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Pasture Cropping in the Northern Agricultural Region David Ferris, DAFWA Supporting your success
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EverCrop project New knowledge Grower experience Update Papers Sowing barley into sub-tropical pastures Pasture cropping lupins over sub-tropical perennial grasses Buloke barley over Gatton panic (Grain yield - 2.5 t/ha) Pasture cropping - Overview Supporting your success
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Focus research site - Moora Test the viability of pasture-cropping Test the viability of pasture-cropping Quantify performance across sites Quantify performance across sites Define adoptability issues Define adoptability issues Develop decision tools Develop decision tools 2008 to 2014 - update
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Supporting your success Focus research site - Moora
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Supporting your success Focus research site - Moora Frost (2010)
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Moora focus site - 2013 Soil Type: Deep pale sand Surface pH(CaCl 2 ) - 5.3 Rainfall (Apr-Oct): 310 mm Key Result: Wider distribution of green feed and greater biomass production for ‘pasture crop’ compared to ‘crop only’ or ‘permanent pasture’ systems. Supporting your success Plant Biomass (t/ha)
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Moora focus site - 2013 Supporting your success
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Moora focus site Key Result: Total drainage below 3.8 m ~66 mm per year for ‘Crop only’ and close to zero for pasture crop and permanent pasture systems. Phil Ward et al. (2014) Supporting your success
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Moora focus site Key Result: At 50 kg/ha of Nitrogen Pasture crops did not incur a yield penalty over 4 seasons Supporting your success Grain yield (t/ha)
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Moora focus site Key Result: At 80 kg/ha of Nitrogen Pasture crops incurred a yield penalty in two seasons Supporting your success Grain yield (t/ha)
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Lupin over Gatton panic (Mingenew) Dean Thomas et al. (2014) Ausfarm ® simulation model Supporting your success
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Pasture Cropping - logistics Sowing into subtropical grasses with tines can damage the perennial base Michael Morrison- Three Springs Supporting your success
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Decision ® (1 L/ha) Herbicide options - Gatton panic Atrazine (4 L/ha)Sprayseed ® (2 L/ha) + Simazine (1.5 L/ha) Glyphosate-540 (1 L/ha) + Trifluralin (2 L/ha) + Logran B ® (50 g/ha) Select ® (500 mL/ha)Midas ® (900 mL/ha) Some plant death Fusilade ® Midas ® Select ® Topic ® Verdict ® Glyphosate (≥ 2 L/ha) Supporting your success Safe options Achieve ® Atrazine ® Decision ® Intervix ® Raptor ® Simazine Sprayseed Glyphosate (1 L/ha)
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Dandaragan focus site - 2013 Key Result: Pasture crops can be established with tined machines using precision guidance technology Lupin seeding rates may need to be higher for pasture crops to achieve the same target density as a standard crop (45 plants/m 2 ); Supporting your success
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Dandaragan focus site - 2013 Key Result: For this experiment and assuming lupin seed is $300/t, lifting seeding rate by 50 kg/ha ($15) helped to avert a 26% yield penalty and proved to be $165/ha more profitable overall. Supporting your success
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Pasture Crop Lupin over subtropical perennial grass Keith Tunney- Dongara Supporting your success
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Pasture Crop Barley over subtropical perennial grass Grant Bain - Walkaway Supporting your success
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Pasture cropping – Potential benefits Pasture crops can improve the perennial base by delivering additional fertilizer with the crop and enforcing a rest from gazing during the winter growing season Supporting your success
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Pasture cropping Supporting your success Potential AdvantagesPotential Disadvantages Improve profitability Improve business flexibility Unprofitable in dry years Unprofitable due to low yield potential Control weedsGrow feed grain for on-farm use Specialist machinery needed to sow crops Weed control is compromised Rest perennials improve persistence Supply nutrients to perennial pastures Perennial density might decline Annual pasture productivity reduced Stabilize erosion prone paddocks Improve soil health Green bridge for disease and pests
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Pasture Crop Lupin over subtropical perennial grass Grant Bain - Walkaway Supporting your success
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Southern areas of the NAR more profitable due to less competition Pasture cropping system viable when: crops grow on incident rain, and winter pasture growth is suppressed through low temperature or herbicide. A fit for mixed crop-livestock farms with: large areas of deep marginal sands, and meat dominant flock Viability of pasture cropping Supporting your success
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Thank you Visit agric.wa.gov.au Supporting your success
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Rotational gross margin - Mingenew 2012 2012 was a decile 1 year Yield penalty - 29% Lupin, 41% Wheat A 4 year rotation including a pasture crop out performed conventional (annual) pasture rotations by ~$60/ha, or $15/ha/yr. Supporting your success RotationYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Av. 4 year Gross Margin $/ha/yr L, A, A, A$ 223$18 $69 PL, P, P, P$71$87 $83 W, A, A, A-$11$18 $11 PW, P, P, P-$145$87 $29 P, P, P, P$87 A, A, A, A$18 James Hagan (2014 CropUpdates ) L = Lupins, W = Wheat A = Annual Pasture, P = Perennial Pasture, PL = Pasture Cropped Lupins PW = Pasture Cropped Wheat
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