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LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• 54Q53 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• L56 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• Q75 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• L90 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• L91 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
• MULTILEAF® ML99 LUCERNE FEEDBACK
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• CLOVER FEEDBACK
• MEDIC FEEDBACK
• RYEGRASS FEEDBACK
• LEGUMES FEEDBACK
• FESTULOLIUM FEEDBACK
• FORAGE CEREALS FEEDBACK
• SPRING OPTIONS FEEDBACK
• SOWSMART BLENDS FEEDBACK
• ESTABLISHMENT GUARANTEE FEEDBACK
• GOLD STRIKE |
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 Chris Townsend - Sowsmart Permagraze Blend
For the past two years Mr Townsend has direct drilled SowSmart Permagraze into a large number of paddocks across the property. “The change in our pastures has been remarkable,” Mr Townsend said. “We now have a good mixture of improved grasses, clovers and lucerne that complement the good native grasses. The SowSmart Permagraze has resulted in a good mixture of grasses and legumes on all but the lightest of sandy soils.” “We can now carry 70 cows and 150 steers plus up to 800 sheep on the property,” Mr Townsend said. “This is the equivalent of 2 DSE per acre, so we have effectively doubled the carrying capacity of the property over the past two years. We have managed this stocking rate even in this tough winter just past.”
Chris Townsend, Dubbo, NSW |
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 Dale Serong - Sowsmart Summer Graze Blend
The SowSmart Summer Graze blend is a mix of Rebound millet, Balance chicory, rape and Tarrus red clover which will provide a valuable summer grazing option on the farm and will then be rotated directly into Optima ryegrass to begin the permanent pasture phase. The Summer Graze Blend was helped by good rainfall just after planting and was filling out well after just two weeks of growth. Mr Serong said his pastures in 2007/08 averaged around 9.3 tonnes per hectare (dryland) and he expected to do better with more favourable conditions in the current environment.
Dale Serong, Labertouche, Victoria |
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 Brenton Tink - Sowsmart Winter Express Blend
Mr Tink planted two paddocks of SowSmart Winter Express after oats and provided an excellent mix of pasture varieties for grazing and hay production. “Some of it has already been fed in bales to weaned lambs. They really liked it.” Just seven inches of in-crop rainfall was received during the season which was well below average. Mr Tink said.The use of the Winter Express blend as a hay option also helped reduce the amount of Wimmera ryegrass in the paddocks. By cutting the crop and following it with an intensive graze the Wimmera ryegrass is not given an option to set seed and will help reduce numbers in the following years.
Brenton Tink, Bordertown, SA |
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 David Bentley - Sowsmart Winter Express
SowSmart Winter Express blend for intensive paddock usage.
David Bentley of Coldstream in Victoria
used Sow Smart Winter Express for
grazing, silage and hay. A custom blend mix of ryegrasses, and clovers has allowed David Bentley of Coldstream in Victoria to intensively utilise the paddocks through late autumn and winter. Mr Bentley direct-drilled SowSmart Winter Express into existing pastures in late March last season at seeding rates between 20 and 25 kilograms per hectare. “The permanent pastures were struggling so I thought I’d top it up with a bit of Winter Express,” Mr Bentley said. Winter Express was a blend of Tetrone and Rocket annual Italian ryegrasses, Goldstrike Turbo Persian Clover and Goldstrike Alexandria Berseem Clover. Mr Bentley said the ryegrasses grew vigorously early and were able to be grazed by cattle from the end of April. “The ryegrasses showed up early and the clovers came through at the end,” he said. Strip grazing is implemented to make the most of the available feed and also allow the pasture to recover and regrow. Two of the paddocks were subsequently cut for hay with the remaining sections taken for silage to feed the beef cattle. The hay and silage produced on the property is used through the summer, autumn and early winter at a time where the paddocks are establishing new growth. Mr Bentley said the paddocks held on well and responded well after rain in the early summer period to continue to provide feed. Another paddock on the property was sown down to Outback oats and Goldstrike L56 lucerne into an area that had contained forage sorghum the previous summer. Oats were direct drilled at a rate of 80 kilograms per hectare with the lucerne then cross sown at between 6 and 8 kilograms per hectare. Lucerne was chosen to provide a feed option through the summer months after the oats crop had finished. The Outback oats were taken for silage during the spring. Mr Bentley said he would see how the lucerne performed over the summer period, although there was an option to irrigate the stand if necessary. The SowSmart paddocks will be assessed for their regrowth potential at the start of the next season and further seed may be direct-drilled to bulk it up again. “We like to work it pretty hard,” Mr Bentley said.
David Bentley of Coldstream in Victoria |
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 Ralph Billing - Sowsmart Winter Express & SowSmart HDL Blend
Ralph Billing of Marrar, in southern NSW, has a SowSmart blend of pasture species trialled on the property last season. A background in dairying and a need to identify pasture species suited to the area led Ralph Billing, at Marrar in southern New South Wales, to plant a number of pasture blends on the property last season. Mr Billing said there was a need look at varieties that were best adapted to the property, so he planted the Seed Distributors products SowSmart Winter Express and SowSmart HDL Blend. The Winter Express is predominately made up of two ryegrass varieties, although 30 percent of the blend consists of Persian and Berseem clovers. HDL Blend contains five different types of clover species and can be used as a grazing option, paddock break and a way of contributing nitrogen back into the soil. Mr Billing said the weedy nature of the paddocks meant the blends were not sown until after a knockdown herbicide was applied following the late-April break. He said the ryegrass component (made up of Tetrone Annual Italian Ryegrass and Rocket Annual Italian Ryegrass) of the Winter Express Blend grew really well early in the season and provided excellent grazing. The intention with the paddock was to lock it up for silage for beef cattle, however the poor finish to the season and a very hot spell meant that wasn’t possible. Eventually the sheep were re-introduced to the paddock to clean up the regrowth. Mr Billing said they had used Diploid-type ryegrasses with good success while on the dairy farm. He was interested to see the performance of tetraploid ryegrasses such as Tetrone and Rocket on the property. Tetraploid ryegrasses have double the amount of chromosomes (28) compared to diploid ryegrasses (which have 14 chromosomes). The increased amount of chromosomes typically lead to better tillering, faster growth, larger leaf size, higher moisture and better carbohydrate content. “If you could sow in late March or early April and control the weeds I think the ryegrass would do quite well,” Mr Billing said. The clover-based HDL blend was trialled in two paddocks and emerged well but ran out of moisture later in the season. “I’m hope it will set seed so we can have the feed for next year,” Mr Billing said. He said the dairy background provided a few ideas in managing pasture on country which was a combination of cropping and pasture. “We are mixed farming here, with an orientation towards grazing, rather than growing crops,” he said. Some dairying techniques such as silage have been implemented with success on the property. Mr Billing said the dry conditions over much of the decade had made it very difficult to establish a perennial pasture. He said trials on the property and in the area were important to
determine what species are well adapted. Last season Seed Distributors planted a forage demonstration evaluation site
on a nearby farm with the full range of varieties. Some cereal varieties were also trialled on the Billing property. Mr Billing said the new Moby forage barley variety was impressive with the way it jumped out of the ground and provided good feed early in the season. He said he would also like to the Goldstrike Bartolo bladder clover variety which looked promising in the trials.
Ralph Billing of Marrar, in southern NSW |
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David Pitt - Sowsmart Winter Express
A pasture blend of ryegrass, clover and medic has proved an ideal option for both dryland and irrigation on the property of David Pitt at Wistow, south of Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. Mr Pitt planted SowSmart Winter Express to much of the farm this season after good results from the blend the previous year. SowSmart Winter Express is a blend of Tetrone and Abundant Annual Italian ryegrasses, Turbo Persian and Alexandria Berseem clovers and Cavalier spineless burr medic. The blend was generally direct-drilled into old pastures that had suffered through years of dry conditions with the majority of the irrigated section sown in mid to late April and the dryland section from May through to June. Mr Pitt said the feed from the blend was excellent through a very good season
and dairy cows were first allowed to graze the paddocks when the feed was 4 to 5 inches in height. The herd was then gradually rotated
around the farm through both irrigated and dryland sections for the next six months. Initially the 200 cows grazed a four acre section per day but as the feed increased the daily paddock size was cut down to two acres and eventually one acre. All of the irrigated sections were grazed right through although some of the dryland areas were shut up and taken for silage with a cut in late October.
Mr Pitt said the regrowth from the paddock was so good that a second cut was achieved early in the summer months when the crop was a foot in height. He said the mix of ryegrass, clovers and medics was ideal with the ryegrass providing good early feed and the clovers coming into their own later in the season. The first cut of silage had a good proportion of ryegrass with the subsequent cut showing more clover.
Calving on the property starts in May and continues through July and August with the majority born during the month of September. The use of the SowSmart Winter Express blend works particularly well with the feed becoming available at a time when the milking cows require high quality forage. During a very wet winter some of the paddocks were trampled and eaten down to mud and Mr Pitt said it was
surprising the way the blend responded and grew back in spite of the setback. A seeding rate of 23 kilograms per hectare was used throughout the property which provided good establishment in both the irrigated and dryland sections. Mr Pitt said the blend did very well throughout the season and made the most of the good conditions by providing valuable grazing and silage options.
David Pitt, Wistow, Adelaide Hills |
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 David Woolford - Sowsmart Medic Haygraze LR
A specialty medic variety blend was used as a break crop and to produce good feed through the season on the property of David Woolford at Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Mr Woolford planted 60 hectares of the SowSmart Medic Haygraze LR blend in late April by broadcasting seed out and incorporating it in with the prickle chain. The SowSmart Medic Haygraze LR blend is a mix of 4 different species which include Cavalier spineless burr medic, Caliph barrel medic, Silver snail medic and Enduro Balansa clover. “We used a blend because of the different soil types,” Mr Woolford said. “We wanted to mix it up a bit.” Medics have replaced grain legumes in
the crop rotation after sheep were re-introduced onto the property after a ten year absence. Higher lamb and wool prices meant that sheep were more viable than in the past and could be utilised as an alternative to cropping. The medic blend germinated with rain in mid-May and was first grazed six weeks later. Mobs of 200 Merino lambs grazed the paddock at different stages with ewes still taking advantage of the feed well into November. Mr Woolford said the late maturity of the medic blend allowed a feed option right through until stubbles were available after harvest. Cavalier spineless burr medic has a mid maturity and so is substantially later to flower than other options which allowed for more growth in late spring and early summer. The other medic varieties are shorter season and adapt well to low rainfall conditions with good production earlier in the season. SowSmart Medic Haygraze LR can also be used as a hay option if conditions on the season are favourable. The medic paddock will be rotated through to a wheat crop with the nitrogen produced in the season expected to assist the cereal. “We might not need to use a urea-based fertiliser next year,” Mr Woolford said. As well as providing nitrogen to assist future crops, the medic phase has also provided an opportunity for different herbicide options in the rotation. “We are using medic legumes as a cleanup crop and will follow it with two years of wheat.” The success of the medic pasture was greatly assisted by the good conditions of the year with between 15 and 19 inches of rain falling on the property during the season.
David Woolford, Kimba, Eyre Peninsula SA |
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