Establishing perennial pastures offers valuable benefits—extending the growing season, finishing livestock on high-quality feed, and improving soil health.
But it is a challenging undertaking.
To help farmers avoid some of the common trial and error, we teamed up with Lower Blackwood LCDC and brought together experienced producers and industry specialists to share the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
The Perennial Question Warner Glen event provided a platform for these insights. Here are some of the key takeaways provided on the day by our experts.
A field day at Blackwood Springs Farm in Warner Glen was the perfect location to discuss how to establish perennials into South West farming systems.
The event featured landowner Neville Haddon, a dairy farmer from Busselton who uses his Warner Glen property as a run-off block for cattle and sheep.
He was joined by agroecologist Mark Tupman and agronomists, Graham Mussell and Brooke Anderson, who shared insights from their experience.
Getting started with perennials
To prepare for perennial species, Neville is taking advice from Mark Tupman and starting with a good crop of annual multispecies to prime the soil and reduce weed pressure.
“I think if we had gone through with perennials straight after mouldboard ploughing, we would have struggled with weed pressure,” Mark said.
“Wherever we didn’t seed the multispecies crops we had a lot of capeweed and double-gee, so had we gone for perennial grasses we probably wouldn’t have succeeded.
“It’s a 2-3 year plan in the paddock where we want to plant perennials. We seeded it really densely with multispecies, let it go to seed and it has seeded again prolifically.
“We’ll track that this season and decide what control we need to do next season. Ideally, we’ll spray it and then seed perennials.
“Now we’ve had a couple seasons to get on top of the weed bank the perennials might stand a better chance.”
Priming the soil
Mark discussed why priming the soil with annual multi-species could benefit soil structure, facilitating perennials in the long term.
“The multi-species create a network of root systems which help with the structure of the soil,” he said.
“The perennials are a bit slow growing, and if we’ve mouldboard ploughed and we get all that rain, then it’s just going to collapse that soil structure again.
“So, we are trying to feed and structure the soil, get some more carbon in there and that will ultimately bode well for better fertility and water retention down the track for the perennials.”
The need for weed control
While the approach is relatively unconventional, it still highlights the importance of weed control in perennial pasture establishment.
“Weed control is probably number one priority and the state of the soil is number two in terms of just establishing perennials and getting them to grow well through that first season,” he said.
Managing grazing for perennials
Another important factor to consider is grazing management.
“When you’ve got perennial species in your mix, you have to graze it to favour the perennials,” he said.
“Tailor your grazing to the species that you’re trying to work with.
“Sometimes that means it needs a graze and sometimes that means it needs longer for recovery. If you don’t, the paddock will go back to the species that handled the regular grazing.”
Which species?
Sustainable Agriculture Manager Peter Clifton asked the group what species of perennials they have had the most success with, and which ones have been less successful.
Mark has found the establishment and maintenance of chicory and plantain to be relatively easy at Neville’s property in a rotational grazing system.
Kate Tarrant from Lower Blackwood LCDC said she has had some success with establishing phalaris, chicory & plantain.
“From my experience, you might put some perennials in and nothing happens and then suddenly the soil state changes, and they start to come up,” Kate said.
“I’ve now got a paddock full of phalaris that I didn’t have 3 years ago, even though I seeded it 3 years ago.”
Brooke Anderson has also had some success with phalaris, but not with Lucerne.
“On trials I’ve run in the past we didn’t really see the phalaris or cocksfoot in the first year. They came through in the second season however they were very slow growing and the least palatable to stock,” she said.
“The highest producers and fastest to recover from grazing were the perennial ryegrasses.
“Lucerne is definitely not something we’ve had much success with down here mainly because of the acid soils, being too wet, and the pests.
“You need a really clean site, no weeds, no competition, no bugs and that’s pretty tricky. We have had successes with plantain and chicory – obviously if plantain will grow on the roadsides, that’s going to be the hardiest thing you can plant.”
What about soil fertility?
Brooke said: “It depends what you’re growing, but I find because you’re spending so much more money on perennial seed, you don’t want to back off on the nutrients.
“You need to get everything right, ground prep, weed control and fertiliser, give it every chance you can to establish well.”
When to sow
Time of sowing is also something to consider when planting.
In some circumstances planting with the break of the season will allow seeds to establish, however growth will slow down with the cold temperatures. Brooke has had more success with September plantings but acknowledges it’s a gamble.
“You’re throwing the dice with the weather. If you can get the perennials established on a rising soil temperature they’ll go so much quicker and establish some roots,” she said.
“If you get 5 weeks or so of moisture, it’ll sit there all summer and do quite well. In autumn I find you’ve got so much more competition and bugs and insects and everything else then it gets cold and really struggles.”
In conclusion
The experiences shared at Warner Glen highlight that successfully establishing and maintaining perennials comes from laying the groundwork, literally, through managing weeds, building soil structure and adjusting grazing management where required.
While perennials may not be appropriate across your whole farm, even small areas of well-managed perennials can provide valuable feed in the shoulder seasons, support animal performance, and improve farm resilience.
With the right preparation and management adaptations, perennial pastures could become a lasting asset in a farming system.
But how long they last in the system is the question many are still asking.
To understand this, South West NRM is monitoring persistence of perennial species sown on ten properties for the next three years.
Keep in touch with this FEAST2030 project by subscribing to our newsletter.
If you would like to check out Neville’s multispecies pasture trials consider attending Lower Blackwood LCDC’s upcoming event Demonstrating the Difference.
This event formed part of the FEaST Project which 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.