Perennial & Biodiverse Pastures
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A bit of biomass to chew through.
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A bit of biomass to chew through.
So we shut down the south side of the farm this year and planted a Multispecies mix with the plans to let it go to seed.
After a visit to Nevs place with the LBLCDC we decided to send some ewes in to see what happens to the fields based on with a late graze and without.
the graze is allowing the chicory, plantain, clovers and grass to grow (and also the cape weed unfortunately). Otherwise they are a bit shaded out by the mustard, radish oats, barley and to a lesser extent linseed.
Our spring drop ewes have been in there three weeks now and lambing at the same time. They are getting use to the tall biomass and slowly making a dent.
I’ve had to mow in some alley ways for them to get around due to the thickness.
some comparison shots in there too plus our reveg areas as well. Note the wetter paddocks at the back are now getting a run on as the weather drys them out.
Im not quite sure what to do next or where it will go in the next few months but I don’t think we will be short on feed. Will be interesting to see how long it holds on before we brown off by Xmas.
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5 Replies
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Fantastic Brett! How long are you planning on leaving them in there? Are you considering mob grazing and back fencing to stop them returning to where they have grazed – just thinking you might end up with some selective grazing and risk taking out your new young perennials??
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Hey Kate
agree we should be looking to fence down some of the alley ways and we have recently got some kiwitech mobile electric fencing. So on the list to try out.
I was going through there today and I think there is enough in one of the paddocks for another month at least. I’ve got 7 paddocks though.
plus it’s growing more each day.
all we have done this year is to line and till it in, we sprayed out before seeding and then put on. Foliar spray post emergence with some added fungi, bacteria and microbes from growsafe
need to go dig some test pits to see what the roots are doing and how the soil is looking.
growsafe.com.au
Biological Agriculture Products - Grow Safe® Microbes
Grow Safe® Microbes are a balanced combination of cultured microorganisms that help mobilise minerals and nutrients for plant uptake.
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Yes be interesting to see what’s happening below – might be good to bring a sample to the LCDC to take a look down the microscope 😀
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Hi Brett,
Thanks for sharing.
It’s all in the timing.
Last year, the comeback of multi species plots at Nevs’ was worse in strips that were grazed a bit later, maybe because the plants had started going to seed and exhausted reserves?
On the flip side, species like chicory, plantain etc… need enough time to get established before grazing.
This year, on a property in Boddington, we went in a bit earlier (as soon as the first species started to flower) on a somewhat graze tolerant multi-species mix – forage barley, oats, serradella, chicory, plantain, clover, forage brassica ryegrass, phalaris…
Will keep you posted on how it plays out.
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Thanks for posting Brett, great to see what you are doing and it is very inspiring.
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