Can an inter-row pasture system using suitable native forage shrubs improve farm profits?
Pingelly farmer Garry Page tested the idea several years ago with funding support from South West NRM.
Our Sustainable Agriculture Program Manager Peter Clifton collected Gary’s insights to share with other producers.
Here’s a look back at what Garry had to say about his 2015 project which involved planting almost 60,000 forage shrubs and a diverse inter-row pasture across 80 hectares of his farm.
He was also shared some tips and tricks for using forage shrubs.
Garry’s experiment was designed to test the value of incorporating shrubs into grazing systems following research outcomes delivered by Enrich – a nine-year project funded by the Future Farm Industries CRC that assessed the edible biomass, nutritional value, health benefits and grazing preference for 94 Australian native shrub species.
The project concluded that a suitable shrub and inter-row pasture system, applied to 10-25% of a low-medium rainfall mixed farm, could increase whole-farm profits through reduced supplementary feeding, deferred grazing of annual pastures and other benefits such as animal health.
These were Garry’s insights following his experiment…
Whole farm profits through reduced supplemental feeding
Garry found his supplemental feeding requirements reduced after incorporating the Enrich system of forage shrubs. He doesn’t use feed-lots or feeders as such, but he does trail feed to finish lambs with the shrubs.
“We still supplemented them in conjunction with the shrubs,” he said.
“We were able to finish lambs at a much cheaper rate than just supplementary feeding, and we turned them off out of season and got a higher price. So, there’s the cost-saving and the extra price that we got.”
Deferred grazing
The extra feed provided by the shrubs meant that other paddocks could have more time to bulk up.
“We had one patch in 2017 stocked at probably 25 DSE (dry sheep equivalents) to the hectare for about 6 weeks while we locked up some pasture paddocks to try and get some bulk growth into them,” Garry shared.
“Those sheep stayed in good forward condition; they didn’t go backwards.”
Garry also still supplemented with hay and a few pellets trail-fed.
Animal health benefits
Three or 4 of the shrub varieties were selected for their anthelmintic properties to control worms which meant Garry could rotate sheep through to keep worms at bay without losing productivity.
In addition to the medicinal benefits of the shrub species they also provided nutrients and secondary compounds often deficient in supplemental feeding, such as Vitamin E.
Because the lambs were getting their vitamin E from the green feed, Garry didn’t need to bring them in, simplifying management of the mob. The shrubs also provided shade and shelter at lambing and shearing time.
Tips and ticks for using forage shrubs
Moisture is a big factor in shrub establishment success.
Gary recommends waiting until the soil has a good moisture profile – enough so the shrubs can get their roots down to establish and survive the first summer.
Having good inter-row pasture goes hand-in-hand with forage bulk. The sheep will get the majority of their energy needs from the pasture and then graze on the shrubs to get their supplemental phytochemical and medicinal needs.
Garry mixed 12 species together so the sheep grazed all species instead of heavily grazing a particular species.
For more about Garry’s demonstration, watch the below videos.
