastures
A wide range of pasture types are found across Australia including:
- mainly native perennial grasses with some annual legume (eg sub-clover)
- annual grasses and legume-based pastures
- improved perennial grass pastures and annual or perennial legumes
Species composition and pasture quality and productivity can be manipulated in any pasture type. Use combinations of fertilisers, tactical grazing management, fire management, and strategic herbicide application to maintain or improve pasture productivity, persistence and profitability.
Manipulating pasture composition by sowing new species is expensive. It can take up to 10 years to breakeven on the capital invested.
For long-term sustainable production, understand the needs of the pasture types on your property and implement appropriate management practices to encourage and maintain their quality, persistence and productivity.
Recognise the pasture species that suit your environment, enterprise and management style. Become familiar with their growth characteristics so you can employ management techniques to improve pasture growth and quality and manage weeds.
The four phases of pasture growth
Available tools
Manuals and guides
- More Beef from Pastures: Pasture species composition
- Making More From Sheep: Grow more pasture
- EverGraze: Selecting pastures for place and purpose
- Grazing Best Practice Management: Northern Australia
From the paddock
- Simon Stead: Putting summer-sown legumes to the test
- John Kelly: Persistence pays off
- Sam and Laurice Morris: The proof is in the pasture
- Mike and Velia O'Hare: High strength pastures
I want to....
Work out the costs and benefits of resowing my pasture
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