Setting up a summer pasture bank is critical in the south

摘要

Acknowledgement has at last been given to the fact that most of the southern Australian grazing districts are in rainfall belts with less than 650mm annual rainfall with a three-to-five-month dry season when pasture growth usually stops. Jim Shovelton, a farm consultant with Mike Stephens and Associates, Euroa, Victoria, told the recent BeefCheque conference that it is important in summer-autumn dry environments to build a bank of feed at the end of spring and not try to eat it down for the sake ofachieving high utilisation. "In summer-dry areas, the ability to carry stock over summer depends on the amount of feed available at the end of spring and the relative proportions that are eaten or lost through trampling and rotting," Shovelton said.