Pasture management thrust into spotlight

In fact, Mr Kentish said overall business profitability could increase, if free inputs were coupled with careful management practices.

Based in Mylor, Mr Kentish ran a three-day pasture improvement clinic in Nuriootpa last month, educating graziers on how best to use free inputs such as sun, rain and existent soil ecology.

"The interest in learning how to use more of what we have for free, and less of what we need to pay for, is gaining huge momentum," he said.

"We don't want to lose any gross margins per hectare, rather we want to gain overall production at the same time as focusing on soil health and humus production in soils, to hold as much moisture as we can.

"If all you have is pasture, which is going to decide your livestock profit, then pasture is worth taking seriously."

At the course, which was attended by 15 graziers, Mr Kentish taught six principles to improve pasture management.

"We aim to impart principles, which need to be considered alongside location-specific factors like soil properties and seasonal conditions," he said.

"But physiologically, ruminant operate roughly the same way wherever they are, and have the same physiological requirements, as do trees, shrubs, and perennial grasses."

The first two principles of the course emphasised the importance of planning, monitoring and managing, particularly in regards to resting pastures for the purpose of their longevity.

"Graziers need to be very attentive to the rest they give their plants - more often than not, rest is not planned, but rather comes incidentally after animals are sold," Mr Kentish said.

The third principle involved maximising stock density for a minimum time period, to allow pastures to be rested.

"Ideally, we would like to concentrate our energy on a piece of land and then move stock off it, and we'd like to reduce the selective grazing pressure that tends to leave behind weeds and undesirables," Mr Kentish said.

"When we have fast plant growth, we can move stock quite quickly, but when growth is slower, we have to rotate slowly - rotations must be made according to the growth rate of the plant."

Effective stock management was the fourth key principle of the course, with a specific recommendation to handle stock in a low-stress manner, and minimise substitute feeding, if possible.

RELATED READING: Beetles set to get our pastures out of the crap

In times of drought, when feed availability is minimal, Mr Kentish said it was important for graziers to determine the difference between substitute feeding and supplementary feeding.

"Often we deliver feed in the form of hay or silage, which is substitute feeding, and often expensive," he said.

"That's okay if we want to do a job, but once you start substitute feeding, particularly in a drought, you have to keep going, and that is what costs a lot of money.

"If we look at what we naturally have, in terms of dry grass, or grass in general, and look at how we supplement - not substitute, but supplement - with a bit of protein to use that feed, a lot of costs can be saved."

The fifth principle involved match stocking rates with carrying capacity.

"The carrying capacity is about what comes up from the soil, the stocking rate is the pressure that we apply through livestock, and often we have an imbalance between the two," Mr Kentish said.

"Graziers shouldn't be doing everything purely for the good of the grass, at the expense of making money. Sometimes we have to look at a system and see that we could make the same amount of money from the farm, or more, with a few less animals, because the production cost went down."

Improving biodiversity - of plants, soil microbes, and grazing animals - to the point where management was not severely compromised, was the final key principle of the course.

Mr Kentish said if the principles were taken onboard, graziers would have increased options in regards to management and profitability potential.

"Whenever we have grass, we have choices, but as soon as we run out of grass, we have very few choices," he said.

"Stability will always come out of soil health, and if you're building soil carbon and humus, that's your pathway to sustained growth."

Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.