Pastures

Pastures play a major role in agricultural enterprises and contribute over $3 billion annually in Western Australia through animal production, improvements to crop rotations and conserved fodder. In a typical year pastures occupy up to half the land in low to medium rainfall areas and over two thirds of the land in high rainfall areas. Improved pastures are increasingly being used to play a more comprehensive role in farming systems to address emerging challenges for environment protection and food production.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is a world leader in pasture breeding and selection, grazing systems design and agronomic management of pastures. The department provides information, tools and resources to support the success of the agriculture sector in improving the productivity and profitability of pasture systems under both dryland and irrigated conditions. 

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Articles

  • Setaria plant

    Setaria

    24 July 2014

    Setaria is a a palatable bunch grass with moderate drought tolerance.

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    Perennial pastures for Western Australia

    16 June 2017

    Perennial pastures have transformed large areas of the agricultural area in south-western Australia.

  • Barley grass seed heads are tall and upright making them more prone to lodging in wool and sheep’s eyes as they graze.

    Managing grass seeds in sheep

    25 November 2013

    Grass seeds may cause a number of serious production and health problems in sheep, including eye damage. Wool affected by grass seed has reduced demand value.

  • Established Lucerne stand

    Lucerne - the plant and its establishment

    5 August 2014

    Lucerne or alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a deep-rooted, temperate, perennial pasture legume which is well adapted to mixed farming systems in southern Western Australia.

  • Established Lucerne stand

    Lucerne - management and utilisation of established stands

    6 August 2014

    This article summarises the management practices required to optimise the production of lucerne to provide benefits to livestock and crop following a lucerne phase. Lucerne is well suited to irregu

  • Martin Harries kneeling in a wheat crop

    Focus paddocks 2014 trial report

    18 September 2014

    Management of weeds, disease and nitrogen nutrition are ongoing challenges that limit yield potential.

  • Small plot harvester harvesting a lupin crop sown over dormant subtropical perennial grasses.

    Seeding rate influence on grain yield of lupin pasture crops 2013 trial report

    14 February 2014

    Lupin seeding rates may need to be higher for pasture crops to achieve the same target density as standard crops, as lupin establishment density where crops were sown into perennial grasses was 8-3

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    EverGraze project

    26 November 2013

    Established in 2003, EverGraze was designed to develop, test and implement new farming systems based on perennials in a range of environments across the high rainfall zone of southern Australia.

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    Greener Pastures: soil acidity

    18 July 2014

    The Greener Pastures project was set up to assist the Australian dairy industry meet the two major challenges in managing high performing pasture systems: maintaining profitability while meeting th

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    Fertiliser potassium for intensively grazed dairy pastures

    4 April 2014

    The Greener Pastures project was set up to assist the Australian dairy industry meet the two major challenges in managing high performing pasture systems: maintaining profitability while meeting th

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