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You are here: Agriculture » About Agriculture » Newsletters and Updates » Ag in Focus » Ag in Focus - Spring 2011 » Perennials increasing productivity

Perennials increasing productivity

EverGraze project leader Kate Sargeant takes a closer look at a chicory crop

At a glance

• Perennials helping to improve stocking rates and feed quality.
• Mix of species can open up new buying and selling opportunities.
• Fast-establishing annual grazing crops can help control weeds in preparation for sowing and to fill the winter feed gap.

Perennials can increase productivity by helping to lift stocking rates and improve feed quality in beef breeding systems, a Euroa grazing group has found.

The group — originally a BESTWOOL/ BESTLAMB group — set up demonstration sites at Euroa and Longwood in 2009, with the support of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and DPI.

At the sites, the group is demonstrating the principles of EverGraze, a joint industry initiative focussed on the use and management of perennials in farming systems to improve profit and natural resource management outcomes.

EverGraze project leader Kate Sargeant (DPI) said the group’s members had set out to understand the place, purpose and management requirements of five perennial grass species and varieties in addition to chicory and ryecorn in a beef breeding system.

The group also questioned the profitability and persistence of perennials in an environment that has largely received below average rainfall for the past 10 years.

The site was set up based on the core EverGraze principle — ‘Right Plant, Right Place, Right Purpose, Right Management’.

Setting up

Beef cattle on Andrew Walta’s property grazing summer active cocksfoot

Ms Sargeant said two replicates of five perennial grass species were sown in one-hectare plots.

Winter active phalaris (Landmaster) was chosen as the benchmark for high winter and spring production, persistence and maintaining ground cover, while a direct alternative to phalaris, winter active fescue (Flecha), was chosen for its summer dormancy (for persistence) and high winter activity.

Summer active cocksfoot (Yarck) and a grazing brome (Exceltas) were sown to examine their ability to persist, while providing green feed outside of the growing season. Finally, a new summer dormant cocksfoot (Uplands) was sown to test its persistence in dry environments.

“All plots were sown with an early finishing sub-clover to guard against a failed spring and a mid-finishing subclover to extend the quality later into the season if moisture was available,” explained Ms Sargeant.

At the Longwood site, two additional paddocks were established at the same time and rotationally grazed with weaner cattle; 6.5ha Southern Green ryecorn and 11ha of Puna chicory.

A 15ha control paddock was rotationally grazed with August-calving cows and calves. The paddock included phalaris, silver grass, wallaby grass and capeweed.

The plots were rotationally grazed between March and October with one mob of spring-born weaners that were targeting feedlot entry weights of 480kg.

Perennials production

Ms Sargeant said significant carrying capacity and pasture quality improvements were achieved using perennials, with stocking rates on the sown perennials three to four times higher than the control groups.

This was in spite of the time off pasture as the perennials were establishing in winter 2009 as shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1 - Seasonal stocking rates (DSE/ha) Euroa Grazing Group demonstration (Longwood site) June 2009 — December 2010 (average stocking rates shown are for January — December 2010)

Improvements in feed quality also allowed the sown perennials to be used for growing stock as well as breeding stock.

Ms Sargeant said the phalaris achieved the highest annual average stocking rate.

“It was also particularly productive during autumn and spring 2010 and less susceptible to water-logging than the other species,” she said.

“However, slow establishment of both cocksfoots at Longwood resulted in a large silver-grass invasion, which has affected persistence.

“A better result from the cocksfoots has been achieved in the cleaner Euroa paddocks where cocksfoot is continuing to play a role in providing feed in response to summer rain.”

Brome performed differently, Ms Sargeant said.

“The brome established early at both sites but provided little winter feed. Its summer activity and shallow roots also meant that it did not survive the first summer. However, at Euroa it has regerminated and is continuing to persist as an annual.”

Fescue fills the gap

Ms Sargeant said the tall fescue performed well through autumn and winter, proving its ability to fill the autumn/winter feed gap (see Figure 1).

“Average cattle growth rates on the fescue were similar to those of the other species, ranging from 0.85kg per head, per day (kg/ hd/day) in August and up to 2.7kg/hd/day at the start of October,” she said.

But the fescue lost quality early, running to head by mid-October and becoming unpalatable to stock.

Weight gains after the beginning of October were unavailable due to disruptions caused by the floods.

Ms Sargeant said topping the fescue plots at the site appeared to make a significant difference to the quality, palatability and production of the fescue through spring and summer, although feed tests were not taken in this period.

Ms Sargeant expected a range of maturity patterns across the farm would help prioritise the timing of grazing during spring.

Chicory achieves higher stocking rates

Chicory proved worthwhile, providing quality summer/autumn feed for calves and carrying on average 22 dry sheep equivalents per hectare (DSE/ha) for 2010.

“It performed extremely well throughout the year. In its first year it carried 14 DSE/ha of weaned calves through the summer and 28 DSE/ha during the following autumn, demonstrating its value for using out-ofseason rainfall to provide quality feed,” Ms Sargeant said.

Although the chicory carried the highest stocking rate, supplementary feeding was required to manage cattle fibre intake. Low Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF) levels, as shown in Table 1, meant that cattle could not graze the chicory without access to hay, which they consumed at approximately 2kg/hd/day.

At $150/tonne, the cost of the hay was $242/ha (see Table 2). On the other hand, the chicory also played a role in reducing supplementary feed costs in summer of 2009/10 when it was the only pasture source on the farm with high enough quality to graze early-weaned calves.

“This demonstrates the versatility in the system provided by a mixture of summer and winter active species across the farm,” Ms Sargeant said.

“These considerations need to be further explored to justify sowing chicory since its pay-back period needs to be less than its expected life-span of approximately three to four years.”

TABLE 1 - Feed quality

	Control (cows and calves - 2010)	Phalaris/sub clover (weaners — 2010)	Chicory (weaners, 2010)	Tall Fescue/sub clover (weaners, 2010)	Ryecorn year 2 (weaners, 2010)
May energy (MJ/kg)	9.8	11	11.8	12.2	12.2
May protein (%)	16	23.5	32	25	28
May NDF (%)	55	50	28	43	45
Late October energy (MJ/kg)	8.8	10.7	10.4	9.3	—
Late October protein (%)	10.7	17.4	19.1	13.6	—
October NDF (%)	56	52	40	58	—

 

TABLE 2 - Production summary

	Control (cows and calves - 2010)	Phalaris/sub clover (weaners — 2010)	Chicory (weaners, 2010)	Tall Fescue/sub clover (weaners, 2010)	Ryecorn year 1 (weaners and 1t/ha grain harvested, 2009)	Ryecorn year 2 (weaners, 2010)
Pasture establishment costs	—	$431	$288	$492	$348	—
Annual average stocking rate (DSE/ha average 365 days)	5	21	22	16	6	9
Growing season stocking rate (DSE/ha average March to December)	6	27	24	19	5	12
Supplementary feeding costs	—	$61	$242	$61	—	—

Ryecorn cleans up

Ms Sargeant said ryecorn served as a fast establishing clean-up crop used to fill the winter gap.

“Although the income from grain and grazing yielded from ryecorn in 2009 was not enough to pay for its establishment, the grazing days during winter of its first year were important to off-set the lost grazing during the establishment of the perennials,” she said.

“The ryecorn further added value to the system in providing valuable autumn/ winter feed in its second year.

“Further returns could have been gained potentially from a silage crop although this was not realised due to floods in 2010.

“When ryecorn, chicory and phalaris were put together in even proportions in an establishment phase, a more even seasonal feed supply and demand was achieved.”

Clean paddocks a must

Phalaris (left) thrived in waterlogged environment, while cocksfoot (right) struggled

Fast establishing ryecorn crop

As well as providing winter feed, the primary purpose of the ryecorn was to clean up the paddocks in preparation for sowing perennials. Ms Sargeant said the demonstration showed clearly the importance of a cropping phase prior to establishment.

“Pasture composition results of the Longwood site show an invasion of between 40 and 60 per cent silver grass on the plots.

“This was particularly a problem in the cocksfoot plots which were slow to establish.

“This compares to less than five per cent annual grasses on the Euroa plots which were prepared with a cropping phase prior to establishment.”

Quality essential

Ms Sargeant said that, as a rule of thumb, 1kg/hd/day cattle liveweight gain could be achieved by consuming an extra 35 megajoules per head, per day (MJ/hd/day).

“Assuming a steer eats approximately 10kg/hd/day of green feed, an extra 2MJ/kg of the sown species compared to the control (see Table 2) could increase energy intake by 20MJ/hd/day, equating to approximately 0.5kg/hd/day extra growth.”

Mix of species the way to go

Ms Sargeant said the demonstration clearly showed the value of perennials, and of growing a mix of species across the farm.

“A mixture of perennials across the farm with different summer and winter activity and maturity levels shows potential for taking advantage of buying and selling opportunities, managing variable seasons and reducing supplementary feeding requirements particularly of growing stock requiring high quality feed.

“The role of fast-establishing annual grazing crops is also evident not only to control weeds in preparation for sowing, but also as a means of filling the winter feed gap while perennials are establishing on other parts of the farm.”

The big picture

A whole-of-farm approach was required to determine the true economic benefit of pasture establishment, according to Ms Sargeant.

“Preliminary analysis of the phalaris treatment compared to the control using the EverGraze Pasture Improvement Calculator showed that the investment could be paid back in five to six years.

“However, to realise the true economic benefit of the pasture establishment program, a whole-of farm approach was required to account for the value of the ryecorn in providing winter feed while cleaning up a paddock ready for establishment, and the chicory in providing summer/autumn feed when other species were less productive.

“This analysis is currently underway.”

Case study: Grazing data benefits producers

Andrew Walta with EverGraze project leader Kate Sargeant

Summer active cocksfoot

Euroa Grower Group member, Andrew Walta, hosted one of the research trial sites on his Longwood property and believes he’s benefited from his close involvement.

“There’s no doubt I get more out of this trial than anybody else in terms of recognising the mistakes, understanding timing of stock movements, pasture measurements and how to cope with problems,” Mr Walta said.

On his property there are 10 x one hectare plots, with two repetitions each of summer-dormant cocksfoot (Uplands), summer active cocksfoot (Yarck), phalaris (Landmaster), brome (Exceltas) and a winter-active tall fescue (Flecha).

“The species on the trial site were selected for drought tolerance, yet this year the site on our property was totally inundated with water for about two days,” Mr Walta said.

“One question was how the grass would cope — the cocksfoot was affected the most, but the greatest impact came from the stock.

“Because the site has a rotational grazing strategy we’ve got a group of animals we didn’t want to remove for too long and pugging became the biggest issue.”

Mr Walta said it was interesting to compare his site with the one at John Kelly’s 15km away at Euroa.

“The other site is part of a croppingorientated system and the paddocks were heavily cropped and cleaner than ours at establishment,” he said.

“We are now finding at Longwood we have greater weed issues. In an ideal world you would do the ideal thing, but because we use the trial to mimic a real farm, the trial has errors and we will learn from those.

“But certainly one lesson is that one would benefit from growing crops for two or three seasons and getting control over the weeds before sowing the pasture.”

Mr Walta said the other key lesson to come out of the study related to grazing management.

“Grazing management can make an enormous contribution.

“The aims we have of doubling food production will come from greater intensification, and rotational grazing makes an enormous difference to production.”

Practices focussing on grazing management are likely to become increasingly important to Victorian livestock producers, according to Mr Walta.

“Over the next few years I think we will get better data on grazing management from trials like ours,” he said.

“I think producers are still not quite crunching the numbers in their heads — they just want simple solutions.”