Nuts about grazing management

Are we growing grass to support livestock or farming livestock to support grass?

Farmers at the recent Nuts and Bolts of Grazing Management workshop at Ararat were challenged by this question.

Hosted by Agriculture Victoria and supported by the Glenelg Hopkins CMA Soils4Farms project through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program, the two-day workshop highlighted how effective grazing management could improve both the productivity and profitability of a farm business.

Presenter and farm consultant Lisa Warn reminded workshop participants that “getting your grass farming right has a direct impact on farm business performance.”

“A good rotation, that includes ‘resting’ pastures, results in improved production as the land is able to support an increased stocking density,” she said.

At the sold-out event Ms Warn imparted her extensive knowledge while delivering a range of practical sessions covering pasture species identification, plant anatomy and implementing a rotation on farm.

Day two of the workshop commenced with a farm visit to Mooneys Gap. Participants observed paddock rotation in practice and how grazing management was being used to overcome weed infestations.

The importance of feed budgeting to ensure that livestock feed requirements were met was also discussed.

Rod Vearing said that hosting the farm visit was a worthwhile learning experience and the discussion around winter cleaning was very topical to not only his, but everyone’s paddock performance.

Agriculture Victoria Livestock Industry Development Officer Tess McDougall, who coordinated the workshop, said feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive.

“One participant said he was now going to tweak his farm plan with more fencing to enable him to rotationally graze successfully,” she said.

“Other key learnings included the ability to perform simple feed budgets, the ability to measure pasture growth rates on an individual farm basis instead of district averages, and the relationship between good soil health, good pasture management, good grazing management and the optimum nutrition of livestock.

“Participants described the workshop as ‘excellent’ and full of very practical information that they can immediately implement on the farm.”