Catchment:
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Namoi
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Collaborating Producer:
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Mac & Robyn Howarth
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Location:
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‘Carthian Hill’, Tambar Springs (65 km west of Gunnedah)
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Producer Group:
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Tambar Springs EverGraze Group
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Site Co-ordinator:
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Simon Turpin
Catchment Officer, Namoi CMA
P:(02) 67 429 212
E: simon.turpin@cma.nsw.gov.au
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Production and Environmental Challenges
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Native pasture quality and quantity, groundcover (soil erosion as these pastures are on a significant slope), soil nutrition, matching the livestock enterprise to the pasture.
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Innovation being tested:
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Treatment area: How much will grazing management, fertiliser and sub-clover improve the quality of pasture (species frequency/composition), increase production (monitoring paddock production) and improve the NRM outcomes from native pastures (soil health, groundcover species diversity)?
As the Control paddock received fertiliser (by mistake) as well as the treatments, then the control versus treatment hypothesis will be: To what degree will applying fertiliser alone improve native pasture quantity and quality compared to a system combining improved grazing management, fertiliser and sub-clover?
Subdivision – The Treatment area will be subdivided into a 25 ha paddock (reduced from previous 100 – 200 ha paddock sizes).
Grazing management – The Treatment area will be grazed at approx. 8 dse/ha for about 14-21 days with a spell of approx. 50 days before the next grazing.
Fertiliser – the Innovation area received 100 kg/ha of SF45 fertiliser in March 2007.
Clover – the Innovation area was sown with Dalkeith Sub clover at 4 kg/ha in July 2008.
The Control area: 70ha paddock size will be grazed using the old system of 4-6 months in paddock (continuous grazing) or until the feed gave out.
The Control area will be grazed at about 4 dse/ha for about 70 days with a spell of approx. 40 days before the next grazing.
The paddock received 100kg/ha of SF45 fertiliser (by mistake) in March 2007 and no sub-clover will be applied.
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Base pasture:
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Native/Naturalised perennial based pasture: dominated by Red grass and Spear grass with some Wallaby grass and Queensland bluegrass present as well.
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Animal systems:
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Self replacing merino and crossbred sheep enterprise.
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Latest Results:
The pasture has been monitored three times (summer and winter 08 and summer 2009).
461 more DSE days/ha in the Treatment compared to the Control. 2206 DSE days/ha over 5 grazes at an average graze period of 18 days (91 total) in Treatment compared to 1745 DSE days/ha over 4 graze periods at an average of 54 days (216 days total) in Control.
From last monitoring:
Groundcover: Treatment: 76%. Control: 58% (down from 69%)
%greenTreatment: 54% (up from 9%) – Seasonal and time of monitoring influences.Control: 33% (up from 11%)
DM/kg/ha: Treatment: 2257 Control: 2041
Litter and %legume both higher in Treatment compared to Control.
Roughly same number of perennial grasses and species spread in both paddocks.
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