Overview

1. Paul and Ann Bell
2. Andrew Fowler
3. Wayne Lewis
4. Todd Quinlivan
5. Tim Scott

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Overview

Along the Esperance sandplain more farmers are adopting phase farming with ryegrass based pastures. This section summarises some of the comments and observations from case studies highlighting benefits and limitations that local farmers have experienced with growing ryegrass.

Some of the key case study messages were:

1. Consider ryegrass pasture as a crop in terms of paddock preparation and nutrition.
2. Ryegrass has contributed to improved clover production after long periods of cropping and weed control.
3. Ryegrass appears to increase soil stability and fertility.

Benefits

Increased stocking rates and early feed have been the main factors driving many farmers to adopt the new ryegrass varieties. After several years of cropping, farmers found that their pastures were slow to establish and the dominating weeds hindered clover development. Sowing a competitive ryegrass pasture aided in controlling these weeds and in time improved clover establishment. Typically, ryegrass is only sown in the first year and managed for regeneration for the following years, generally 3 years. A common observation over this time is that ryegrass numbers slowly decline whilst clover increased making the paddock suitable to rotate into crop.

Farmers have also noticed improvements in environmental issues faced on the sandplain particularly with soil stability. The sandy nature of the soils poses problems of wind erosion, water erosion and water repellence. Ryegrass is able to stabilise these soils as it has a root system that is highly branched and dense, with many fibrous, adventitious roots.

Management

Ryegrass is quite a versatile pasture and grows well in a range of soil types. Farmers have tended to choose ryegrass paddocks based on size, closeness to the yards and paddocks that have been in crop for several years, rather than soil type. It is very important to consider the size of the paddock and location in relation to yards and other pasture paddocks, as grazing management is the key to achieving high pasture production. Many farmers who have sown ryegrass pastures have divided the paddock into smaller blocks approximately 20-30 ha which assists in grazing management.

The cost of establishment has encouraged many farmers to look at harvesting their own seed. With continued drought in the eastern states putting pressure on seed supply, the cost of seed has increased. Farmers are looking at roughly $3 to $8/kg for some varieties and when sown at 15-20 kg/ha with correct fertiliser requirements, establishment can be quite costly. Harvesting ryegrass has given local farmers the opportunity to establish other paddocks that have come out of the cropping rotation at a reduced cost and control seed set at the end of the pasture phase. Similar to harvesting cereal crops, there are quality issues that must be considered. Quality is mainly evaluated in terms of weed seed contamination. Depending on the season, farmers have found that paddocks which have been cut for hay the year prior to sowing have low weed contamination resulting in a purer sample.

There is a mixture of annual and perennial ryegrasses grown on the sandplain, some of the common annual varieties are Winterstar, New Tetila and Dargo. Roper and Camel are the main perennial ryegrass grown. A standout variety for 2006 was Winterstar as it produced high yields and persisted longer after the normal growing season.

Difficulties

One of the difficulties that farmers have faced with growing ryegrass is achieving the correct grazing interval, intensity and duration. They find towards the end of spring the amount of feed produced, is in excess of livestock requirements. This opens up an opportunity to conserve feed by cutting it for hay or silage.

Although using the new ryegrass varieties as a rotational species is in its early stages in Western Australia, many farmers can see its potential.