A comprehensive guide to the establishment of perennial pastures is now available on the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) website. It offers producers proven strategies to successfully grow productive and persistent pasture that will deliver a return on investment now and into the future.
Click here to download the guide (pdf file 3.1 MB)
This how-to guide is based on years of proven pasture and livestock research and incorporates many of the principles in DPI’s very successful Prime Pastures Program, ProGraze® and Landscan®, and also includes results from recent research.
The guide presents a structured approach to planning and paddock preparation that will help producers identify constraints that may limit establishment, which must be addressed on a paddock by paddock basis, well in advance of sowing. The emphasis is on forward planning and management up to two years before sowing and during the first year of pasture growth.
It revisits the Prime Pastures’ eight step checklist, with clear guidelines for the planning process, sowing and management during the critical establishment period. Topics covered include tips on paddock assessment, species selection, nutrition, weed and pest management, cover cropping and grazing management.
Although the guide focuses on establishment of new pasture, producers are also encouraged to consider renovation of existing pasture as an alternative to completely re-sowing paddocks. The guide provides fertiliser and grazing management strategies that can invigorate established pasture at a fraction of the cost of sowing new pasture.
