SUMMER 2013

TipsPASTURES FOR PROFIT®

Welcome to the Summer Edition of Agricom’s Pastures for Profit® Tips

AGRICOM UPDATE

NZ AGRONOMY TOUR

WHY ARE SOME GRASSES BETTER ADAPTED TO SUMMER-DRY CLIMATES?

The following articles are intended to encourage thoughts around summer forage options for increasing farm productivity. In this issue we summarise some key information, especially the principles that can be applied during autumn sowing and pasture management. Email us at: info@agricom.com.au if you would like more detailed information on these topics.

Recently Agricom appointed Blair McCormick as Victorian and Tasmania territory manager replacing Dick Evans who has retired after many years of service to the PGG Seeds/Agricom brand in Australia.

Blair has an agricultural science degree from the University of Melbourne. Since that time he has worked as a research agronomist and as a territory manager for Seednet. Blair will be working closely with our Victorian distributors Stephen Pasture Seeds and Smyth Seeds and Roberts in Tasmania as well as farmers within these regions.

The Agricom team toured the North Island of New Zealand with some leading agronomists from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia last year. The tour focussed primarily on grass species in dairying as well as in sheep and beef production. The team also visited Dairy NZ where it was great to see the excellent results that they are getting from grazing Tonic Plantain. Winter grazing of brassicas was evident everywhere, with very impressive dry matter production and utilisation rates. It was also of great benefit to hear firsthand from NZ farmers how well ryegrass cultivars with AR37 endophyte were performing in the Waikato, where cultivars with other endophytes are only lasting 18 months due to insect pressure. While the group didn’t see any great amounts of sunshine they did manage to summarise some key visits from their trip – to read more click here.

Ryegrass often struggles in hot Australian conditions, whereas grasses like tall fescue, cocksfoot and phalaris are both more persistent and productive. The high rate (80%) of tiller death in ryegrass over summer reduces its ability to survive dry summers. Tall fescue on the other hand only loses 25% of its tillers over summer, an adaptation to improve autumn recovery and persistence. A similar pattern occurs below the surface with the roots.

Often the “straw that breaks the camel’s back” for ryegrass, is when insect pressure combines with drought. Dry summers and free-draining soils favour grass grub, so the reduced and weakened ryegrass roots are easily destroyed in autumn and winter. Tall fescue, cocksfoot and phalaris are tolerant, or resistant to grass grub, which is an important reason for theirgreater persistence in dryland climates.

Hummer tall fescue on left compared to perennial ryegrass on right. Fescue has large and deep roots which better survive summers and grass grub damage.

TALL FESCUE IS PROVING ITSELF… AGAIN

GRAZING AFFECTS ROOTS

HERBS INCREASE MILKSOLIDS PRODUCTION

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Tall fescue is gaining in popularity again after overcoming historic perceptions around palatability and difficult grazing management. The latest bred cultivars are softer in the leaf, minimising palatability issues, while tall fescue requires different spring grazing management compared to ryegrass to maintain mid spring quality. Continental tall fescue does offer real dry matter growth advantages particularly through early spring and again during the summer months over ryegrass due to its deeper rooting nature and it’s natural ability to grow through hotter and drier periods.

This early spring growth is a key advantage tall fescue has over ryegrass and is extremely beneficial to a number of farming systems. Agricom trials have proven the increase in early spring growth over ryegrass under irrigated and dryland situations. This increase in early spring production must be utilised correctly to keep the quality high. This is a good problem to have with feed potentially being tight at this time of year.

Improved summer quality, due to better compatibility with clovers and herbs and reduced seedhead development, is another positive for the use of tall fescue. Over the last 10 years, the development of the MaxP® endophyte in tall fescue has provided these new varieties major persistency advantages over nil endophyte tall fescues, through offering protection against a wide range of insect pests.

We have known for many years that continual grazing during drought periods causes permanent damage to pastures. Ryegrass roots are short-lived (like tillers) and each time plants are grazed, some roots die. New roots replace these, provided there is enough soil moisture and time between grazing events. Continual grazing in droughts results in more root death and less replacement, leading to plants with very weak roots that are more prone to death and “ryegrass pulling” in autumn.

Maintaining a high tiller density in ryegrass pastures is essential for persistence. Tillers can be formed in ryegrass at any time of the year, but both the birth and death rates peak in spring, making this a crucial time of year for grazing management. Frequent and intense grazing (e.g. two-leaf stage at grazing and a 3 cm residual) results in more tillers at the end of spring than less frequent grazing to higher residual heights (e.g. three or four-leaf stage, and 5 or 8 cm residual).

Frequent and intense grazing (including set-stocking) can also improve the energy, protein and fibre content of pasture, and increase the percentage of clover (for small-medium leaf clover cultivars). It also improves the ability of pastures to withstand summer drought.

Maximising tiller numbers at the end of spring is important because 80% of tillers die over summer, so if you start with plenty you have a better chance of having enough tillers in autumn to achieve good pasture growth and weed suppression.

Recent research reported by DairyNZ (Lee et al., 2012) has shown the real benefits of using Tonic plantain or Choice chicory as a pure stand for summer grazing in a dairy system. Both Tonic and Choice maintain higher summer quality over ryegrass in the Waikato (NZ). Tonic plantain and Choice chicory maintained an ME (MJME/kg DM) of between 11 - 13 compared to ryegrass that dropped to 9.6 ME over the late summer period. At this time, cows fed first year Choice chicory and Tonic plantain as 20 - 40% of their diet ate about 1 kg DM more and produced about 17% more milksolids.

Both Tonic and Choice will increase pasture quality over the summer period compared to ryegrass, whether it is in a mix or as a pure stand crop. In addition to this, there is evidence to suggest Tonic reduces the amount of Nitrogen in the cow’s urine, which is highly relevant in today’s systems.

Further newsletters will update you on this and other research being completed by Demo Dairy at Terang in Victoria on the use of Tonic plantain and Choice chicory in dairy systems.

Hummer tall fescue four weeks after sowing

Cows grazing a Tonic plantain, Choice chicory and Hunter forage brassic pasture

SOWING DEPTH AND SEED EMERGENCE

RED CLOVER OR RAPE… EXCELLENT UTILISATION

INNOVATION IS THE KEY FOR FARMING FUTURE

WWW.AGRICOM.COM.AU 1800 051 064

Agricom cultivars are available from all quality rural retailers and seed is proudly distributed by:

AusWest Seeds NSW, QLD 1800 224 987 Smyth Seeds VIC, STHN NSW 03 5762 5288Stephen Pasture Seeds VIC, SA 03 5335 8055 Roberts Ltd TAS 03 6393 6060Irwin Hunter & Co WA 08 9383 4708

Ryegrass and Tonic plantain are less susceptible to a deeper sowing depth than clovers, cocksfoot and chicory. Research by Lincoln University (Peril et al., 2000) showed increasing the sowing depth from 5 mm to 25 mm did not affect the establishment of ryegrass or Tonic. However increasing sowing depth of white clover and cocksfoot from 5 mm - 25 mm significantly reduced establishment. Chicory is even more susceptible to an increase in sowing depth with a significant difference in establishment between 5 mm and 15 mm sowing depth.

This research has implications for white clover establishment with white clover being a key component in many dairy farming systems. By providing clover with the best chance of establishment helps to ensure that maximum benefits are seen from this often important plant species.

The trial emphasises the requirement to ensure the seed-drill depth is shallow enough to ensure good clover establishment, and this is even more vital if chicory is present in the pasture mix.

Creep grazing is a relatively new concept that is gaining traction due to the apparent increase it provides to lamb live weight gain. It involves the use of specialised gates that allow lambs access to neighbouring paddocks of high quality feed, but not their mothers, encouraging higher lamb live weight gain.

Research conducted by Taylor et al. (2011) indicates the use of red clover or rape may potentially encourage lambs to use the creep grazing gates, lifting intake and therefore lamb performance.

Lambs were given the freedom to graze up to seven different forages; old ryegrass white clover pastures, annual ryegrass, chicory, red clover, rape, leaf turnip and a chicory/red clover mix. The 10 lambs were given free access to all treatments for 12 days, with pre-grazing and post-grazing measurements taken to estimate apparent forage utilisation. Both the red clover and rape treatments had significantly higher animal utilisations than all other treatments.

Research by Moss et al. (2009) research showed that the use of the creep grazing system increased lamb live weight by 5 kg at weaning; this was using ryegrass/white clover as a specialist lamb pasture. The use of more specialist and higher quality crops such as red clover or rape is thought to increase the live weight gain advantages for lambs using the creep grazing system.

For more information on Broadway red clover click here.

The availability of arable land and water is going to be a key constraint that will inhibit the production of food in the future. This puts some emphasis back on Australia to cover feed deficits in countries like China and India where land and fresh water constraints are issues.

At the Rabobank Advisory Board meeting (Rabobank, 2010), it was stated that “Australia and New Zealand will be powerhouses in the global agriculture industry in the long-term”. This is according to Sunny Verghese, a leading international food and agribusiness authority. “The demand-side of the equation is much more predictable. The real challenge for Australasian producers will be managing the supply side of the growth in Asia and strengthening their competitive position and building a comparative advantage.” he said. There are many opinions stating the trend of Asian countries to consume more protein in their diets, which is a direct correlation with rising household incomes.

“Our, (Australia and New Zealand), key strengths are in our reputation for safe, traceable, agricultural products that the world holds in high regard” according to Gary Helou, (former CEO SunRice now Managing Director of Murray Goulburn). Helou also stated that “Innovation is needed on an on-going basis to deliver differentiated, value-added food products rather than commodity exports”.

Agricom can relate to this approach, as we are investing significantly in developing new technologies, such as novel endophytes, new forages and grazing systems related to specialised finishing. Agricom aims to become a primary partner in equipping Australian farmers to build their production and profitability in satisfying the demands of the developing nations.

Acknowledgement; Rabobank (2010). Australia and New Zealand – future powerhouses in food and agriculture.

We encourage your feedback and are interested in what you would like to read about in Pastures for Profit Tips®, if you have any questions or feedback please e-mail us on info@agricom.com.au