Overcoming constraints of new adoption of new annual legumes

Summary

Research in central and southern NSW found the inclusion of the new hardseeded annual pasture legumes, biserrula, French serradella and bladder clover, can potentially significantly increase feed availability for livestock, particularly in lower than average rainfall years. These legumes offer potential to improve crop-pasture rotation flexibility due to their high hard seed levels and ability to utilise novel establishment techniques such as twin sowing. Such systems allow farmers to more readily alter crop to pasture ratios of their farms and therefore the crop to livestock ratio, than in traditional phase pasture systems. Additionally, feed quality characteristics are equivalent to or better than subterranean clover and when coupled with generally herbage production mean higher potential animal production. Modelled beef production (using Grazfeed) shows that these new legumes potentially increase liveweight gain per day at a time when animals would be losing weight if being fed traditional pasture types.
Evaluation of feedback from workshop and field day participants shows a marked increase in the use and adoption of these new legumes. While this has been a substantial step forward, there is still a great need to move these famers further along the knowledge pathway to a point where they have sound knowledge of how to grow and manage the new species.