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

  • 500 FOO pasture at break of season.

    Pasture feed on offer and growth rate maps 2018

    5 July 2018

    These maps are generated from remote sensing data to estimate pasture feed on offer (FOO) as kilograms of dry matter per hectare, and plant (pasture and crop) growth rates as kilograms of dry matte

  • Yellow-winged locusts

    29 March 2018

    Yellow-winged locusts (Gastrimargus musicus) are native insects, distinguished by bright yellow wings, they are 35-50mm in length when mature and make a distinctive clicking noise when fly

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    Pasture recovery after fire

    21 March 2018

    Most unplanned fires have a drastic effect on a pasture. Fire changes the plant composition and reduces growth and carrying capacity in the following season.

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    Pasture legumes and grasses for saline land

    14 February 2018

    Saline lands in Western Australia (WA) often suffer winter waterlogging, with the levels of salinity and depth to watertable varying markedly both spatially and between seasons.

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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.

  • Irrigate WA

    IrrigateWA

    16 October 2015

    IrrigateWA is an irrigation app that will assist with the implementation of correct irrigation scheduling for a variety of crops, regions and soil types in Western Australia.

  • Sheep standing in the middle of a paddock.

    Pasture manipulation - for grass control

    30 April 2015

    Pasture manipulation is the application of herbicides for grass control early in the growing season (autumn or early winter).

    It is often the preferred option for grass control.

  • Establishment: plant cotyledons are still present.

    Deferred grazing calculator

    7 April 2015

    Deferred grazing is a tactic where stock are excluded from pasture areas to maximise germination and establishment of annual pasture seedlings.

  • 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.

  • Lamboo Station, Aerial 4 - cattle moving

    Northern Beef Development project

    20 August 2014

    Growing global demand for Australian beef products, driven primarily by Asian countries, presents opportunities to expand livestock production and value add in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of

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