EverGraze: Pastures for Purpose

Achieving profit from improving perennial pastures requires increasing stocking rate and efficient pasture consumption to capture the benefits through greater livestock production per hectare. Factors affecting how far stocking rate can be increased include: pasture utilisation and wastage, time of lambing, timing of extra pasture growth, and the reproductive rate and type of sheep enterprise being run. To maximise the potential gain producers must optimise winter ewe stocking rates with the trade off on lamb turn off weight relative to their seasonal pasture production profile. Summer-active perennial pastures modify the production profile and can increase pasture growth during summer, autumn or winter and this can significantly improve profit. Capturing benefits from this type of pasture improvement is maximised when utilised by lamb production enterprise achieving high reproductive rates.