Pasture 365

About the project

The impacts of climate change and sustained periods of dry conditions in Australia is putting stress on the pasture feedbase for livestock production on farms throughout the country. The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) is one of the partners in a project that’s trying to address the problem. Pasture 365 will determine whether growing a large number of diverse pasture species can result in drought resilient pastures and enable a feedbase that can provide year-round feed for livestock.

The project is examining whether some pasture species mixes can be more resilient to extended and more regular periods of dry times.

In many regions, livestock producers rely on just a small number of pasture species for their grazing livestock with it more common for farmers to focus on two of three species.

More recently in cover cropping and regenerative practises it’s become more popular to sow a much bigger and wider range of species. Researchers want to see whether that will work in a perennial pasture system.

High rainfall pastures in Tasmania are heavily reliant on perennial ryegrass, but if it becomes moisture stressed in rainfed systems it struggles to remain productive and plant death is common. Dr Smith and his team is looking at whether farmers can successfully include a large range of species including grasses, legumes and herbs in a pasture and does that diversity help during those dry times.

Tasmanian trial sites

There are nine experimental sites in high and low rainfall regions across Australia that will evaluate a range of pasture mixes. In Tasmania, TIA has established two focal sites at Campbell Town and Pipers River.

The trial site at Pipers River in the State’s north-east has medium to high rainfall. In the high rainfall zone, like at Pipers River, it’s common to sow perennial ryegrass and white clover. The team is trialling diverse mixes and altering the amounts of legume species, grass species and herbs in those mixes.

The other site at Campbell Town is representative of a low rainfall environment. A common nix here is phalaris and subterranean clover and a different range of species has been sown there, known for their drought resilience. The experiments are being conducted on commercial farms and involve a high level of experimentation, measurement and monitoring.

Key outcomes

The five-year series of experiments and demonstrations will evaluate both simple and complex pasture mixes and assess productivity. It’s hoped the project will address shortages in summer feed for livestock and increase the resilience of grazing enterprises to cope with droughts and climate change

Related Resources

Browse fact sheets and project updates below.