Livestock producers around Busselton are showing a keen interest in perennial pasture, with 28 producers joining several consultants at our recent Perennial Question event hosted by Haddon’s farm.
The Experts
South West NRM Sustainable Agriculture Manager Peter Clifton facilitated the day and invited consultants and researchers with experience in perennials to answer some key questions around establishing and maintaining perennials.
Advisors included local agronomist Sam Taylor, seed suppliers from Barenbrug – Tim O’Dea and DLF Seeds – Nathan Tognela, and DPIRD researchers and Pasture 365 coordinators Daniel Real and Roberto Busi.
Advisors joined host Garry Haddon, who has started trialling perennials on his 2,000 hectare dairy. His aim is to get younger cattle on some green feed earlier in the season while annual pastures establish.
The question of species
A pre-event survey of farmers showed the average level of confidence in selecting perennial species was just 4.5 out of 10.
So, Peter started the conversation by asking Garry what he was using and why.
Gary said: “Samari ryegrass, Mohaka ryegrass and Haifa white clover. We’ll put the 3 against each other just down the road there so we can watch them as we drive past each day.”
Both Ryegrasses are hybrids, 50 per cent perennial and 50 per cent Italian, and are likely to persist for about three years.
Tim O’Dea added: “Ryegrass is a proven system, it’s easy to manage and it’s got some great data around it. Multispecies is a lot harder, you’ll graze species out, so it’s finnicky and hard to manage in a commercial dairy.”
Peter then asked Sam Taylor what species he’d seen do well around the Geographe region and what purpose they were targeting.
“The species which is by far and away the most consistent is Kikuyu and it’s probably also the most loathed,” Sam said.
“I struggle to understand why people don’t like it because if it’s well managed it can be good quality. On most farms there’s a bit of a low part of the landscape and you’re likely to find kikuyu across most properties in the South West region.
“Once we move to the alternatives, a winter active tall fescue has a really strong fit. I haven’t seen as much success out of things like cocksfoot or phalaris but certainly know that phalaris is highly persistent.
“If you go back to some of the really old surface-irrigated country, pasparlum is through all that country. So, I haven’t directly answered your question of what’s the best, it’s really about what suits the landscape and the part of the farm.
“Even more important than species selection is how you are going to manage it and whether you are prepared to change your management style. If you don’t manage perennials properly, they won’t persist and you won’t get the productivity out of them, probably with the exception of kikuyu.”
Consider your ‘why’
Sam highlighted an important consideration in the perennial decision-making process: He said it’s not only what species to plant, but what you’re trying to achieve by planting them.
Daniel Real suggested comparing perennials not to annuals, but to supplementary feeding systems when annuals aren’t growing.
“If your main problem is filling the autumn feed gap, then you want perennials for that time of the year,” Daniel said.
“The other times of the year are covered by the Italian (annual) ryegrass. Perennials won’t replace an Italian ryegrass system but they can have a place in your farm for a specific use.
“It’s not ‘is perennial better than Italian ryegrass’, that’s not the point, they are different. But the comparison of perennials versus more supplementary feeding or other types of feeding in autumn might be a better comparison.”
Tim suggested hybrid ryegrasses worked well around the Busselton area with the right management system. And a recent release has tolerance to black beetle.
“If you’re a small farmer and are limited with your potential grazing over summer don’t grow a perennial would be my suggestion,” Tim said.
“Just grow annuals and rely on silage and hay. If you can’t pull your stock off when the plant goes dormant, you’ll damage the crown and kill it, whatever perennial it is, besides kikuyu and couch.”
What a trial demonstrated about perennials
Nathan Tognela explained how in a trial he ran, perennial ryegrass was the most impressive.
“We planted red clover, white clover, plantain, chicory, perennial ryegrass, hybrid ryegrass, Italian ryegrass, cocksfoot, tall fescue, phalaris and lucerne,” he said.
“The trial was going amazingly for three years. Unfortunately the summer of 2024 was brutal and it killed every species, we had not one surviving plant.
“So, can we grow perennial species in WA? Yes, in the great southern. It’s a lot cooler, they get summer rainfall there. Their summers aren’t as harsh as our summers.
“My observations were the red and white clovers were so slow, swamped by weeds, didn’t flower, died end of the first spring. The perennial ryegrasses were by far the most productive and the fastest species to establish.
“The chicory and plantain, summer active herb and a winter active herb, both grew exactly the same through winter and autumn. Perennial ryegrass was the fastest species. cocksfoot, phalaris and fescue were the slowest to establish.
“The lucerne was an absolute failure and we knew that would happen.
“At the end of the second year of our trial we dug pits and measured the species that were surviving.
“We went down that far we hit a hard pan and a high aluminium level, so on all the deep-rooted species, the roots had gone down to that level and not through the hard pan or through the aluminium.
“The first species to die was perennial ryegrass because it’s so shallow rooted, the cocksfoot, phalaris and fescues were also the last thing that animals grazed every time they went into the paddock, especially the phalaris, so the cocksfoot and tall fescue were two species that showed real promise but then that summer (of 2024) just nailed them.”
Perennial principles
Sam added: “I think there are some general principles no matter what species you identify as being suitable for your property. The first one is clean the paddock up two years before you’re planning on seeding because typically a lot of the perennial seedlings hate competition.
“If you’ve got annual ryegrass or barley grass in the paddock, you’ve got to get that paddock clean of those species before you think about planting perennials. You have to be prepared not to graze that country for probably at least 6 months to really let those plants establish and get themselves a crown so that when they’re grazed, they have a carbohydrate reserve and are able to recover.
“Then once you start grazing, they are not a ‘set and forget’ type proposition (with the exception of kikuyu). They need rotational grazing, short, intense harvest period, long rest period.
“If you’re not prepared to do those few basic steps, stick with the annuals, you won’t get success out of the investment.”
Garry agreed that weed management was very important.
“It’s 100 per cent where it’s at. We’re taking it on with a mouldboard plough to bury the seed and the kikuyu,” he said.
“Mouldboard is the only thing that will tackle the kike. We’ve done it at our Warner Glen property where we’ve inherited a doublegee issue and it’s 99 per cent gone. That took 2-3 years.”
Sam said that controlling weeds for two years doesn’t mean two years of fallow, but instead, having an integrated plan over that time to make sure weed species don’t get a chance to set more seed.
Fertility was also discussed, with Sam saying pH can be an important consideration if you’re using perennials to sink roots deep into the profile.
“Ideally you’ll have pH in the preferred range, particularly for those aluminium challenges,” he said.
“The idea behind the perennials all the time is to utilise the deep root system.
“Things like Kikuyu they are more tolerant of less fertile land and if you’re not prepared to make the investment on fertility than that’s part of your decision-making process and to choose a species along that line.”
Tim said there were species adapted for low soil pH.
“Phalaris in particular, we’ve released one called Advance AT and in lot of cases it’s done well in pretty poor soil types, but as Sam mentioned, for the deep-rooted perennials, they bring nutrients from depth,” he said.
“Some guys have fertilised on sowing and 10 years later they still haven’t re-applied any fertiliser so they might be able to access nutrients from depth.
“Cocksfoot and Phalaris are fairly adaptable to lower pH, but for me, if you’re going to go for a perennial I’d pick better country. You’ll reap the rewards, you’ll increase production in those paddocks and during the shoulders getting that vegetative growth later in the season when all your annuals have run to head.
“They’re fantastic to have because when you’re cutting hay, your stock are in on the perennials so you’ve got a grazing system.”
Don’t forget about soil testing
Garry’s Dad Neville suggested that soil testing is extremely important.
“If you don’t know what’s there in the nutrients, you’re going to go nowhere,” Neville said.
“Really understanding that and understanding your pH is really important.”
Daniel suggested another factor with nutrition is applying nitrogen which can favour grasses over other forms.
“If you want a balanced mix you have to reduce the N application,” he said.
Weed control of mixed swards is problematic, but plantain has benefits according to Nathan.
“If you’ve got chicory in your paddock and a cape weed problem, it’s really hard to control,” he said.
“Plantain has enormous opportunities in WA because we can spray it to take out doublegees and cape weed. So a plantain ryegrass pasture is really good.”
Best time to sow?
Time of sowing is yet another topic that can cause some debate. Sam says temperate species can be sown in autumn.
“Always have the site well-prepared so you haven’t got a big challenge with weeds while you’re trying to get started,” he said.
“And the common principle with all plant growth is if there’s moisture and warmth they’ll grow quickly, so trying to maximise that opportunity when you can.”
This project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Natural Heritage Trust under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program and delivered by South West NRM, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.
This event was organised with the support of our Project Partners GeoCatch.
