Introduction

At a Glance:
Location: Mt Merivale
Farm Size: 1870ha
Rainfall: 550
Soil type: Sand (medium - deep) over gravel over clay
Enterprise mix: 100% pasture

Todd purchased Wollombi in 2001 and set about trying to increase the production to its potential. If carrying capacity wasn't improved considerably they couldn't justify having this investment considering increase in land values since purchase. Improved ryegrasses were chosen as it fits the criteria of increasing production, increasing season length and gave then probably the most logical way to conserve fodder as hay/silage.

In the paddock

Varieties: Perennial Ryegrass: 5%
Improved Ryegrasses: 190 ha in 2007 (approx 10% of arable) in 5 paddocks.
Paddock preparation: Knockdown and insecticide.

Sowing

Time: Mid April
Equipment: Seeded with deep banding system, 30 cm row spacing. Although the spacings are not ideal, Todd has found it does allow some clover to establish in inter-row.
Some paddocks were scarified the same day as seeding, to fill in bull holes and to ensure a good seedbed after 30-40 years of continuous pasture.
Have considered seeding twice at 90 degree workings and have tried spreading seed but persistence was better in seeded rows.

Seeding Rate:
Tetraploids: 15 kg/ha
Diploids: 12 kg/ha

Todd has seeded at low rates to spread seed over a larger area. He has found it reasonable for grazing but needed to increase the rates for silage/hay. In the past Todd has seeded ryegrass with 12-15kg /ha oats as it helps for early grazings and to provide more dry matter. Good annual pastures will match the production of improved ryegrass pastures. However ryegrass will take advantage out of season rainfall where as annual pasture will deteriorate quickly.

Fertiliser

A superpotash trace element blend (Cu and Zn) spread in Autumn at 140 kg/ha.
Ryegrass seeded with Agras Cu/Zn at 60 kg/ha. Flexi-N as required, split applications more often, after each grazing or second grazing. If Todd is looking to conserve feed, he makes fertiliser decisions early while rain is still a possibility i.e., if locking up for silage in Oct apply late August.

Grazing Management

Todd rotationally grazes his ryegrass pastures achieving 60-80 DSE/ha per grazing. Before he could achieve these high stocking rates Todd had to make many structural changes to his paddocks. For instance he subdivided paddocks (average of 30 ha), added laneways and water points to keep management of everything achievable.

Achieving ideal grazing management is a continual process with many lessons learnt along the way. In Todd's first year, they discovered that lambing ewes are difficult to put in a grazing rotation as they are not mobile enough. Rotational grazing is more suitable to cattle and dry sheep (calves easier to move than lambs). As cattle and sheep have different grazing patterns, Todd tends to use cattle to graze first as they tend to take bulk away (typically 4 days) and follow up with sheep straight away (typically for 3 days). Sheep will graze the pasture to an equal stage which makes it easier to assess the grazing pressure for the next interval and also ensures a higher quality.

Hay/silage - The complete package

High grain prices have made it uneconomical to feed many classes of stock. In 2008 on Wollombi, silage will replace supplementary feeding of grain. The quality of improved ryegrass is high enough that nothing extra should be required to add to it.

Todd uses bales and not pits as it suits their feeding regime and it ensures little wastage. Bales have proved to be very manageable with existing equipment. Todd found that the silage production on ryegrass dominant pasture was 60% better than volunteer annual pastures for the 2007 season (annuals 10 t/ha, improved ryegrass 16 t/ha silage).

Benefits

Adopting improved ryegrass pastures has provided Todd with many benefits. It has enabled him to improve carrying capacity and improve farm sustainability with conserving feed. There have been many significant lessons with adopting ryegrass and the associated management. A few key lessons were:

• Get some good on farm advice to establish grazing techniques - when to start and stop grazing.
• Be prepared to rotationally graze to get the most out of it, as it will improve DM and quality production
• Consider why you are growing it, how are you going to utilise the excess feed?
• Treat it like a crop in relation to fertiliser applications, insect and weed control
• Waiting for the 3rd leaf will be worth it. Use it or lose it - be prepared to graze all of it.