LIMESTONE Coast beef and prime lamb producer David Galpin is generally cynical about the ability of high-performance pastures to persist.
On the other hand, he believes very strongly in ensuring access to quality feed for his livestock so they can realise their genetic potential.
He is also conscious that being able to grow plenty of grass is a critical profit driver because it is the cheapest way to feed them.
So last year, David decided to sow paddocks to a new-generation fescue as an alternative to the phalaris and subclover mix that covers most of the property he farms with his wife, Alison, and their six children, Kimberley, Teegan, Aimee, Jordan, Mason and Bentley.
After being grazed hard and persisting through a hot, dry spring and summer, and then a very wet winter, the 30 hectares of SF Finesse-Q from Seed Force now ranks among the better feed paddocks, and David is getting ready to sow more.
"I have always liked fescue but the old fescues were a bit like cardboard. They grow and persist well, but the cattle won't graze them until they absolutely have to," he said.
"And because they are so fibrous, it takes more energy to digest them than the stock can get out of the plant.
"Finnesse-Q is just so palatable, and it grows all year round. We are only in our second grazing season but if it keeps persisting like it has so far, it's a pretty impressive plant."
The Galpins' Warrawindi property straddles the SA-Vic border near Penola, in prime grazing country, with an average rainfall of 550 millimetres and usually moderate summers.
The farm incorporates five sections - the original home property, where the Galpin family has been farming for four generations; three smaller blocks at Lake Mundi, Vic; and a neighbouring farm they bought only last year with an eye on the future.
Jordan is already working full-time in the enterprise, and Mason is set to follow next year.
The combined 1200ha is home to Limousin and Poll Dorset studs, a prime lamb enterprise that runs 2600 Dohne-cross ewes, and a crossbred beef operation that runs 150 commercial breeders for vealer production, targeting the 350 kilogram to 400kg weight range.
The beef enterprise has won the highly competitive Southern Grassfed Carcase Classic twice since it started in 2008. Warrawindi Limousin Stud has also scored more than a few successes in the show ring, since the Galpins entered cattle in 2009, taking out reserve supreme champion interbreed cow at the Royal Melbourne Show last year.
In February this year, for the second year in a row, they topped the Great Southern Limousin Sale at Hamilton, Vic.
As a family, the Galpins share a passion for genetics and the challenges of selecting the best combination for eating quality, with the end-product always firmly in mind.
Apart from getting the genetics right, David believes having access to quality water and pasture are vital to achieving that goal. Pasture renovation is an important part of the annual farm program, with between 20ha and 40ha sown every year.
While most of their grazing country is sown to phalaris and subclover, David keen to try one of the new generation fescues on some of the lower flats which are prone to waterlogging and weed problems.
He chose SF Finesse-Q, a soft-leaf tall fescue from Seed Force Australia. Also favoured by dairy producers, it is high yielding and densely tillered, producing deep roots for improved persistence and year-round feed production.
David sowed it following a summer brassica crop.
"We use rape as a weed cleaner. We sow it in September, and finish our lambs on it. Then we either go with a hay crop of oats and clover, or straight back into pasture," he said.
Both paddocks were sown in March to a combination of 12kg/ha of SF Finesse-Q, and 4kg/ha of subclover, with 70kg/ha of DAP, using a disc drill.
"We were direct drilling for a while but you need to freshen the ground here to make a good seedbed. It needs to be aerated to give the plant as good an opportunity as you can," David said.
"Renovating pasture is a costly exercise so you want to do it the best you can.
"We usually spray it with Round-up and then cultivate it, and then we'll go over it with a Roterra, and then we always roll it before and after we sow."
He says trial and error has shown that rolling the paddock beforehand creates a nice even, flat seedbed, so seeds are sown at a more consistent depth and there is less risk of bare patches.
"Then if you don't roll it afterwards, the ground will stay fluffy and light, and the top will dry out too quickly. So we seal it with a roll, and most times that will also bring the moisture up," David said.
* Full report in Stock Journal, October 3 issue, 2013.
