EverGraze Action – Management of native pastures in Victoria

What is a native pasture?

Native pasture is any pasture where native grasses are the dominant perennial species.

Perennial native grasses play a very important role in these pastures for reducing salinity, preventing wind and water erosion, increasing biodiversity, and improving soil health (ground cover, nutrient recycling, organic matter, moisture retention).

Native perennial grasses can also increase stock performance. Many are summer active and respond to out of season rainfall, providing quality green fodder in summer on low fertility, acidic soils.

While a large proportion of the high rainfall zone of Australia is “native pasture”, farming practices such as tree clearing, introduced species, grazing techniques, fertiliser and herbicides have resulted in much of the area being invaded by annual grasses and weeds with only a small proportion of natives remaining in many paddocks.

This EverGraze Action provides current best management practices for increasing the health of native pastures and making the best use of them.